Times: Shabbat starts tonight with candlelighting at 5:28pm, ends Saturday night at 6:24pm. The weekly Torah portion is Shemini. Rosh Chodesh Iyar is on Wednesday (26/4) and Thursday (27/4).

Mincha in the CBD: Mincha continues at 1:00pm using the SMS system as a reminder.

Study: Wednesday shiur & lunch is on Wednesday at about 1.15pm at Billing Bureau, following 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
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 Ezra May. In this week’s Torah reading, Rashi comments that Moshe told Aharon after the death of his sons Nadav and Avihu that he knew that the Mishkan would be sanctified through the death of somebody close to Hashem. But Moshe assumed that it would be either himself or Aharon, and now recognised that Nadav and Avihu were greater than either of them.

The question is: how could Aaron’s sons actually be greater than Moshe – the greatest prophet ever to live, and Aharon – the first Kohen Gadol (high priest)?

An answer is that there are two types of righteous individuals: those who perfect themselves, and those who perfect others. The Chovos HaLevavos explains that although spending time and energy focusing on others comes at the expense of one’s own self-growth, someone who benefits others is on a higher overall spiritual level than somebody who singularly focuses on himself. Even though the latter may attain greater personal perfection, the accrued merits of those he inspires places him on a higher level.

Moshe assumed that G-d would sanctify the Mishkan through the death of either Aharon or himself, as they were the two greatest spiritual influences on the Jewish people in their generation. But G-d selected Nadav and Avihu, who because they weren’t busy dealing with others were actually individually greater as they were able to reach higher personal levels of perfection.

As to why Moshe thought that the Mishkan required a death to be sanctified is a question for another time.