Times: Shabbat starts tonight with candlelighting at 6:00pm, ends Saturday night at 6:57pm. The weekly Torah portion for Shabbat is Ki Tavo. Selichot start on Saturday night; check local guides for details

IDF Training Centre Launch in the CBD: New launch date for the IDF training centre at 446 Collins Street, Melbourne is scheduled for 27th October from 5.30 – 8pm.  55 out of 100 foundation memberships have been sold already. For more information or to sign up for the foundation special offer click here or for the Facebook page event click here.

Friday Mincha in the CBD: Mincha on Friday is on this week at 1.00pm at 5/459 Collins (not at St James) with kugel & whisky. Numbers have been consistently good, so we will just send a SMS reminder.

Mincha in the CBD: Melbourne CBD’s minyan factory continues in this format for just one more week before DST. Thank you for your attendance and participation.
Lunch from 12.30pm-2.00pm. Mincha at 12.45pm, 1.00pm, and 1.15pm for this week.
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.

NOTE: After the start of DST, mincha will continue at St James at 1.45pm (just one minyan)

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, specialising in individual and board room  lunches. 10% Discount on your first website purchase. Enter promo code “FIRST TIME”. For further details visit www.nifla.com.au
IN A RUSH CAFE-616 St Kilda Road-(Ground Floor-Lowe Lippmann Building)

Thought of the Week with thanks to Rabbi Menachem Wolf. Bikurim is the celebration of the First Fruit, a ritual that entailed farmers bringing their first fruit harvest to Jerusalem for a fantastic fruit-basket waving, Levite singing, Kohen dancing, high-fructose party. It was a true celebration of nature – the Infinites’ blessing of a balanced eco-system and peoples’ desire to share what they had with others.

But this Mitzvah could only be celebrated and performed once the Jews as a whole nation had conquered all of Israel and every Jew had to have settled into a property. Until that took place nobody could partake in the Bikurim celebration. Practically this meant that the first Jewish settlers who settled Jericho (the first city to be reconquered) had to wait seven years for the last of the tribes to settle before they could celebrate.

This is an fantastic lesson for people of religious and spiritual faiths – that one does not and cannot celebrate (or live) in a silo. Our commitment to G-d and Torah values system is something that requires us to ensure everyone is being tended to and requires us to be patient and supportive of those who have not achieved what we have. Not only is patience required but a level of care and assistance in the personal growth of other.