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Mazal Tov to Jeremy & Michal Herz on the birth of a son!

JBD is hiring! Please see details here

Times: Shabbat starts on Friday at 8:06pm and ends on Saturday at 9:05pm. The weekly Torah portion is Yitro.

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: claims & counter-claims.  Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Ya’akov Waller.

We read this week of Yitro’s famous advice to Moshe to delegate his tasks and set up a multi-layered system of government, because the burden of governing was “too heavy” for Moshe to bear alone. 

In an important respect, this episode shares similarities with the immediately preceding one. In the war with Amalek, Moshe struggles to hold his arms aloft for they are “too heavy”. 

In both episodes, Moshe finds that the heavy burden of leadership can only be eased by employing other people to share the load. 

This provides a lesson in leadership and a lesson in the appropriate stance toward our leaders. On the latter, the Torah here (and frequently elsewhere) emphasises Moshe’s struggles and limitations, and does not engage in hagiography. On the former, the Torah emphasises that effective leadership and governance requires consultation and collegiality. Underpinning both of these lessons is a recognition that human beings are inherently imperfect and limited. If both of these lessons are true of Moshe – our foremost leader and role model – then all the more so for all of us who have come since.