Times: Shabbat starts on Friday at 7:11pm and ends on Saturday at 8:10pm. The weekly Torah portion is Ha’azinu.
Sukkot starts on Sunday night, light candles at 7:13pm. On Monday night, light candles after 8:12pm from a pre-existing flame. Yom Tov ends on Tuesday night at 8:13pm.
Shabbat Chol Hamo’ed: light candles on Friday 14th at 7:18pm; ends Saturday 8:17pm.
Shmini Atzeret starts on Sunday night 16th, light candles at 7:20pm. On Monday night, light candles after 8:19pm from a pre-existing flame for Simchat Torah. Yom Tov ends on Tuesday night at 8:20pm.
Sukkot in the CBD: Sukkot in the CBD that are open to the public during Chol Ha’moed (Wed-Fri) next week:
459 Collins St (Ground Floor) – lunch served 12-2
East Melbourne Shul – lunch & shiur on Thu
See https://www.jbd.org.au/holidays/sukkot/ for all details
Mincha in the CBD: Mincha is on recess until after Sukkot, and will resume at 1.45pm on Wed 19th at Warlows Legal – 2/430 Lt Collins, and on Thu 20th at L1 Capital – 28/101 Collins. Join the WhatsApp group to stay across the latest details.
Study: The Weekly Shiur is in recess and will resume on Wednesday 19th at 1.20pm (before mincha) at Warlows Legal – 2/430 Lt Collins – and via Zoom. Current topic: duty of care for a borrower. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.
Thought of the Week with thanks to David Werdiger.
The mitzvah of Sukkah is the great equaliser. For almost every other mitzvah, there are varying degrees of how it may be observed. One person might give more charity than another, or might pray more intensely than another. But the Sukkah is immersive to the extent that our entire bodies are fully ‘in’ the mitzvah. Two people of very different levels of observance can be sitting in a Sukkah, and they are each observing the mitzvah in exactly the same way.
After Yom Kippur, when God forgives all of our sins and pushes the reset button to start a new year, there is no place for differentiating Jews by their observance. God wants to connect with all of us equally and individually, and the Sukkah is perfect way to express that connection.
Chag Sameach