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Times: Shabbat starts on Friday at 8:13pm and ends on Saturday at 9:14pm. The weekly Torah portion is Beshalach and Shabbat Shira. Monday is Tu BiShvat
Mincha has successfully resumed at Ainsworth Property – 7/459 Collins St (North Tower), at about 2.08pm and we will use the WhatsApp group to confirm numbers.
The weekly lunch & shiur continues on Wed at 1.40pm at A-P 7/459 Collins – and via zoom, hopefully followed by mincha at about 2.08pm. Current topic: dispute resolution scenarios. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.
Thought of the Week with thanks to Rabbi Menachem Wolf.
As a grandchild of Holocaust survivors, I used to think about the fact that I could have easily been an American or Canadian, it’s just that Australia was the first country to issue my family with papers. I wondered in a more spiritual vein: why I’m here, why are there so many Holocaust surviving Jewish families here in Australia?
In this week’s Torah reading of Beshalach, the Torah describes the exodus from Egypt, and a fascinating tradition that Jews should never return to live in Egypt, the mystics explain that this is because we completed our work there – there were no sparks left for us to soulfully contribute to or elevate and therefore no point to ever return to Egypt.
There are mystical narratives not yet known as to why we are here. At the same time we do know that there is pain, suffering and a struggle to retain heritage & identity in some parts of this country. Money is being thrown at problems that have poverty as a symptom rather than a cause and it’s just not working in many communities. Children are suffering, adults are desperate. For years it was on the periphery of the news but for whatever reason it is now front and centre and so now is the time we must ask: Is there an answer in our people’s ‘immediate’ experience that we can share to help other nations who are suffering? Perhaps that is why we are (still) here?