Times: Shabbat starts tonight with candlelighting at 5:06pm, ends Saturday night at 6:07pm. The weekly Torah portion is Matot-Massei. Rosh Chodesh Av is on Monday (24/7).
Mincha in the CBD: Special cholent and whisky today 1pm at mincha. 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: Unfortunately, due to lack of demand there is no longer kosher food being sold in the CBD. Glicks, we want you back!!
Thought of the Week with thanks to Ezra May. Rashi explains (Bamidbar 35:14) that although 9½ tribes lived in Israel proper and only 2½ tribes on the other side of the Jordan River, the Torah required that the six cities of refuge be evenly divided between the two regions due to their being a disproportionate number of intentional murderers on the other side of the Jordan.
But what relevance is the number of intentional murderers as the cities of refuge only provide protection to those who kill accidentally and not intentionally.
Ramban answers that the intentional murderers cunningly arranged for their murders to appear unintentional. And since it was unproven in the absence of witnesses which murders were intentional or not, all of them could flee to the cities of refuge.
The Sifsei Chochomim cited Talmud Makkos 10b which teaches that when somebody murders intentionally without witnesses, G-d brings him together with somebody who killed accidentally without witnesses and causes the inadvertent killer to slip while climbing a ladder, killing by falling on the intentional murderer sitting underneath him. The result is that the accidental killer goes to a city of refuge, while the murderer is ‘executed’ as deserved. As such, an area with many murderers requires many cities of refuge for those who fall to flee.
The Gur Aryeh explains that where cold-blooded murder is a regular occurrence, value for human life is automatically diminished. And although not everyone becomes a killer, they no longer exercise the appropriate care when engaged in dangerous activities. The inevitable result being an increase in the number of accidental murderers fleeing to the cities of refuge.
