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Times: Shabbat starts on Friday at 8:24pm and ends on Saturday at 9:30pm. The weekly Torah portion is Miketz, and it’s a triple-header: Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and Chanukah. Rosh Chodesh is on Sunday as well, and Monday is the last day of Chanukah.

Look out for the mention of Chanukah on Monday morning at the start of the Boxing Day Test!

This newsletter is now in recess until after Australia Day. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy summer break.

Mincha is now in recess for the summer. Thanks everyone for their participation & support for mincha during this year as the CBD opened up. Special thanks to Warlows Legal and ABL for hosting. Join the WhatsApp group to stay across the latest details.

The weekly shiur is in recess for the summer and will resume on Wed 1 Feb. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Ezra May.

At the end of each Parsha, a line appears in the Chumash stating how many total verses are in that Parsha. Parshas Mikeitz is unique in that the line which is printed at the end of it states not only that it contains 146 verses, but also 2025 words.

The obvious question is, if a word count appears at the end of no other Parsha, why is it specifically mentioned here in Mikeitz.

The Vilna Gaon, in his way, provides an answer. Parshas Mikeitz is almost always read on the Shabbos of Chanukah. The Gaon explains that this connection between Chanukah and Parshas Mikeitz is alluded to by the number of words in the Parsha – 2025. The numerical value of the word “ner” (candle) is 250, and multiplied by the eight days of Chanukah equals 2000. And as begin celebrating Chanukah on the 25th of Kislev, if you add 25 to 200, it equals 2025, the exact number of words in Parshas Mikeitz.