Times: Shabbat starts tonight with candlelighting at 7:49pm, ends Saturday night at 8:46pm. Early Shabbat candle lighting is between 6:45pm-6:50pm. The weekly Torah portion is Mishpatim-Shekalim. Rosh Chodesh Adar is on Sunday and Monday.
Upcoming Event: Tuesday, 28 February-12:30pm: Lunchtime lecture with Moran Samuel “Out of the Depths –Rebuilding a life and professional sporting career from a wheelchair” 12:30pm at Wingate, Level 48, 101 Collins Street. For more information click here for the JBD website or here for the Facebook page.
Mincha in the CBD: Mincha (at 2.06pm) has resumed and is using the Minyan Now app as a trial. Please download it if you want to participate.
Study: Wednesday shiur & lunch is on Wednesday at 1.40pm at Billing Bureau, followed by mincha.
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)
New Stockist- PRONTO ON FLINDERS– 335 Flinders Lane, Melbourne.
Tel. 96297724 stocking sandwiches and pastas.
New Stockist- CBW Express – Corner Little Bourke and William Streets Melbourne.
Tel. 96421491-stocking sandwiches, bagels , muffins and fruits salads.
Thought of the Week with thanks to Yehuda Gottlieb. In this week’s Torah reading, the Torah outlines the repayment that one must provide for stealing and then slaughtering or selling sheep or cattle belonging to another person. In the case of sheep, one must return a fourfold payment, whereas for cattle, one must repay five times the value. The commentators wonders why the punishment for stealing these animals differs in repayment value? Rashi states that the thief must repay more for cattle as this stealing caused less shame for the thief as he could just walk the animal out, whereas with sheep the thief there was some layer of punishment or shame in the fact that he had to carry the animal.
R’ Shimshon Raphael Hirsch attempts to understand why stealing sheep and cattle incurs a stricter penalty than the regular punishment for stealing which requires the thief to pay back double. He explains that the if someone steals livestock, he cannot hide it in his home. Rather, he must keep it in open fields and use public amenities like watering holes and therefore its existence is dependent on the community. Therefore, whoever steals livestock is violating the trust of society as a whole. When someone steals from an individual’s home, he violates and individual’s trust and not that of the community. Therefore, the penalty for stealing livestock is so much greater than other objects.