Mazal Tov to Michael Zikaras and family on the birth of a daughter.

Condolences to Gary Moskow and family on the passing of his father.

Times: Shabbat starts tonight with candle lighting at 5:05pm, and ends Saturday night at 6:03pm. The weekly Torah portion is Behar-Bechukotai. Rosh Chodesh Sivan will be on Tuesday.

Sushi Mondays: With thanks to our generous sponsor, we will now have sushi every Monday before (and after) mincha at 1.00pm.

Mincha in the CBD: Whisky and Kugel Fridays is on today at 1pm using the SMS system to confirm numbers. Mincha (Mon-Thu) continues next 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 Geoff Bloch. Parashat Bechukotay predicts calamities to befall the Jewish people – known as the ‘tochecha’ – the rebuke .
The predictions end on a positive note which is G-d’s eternal promise that we will never be utterly forsaken.

The book of Vayikra (Leviticus) does not end in that triumphant way but instead concludes with what appears to be an anticlimactic group of laws – the laws of Erechin – through which a person has the right to donate his own ‘value’ or the value of any of his possessions to the Temple. He can declare his home, his animals, even himself as subject to evaluation.

According to R. Mordechai Kamenetzky, this concluding passage of the book of Vayikra is perhaps even more powerful than the messages to be learned from the tochecha: No matter what befalls us, we, collectively and individually, will always be valued by G-d. By ending in this way, G-d is stating that even in the depths of our dispersion and degradation each and every one of us is precious and that He will value and cherish us for eternity.