Times: Rosh Hashana starts on Wednesday night with candlelighting at 5:57pm. Don’t forget to make an Eruv Tavshillin before Rosh Hashana. Second night Rosh Hashana starts Thursday night with candlelighting after 6:55pm. Shabbat starts with candlelighting at 5:58pm, ends Saturday night at 6:56pm. The weekly Torah portion is Ha’azinu & Shabbat Shuva.

Mincha in the CBD: Mincha continues next week at 1:00pm at 459 Collins using the SMS system as a reminder (Friday is a public holiday). The second mincha minyan is now in recess until sometime next year.

Study: Wednesday shiur & lunch is on Wednesday (27/9) 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 David Werdiger. On Rosh Hashanah, it is customary to eat apples and honey for a sweet new year. Why these two sweet foods?

There is a difference between the sweetness of an apple and the sweetness of honey. An apple is a sweet fruit which grows on a tree. But honey comes from a bee – an insect that is not only inedible, it actually stings. Nevertheless the honey that it produces is sweeter than an apple!

Similarly, there are two types of sweetness in our lives: when things are going well, and we enjoy good health, strong relationships and success in our personal and professional life. These are sweet times like the apple is sweet.

Then there is a different type of sweetness – one that comes from times of challenge. At the time we are facing these challenges, they seem bitter and insurmountable, like the sting of a bee. But if we are strong and withstand the difficult times, and overcome the obstacles to our own happiness, we reveal layers of our personality that we would never have tapped into if we weren’t challenged – an inner strength that is brought out only when we are tested.

We eat apples and honey on the first day of the New Year and bless each other that in the year to come the apples should bring sweetness, and what the bee stings bring should be even sweeter!

Thank you to JBD’s members, friends and supporters, and best wishes for a happy, healthy and successful 5778.