Times: Shabbat starts on Friday at 7:26pm and ends on Saturday night at 8.22pm. The weekly Torah portion is Vayak’hel-Pekudei, Shabbat Mevarchim Nissan, and Parshat Hachodesh. Rosh Chodesh is on Sunday.

Mincha in the CBD: Mincha is in recess, and we are looking to resume on Tuesday 6 April, either at 276 Flinders St or another location. Join the the WhatsApp group to stay across the details.

Study: The Weekly Shiur continues on Wednesday at 1:30pm via zoom. BYO lunch. Details here.

Thoughts of the Week with thanks to Yudi New. This week’s double Torah reading describes the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). Have you ever wondered how a group of recently liberated generational slave labourers could, in such a short time and while wandering through the desert, have attained the skills of artisans such as goldsmiths, weavers, engravers, jewellers etc.?

The Ramban explains that through the Jews’ sheer will to participate in this holy construction, they were able to call upon and deploy skills which would otherwise have taken generations to master. They saw no obstacles and committed to Moshe “to do whatever it takes”. In more recent history, this brings to mind, the incredible rebuilding of the Jewish people, relying solely on tenacity and vision, by the few broken souls who survived the Holocaust.

In pursuing our mission to make our physical reality a dwelling place for G-d (as the Mishkan was) we should not be limited by arbitrary and self imposed parameters. Let us commit wholeheartedly to “do whatever it takes”.

With thanks to Rabbi Efrem Goldberg and wishing everyone a Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh Tov.