Times: Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:13 pm and ends on Saturday night at 6:13 pm. The weekly Torah portion is Eikev.
Mincha in the CBD: We are trying to resume mincha at L2/430 Lt Collins as we emerge from this latest lockdown. We will advise when the Thursday mincha at 1.50pm (following shiur & lunch at 1.00pm) at L1 Capital will resume. Join the the WhatsApp group to stay across the latest details.
Study: The Weekly Shiur continues on Wednesday at 1:10pm either online or combined in-person/online with lunch, depending on numbers. Current study: duty of care of borrower after loan term ends but before item is returned. Details here.
Thought of the Week with thanks to Avi Gordon. With credit to Rabbi Twerski:
In this week’s Torah reading, we have the obligation to ‘bensch’ or offer grace after meals.
In the text we thank God not only for the food we ate, but also for delivering us from Egypt, for the Promised Land, for His covenant with us, for the Torah, for life and for His kindness.
If someone invited you for a meal, you would undoubtedly thank him. However, would you say, “Thank you for taking me into your house, for giving me a chair and seating me at the table?” Why, when we thank God for the food He has given us, do we enumerate all these other things?
It is because the comparison to being invited to a meal is not accurate. A better comparison is to someone who was stranded in an arid desert and had not had any food for several days. If a truck comes by and picks him up and the driver gives him some food and water, he will thank him profusely not only for the food and water but also for stopping to pick him up and saving his life.
This is how we should feel toward God. He provides us not only with food, not only with the necessities of life, but also with life itself. We should indeed express our gratitude for all of these.
In Melbourne we are more conscious now than we have been in relation to small freedoms we previously took for granted. May we all be able to extent our appreciation for the abundance of goodness which we are all showered with every single day.