Times: Shabbat starts on Friday at 4:57 pm and ends on Saturday night at 5:56 pm. The weekly Torah portion is Naso.

Mincha in the CBD: We will attempt to get a mincha minyan on Monday at 5/447 Collins St(JustCo) using the WhatsApp group to confirm numbers. On Thursdays, there is mincha at L1 28/101 Collins at 1.50pm following the shiur & lunch. Join the the WhatsApp group to stay across the details.

Study: The Weekly Shiur continues on Wednesday at 1:10pm (note new time)via zoom. BYO lunch. We will switch to combined zoom/in-person based on demand. Details here.

Thought of the Week with thanks to David Prins. This week’s Torah reading of Naso tells us that on the first day (of Nissan), Nachshon ben Aminadav of the tribe of Yehuda brought his offering to the Mishkan (tabernacle).

Each day, another prince brought the same offering, right through to the twelfth day, when the prince of Naphtali brought his offering, which was exactly the same.

The Torah details every element of every prince’s offering, and repeats it in the same detail, every day, for twelve days. Thus Naso is the longest single parsha in the Torah.

The Midrash explains that even though the twelve offerings of the princes were identical, each was independently formulated. Each offering and each component was unique in its spiritual essence. Often when we read Torah, we know what happens next, we spoil any element of surprise, and we learn nothing.

We always read parshat Naso within a week of celebrating our receiving of the Torah on Shavuot. The Torah should be fresh to us, as if we receive it anew every day. We can seek to maintain the freshness of Torah in the way we listen to Torah reading. Parshat Naso is a great place to start: let us listen to the offerings of the princes as if we do not know in advance what each prince is going to bring.

More generally, whenever we read and learn Torah, we should not think that we have heard it all before, and we know what is coming next. Instead, we should always aim to find new insight and understanding. If we play our part, the Torah and its commentaries and our great teachers and scholars will always provide fresh learning to us, whenever we open our hearts and minds to receive it.