Times: Shabbat starts tonight at 5.00 pm, and ends on Saturday night at 5:59 pm. The weekly Torah portion is Emor.

Mincha in the CBD: Mincha, whisky and kugel today 1:00 pm. Mincha continues at 1:00 pm Monday to Friday using the SMS reminder system.

Study: The Wednesday shiur and lunch starts at about 1:15 pm after mincha.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Miriam Coleman. The second part of this week’s Torah reading of Emor lists the festivals of the Jewish calendar, among them the festival of sukkot and the mitzvah to dwell in booths:

לְמַ֘עַן֘ יֵֽדְע֣וּ דֹרֹֽתֵיכֶם֒ כִּ֣י בַסֻּכּ֗וֹת הוֹשַׁ֨בְתִּי֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל

“in order that your [ensuing] generations should know that I had the children of Israel live in booths” (23:43). Rashi says booths refers to the clouds of glory that enveloped the people while in the desert.

Why then, asks the commentator Tur, do we not celebrate Sukkot in the month of Nissan, when the Jews left Egypt and were first enveloped by the clouds? The Chidushei Harim explains: About Sukkot the Torah says, “in order that you should know”, demonstrating that ‘knowledge’ is an integral element of the commandment. However, during the year we commit many transgressions, which we only do because a spirit of folly has entered our person. Therefore, we celebrate Sukkot in Tishrei after Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have cleansed us of our sins and we are pure. At this point, we achieve the ‘knowledge’ that the mitzvah of Sukkah requires.