Times: Shabbat starts on Friday at 7:24 pm and ends on Saturday at 8:25 pm. The weekly Torah portion is Bereshit and Shabbat Mevarchim Cheshvan. Rosh Chodesh will be on Tue and Wed

Mincha is 1.45pm: On Mon/Tue at ABL – 21/333 Collins, on Wed at Warlows Legal – 2/430 Lt Collins, and on Thurs at L1 Capital – 28/101 Collins. Join the WhatsApp group to stay across the latest details.

Study: The weekly lunch & shiur continues on Wed at 1.20pm at Warlows Legal – 2/430 Lt Collins – and via zoom, followed by mincha at 1.45pm. Current topic: duty of care for a borrower. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Jeremy Herz.

The weekly portion of Bereishit begins with G-d’s creation of the world. However, the midrash explains that G-d had created and destroyed numerous worlds before creating the one which we inhabit:

Rabbi Judah bar Simon said: it does not say, ‘Let there be evening,’ but ‘And it was evening.’ Hence we derive that there was a time-system prior to this. Rabbi Abbahu said: This teaches us that God created worlds and destroyed them, saying, ‘This one pleases me; those did not please me.’ Rabbi Pinhas said, Rabbi Abbahu derives this from the verse, ‘And God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good,’ as if to say, ‘This one pleases me, those others did not please me.’

Bereishit Rabbah 3:7

On the surface, this revelation seems to have no practical relevance to us. What are we to understand from it?

Humans are created in the image of G-d and we are charged with the responsibility to imitate His ways.

Inevitably we encounter failures, whether of a personal, spiritual or business nature. The key is how we respond.

Just as G-d ‘failed’ in his original designs for the world yet persisted until He created something which met His approval, so too must we persist.

May we all merit in beginning worthwhile and enduring endeavours as we enter this new year.