Times: Shabbat starts tonight with candle lighting at 5:39pm, and ends Saturday night at 6:34pm. The weekly Torah portion is Shemini. Rosh Chodesh Iyar will be on Sunday and Monday. Yom Hazikaron will be on Wednesday followed by Yom Ha’atzmaut on Thursday.

Mincha in the CBD: Whisky and Kugel Fridays (with a side of mincha) are back!! Today 1pm with the SMS system to confirm numbers. Mincha (Mon-Thu) will continues this week at 1.00pm with the SMS reminder.

Study: The Wednesday shiur & lunch continues this week at Billing Bureau, following 1.00pm mincha.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Althea Mirvis. SHEMINI – Day Eight?

“And it was on the eighth day (‘bayom hashemini’)…” (Vayikra 9:1).

This week’s Torah reading commences the day after the seven days of the inauguration of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). Following on from seven days of preparation and practice, this was the very first day of actual worship. So why does the reading refer to this as the eighth day? Surely ‘launch day’ should be called the ‘first’ day.

Rabbi Dovid Feinstein explains that the seven days of inauguration were not only rehearsals, with only the launch day having genuine significance. Rather, the days of preparation were inherently valuable, because of the impact they made on the subsequent opening day. The first day is called the eighth day in order to teach us the value of preparation.

The journey to the destination is no less important that the destination itself.