Mazal Tov to Moshe & Shira Loebenstein on the birth of their baby girl. 

Mazal Tov to Ari & Hayley Rosenbaum on the birth of their baby girl.

Times: Shabbat starts tonight with candlelighting at 8:19pm, ends Saturday night at 9:20pm. Early Shabbat candle lighting is between 7:05pm-7:10pm. The weekly Torah portion is Va’eira. Rosh Chodesh Shevat is on Shabbos.

Mincha in the CBD: Mincha is on summer recess. 

Study: Wednesday shiur & lunch is on next Wednesday at 1.15pm at Billing Bureau.

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 David Prins. A group of people known as chartumim are unable to interpret Pharaoh’s dreaming in the book of Bereishit, and again fail to interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams in the book of Daniel. Instead, the kings accept the explanations offered by Yosef and Daniel respectively, each of whom speaks with true Divine inspiration, in contrast to the chartumim who do not.

In the current Torah reading, the chartumim attempt to assist Pharaoh with the first three of the ten plagues, but they are fully defeated when they are unable to stand before Moshe because they are afflicted with boils in the sixth plague.
The chartumim represent the antithesis of belief in the One G-d. They may be magicians, sorcerers, necromancers or spin doctors. They advise immoral dictators in the mould of Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, and unfortunately sometimes even democratically elected leaders listen to them. The result is public policy based on principles that are ungodly, unethical and immoral. Ultimately, the path trodden by the chartumim is doomed to failure. The challenge is to shake off these unworthy pundits, and to replace them with wise people who have the spirit of G-d in them. They may thereby make their country and the world great again, through leadership that is on an ethical and moral path.