Times: Shabbat starts tonight with candle lighting at 8:00 pm, and ends Saturday night at 9:04 pm. The weekly Torah portion is Vayishlach

Upcoming Event: Latkes and Doughnuts in the CBD on the first day of Chanukah, Monday 3rd December at 5.00pm at Crockett Chambers, 7th Floor, 530 Lonsdale St, Melbourne. With special guest, The Hon Justice Mark Kranz Moshinsky.

Mincha in the CBD: Whisky and kugel Friday is on today at 1.30pm (mincha 1.45pm) using the SMS system to confirm numbers. Mincha (Mon-Fri) continues next week at 1.45pm with the SMS reminder.

Study: The Wednesday shiur & lunch continues this week at Billing Bureau, beginning at 1.20pm with mincha to follow at 1:45pm.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Yehuda Gottlieb. This week’s Torah reading begins with Yaakov sending out “malachim” / emissaries to make first contact with Esav on his behalf. The Midrash states that these malachim were actual angels. The commentator Oznayim L’Torah states that this interpretation is logical for two reasons. Firstly, knowing the hatred that Esav felt for Yaakov coupled with the fact that Esav was prone to violence would mean that the messenger could be putting himself in mortal danger. Therefore, no ordinary human would accept the job. Secondly, Yaakov, felt that due to this danger it would be irresponsible of him to ask a human to undertake the mission. It is for these reasons that an angel must have been the one ultimately to approach Esav. From this we learn of the greatness of Yaakov. The language of the verse was one of ‘tzivui’ (command). Yaakov was on such a high spiritual level that not only could he communicate with angels at will, but he could even command them and they would listen to him and do his bidding.