Times: Shabbat starts tonight with candle lighting at 7:31pm, and ends Saturday night at 8:27pm. The weekly Torah portion is Vayakhel-Pekudai and Parshat Parah.
Mincha in the CBD: Mincha has resumed (a little sporadic this week) and will continue next week at 2:00pm using the SMS system to confirm numbers.
Study: The Wednesday shiur & lunch takes place at the new time of 1.30pm at Billing Bureau, followed by mincha.
Kosher Food in the CBD: Glicks delivery in the CBD: We are thrilled to announce Glicks online. We now come to you! Whether it’s for one person or corporate catering for 100, we have a delicious range of filled bagels, fruit, danish, muffins, drinks and club sandwiches. The food is beautifully presented and we deliver twice a day anywhere in Melbourne including the CBD. Gluten free choices are also available.We are offering a huge 20% off all orders till end February (excluding delivery). Go to www.glicks.com.au and enter promo code glicks2018 to receive the discount.
SUSHI: Kosher sushi delivery coming to the city soon … watch this space for more details.
Thought of the Week with thanks to Ezra May. There is an apparent internal inconsistency in this week’s Torah reading (Vaykhel 36:7) with the Torah saying that the communal donations for the mishkan were sufficient for what was required and yet there remained leftovers. Which was it?
The commentator Sichos Tzaddikim suggests that if the donations for the mishkan were precisely sufficient, then each contributor could claim the mishkan was dependent upon their personal contribution, without which the entire mishkan would be incomplete. This would result in tremendous conceit, with the Talmud (Sotah 5a) teaching that arrogant people prevent the presence of the shechinah (divine presence) and as the entire purpose of the mishkan was to create an earthly dwelling for the shechinah, it was necessary that the donations be slightly more than required.
The Ohr HaChaim suggests that the people actually did enthusiastically donate more than required, however G-d didn’t want any leftovers, so that some people wouldn’t think their donations weren’t used & therefore they had no part in it the mishkan’s construction. Accordingly G-d arranged that everything donated was used, causing the level of donations to appear just right.