Mazel tov to Avi & Sara Gordon on the birth of their baby girl, Tova Bracha. Mazel tov to the grandparents and great-grandmother. 

Mazel tov on the engagement of Rafi Lamm and Aliza Labbe. 

Times: Shabbat starts tonight with candlelighting at 4:49pm. The weekly Torah portion for Shabbat is Bamidbar. Shavuot starts on Saturday night immediately following Shabbat – candlelighting after 5:50pm. Second night Shavuot starts on Sunday night with candlelighting after 5:50pm. Shavuot ends on Monday night at 5:50pm

Upcoming Event: Wednesday, 22 June: Lunchtime lecture with Rabbi Davey Blackman at 1:00pm with mincha at 1:50pm. Wingate, Level 48, 101 Collins Street. RSVP for catering purposes to events@jbd.org.au by COB Monday, 20 June..

Friday Mincha in the CBD: Mincha on Friday is at 1.00pm at 5/459 Collins (not at St James) with schnitzel & whisky and using the SMS reminder system to confirm numbers.

Mincha in the CBD: Melbourne CBD’s minyan factory is continuing, with an amazing three minyans per day, every day. Thank you for your attendance and participation.
Buffet Lunch from 12.30pm-2.00pm. Mincha this week at 1.00pm and 1.15pm.
Melbourne Room of St. James complex near the corner of Little Collins Street and Church St. Click here for a map. For more information click here.
Email stjames.mincha@gmail.com to be added to the list for any daily updates.

Study: Wednesday shiur will take place after the 1.15pm mincha at St James.

Kosher Food in the CBD: Nifla Kosher Catering (KA Hechsher)
Offers Corporate Catering, specializing in individual and board room  lunches. For further details visit www.nifla.com.au
 10% Discount on your first website purchase. Enter promo code “FIRST TIME”. 
Kosher sandwiches, muffins and salads are available at the following locations:
IMPORTANT NOTE: the two CBD locations are not reliably stocking kosher products due to low demand. One of two things will happen: either they will stop carrying them, or more people will start buying and it will be worthwhile for them.
1932 Café- Ground floor –Manchester Unity Building- 220 Collins Street. Melbourne.
CBW EXPRESS-181 William Street.(Entrance Little Bourke St)
IN A RUSH CAFE-616 St Kilda Road-(Ground Floor-Lowe Lippmann Building)

Thought of the Week with thanks to Ezra May. The tribe of Levi containing the holiest Divine servants, and numbered only 22,000 (Bamidbar 3:30) – substantially less than any of the other tribes. How & why is this so? Ramban explains that when the Egyptians enslaved the Jews, G-d blessed them to become even more numerous (Shmot 1:12) and as the tribe of Levi was exempt from the slavery, they didn’t merit the blessing of sextuplet births. The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh answers that when Pharaoh decreed all Jewish male babies to be drowned in the Nile, Amram divorced his wife and the rest of the Levites followed him. Even though Amram subsequently remarried his wife, many of the other Levites didn’t and therefore their population growth suffered. The Beis HaLevi suggests that because the tribe of Levi was sustained by other Jews through gifts of tithes, Hashem intentionally made their tribe smaller so as not to overburden the rest of nation. Rav Elchonon Wasserman writes that Hashem created the world where everything holier is rarer. So, animals outnumber people and non-Jews outnumber Jews, so too are there significantly more non-Levites than Levites.