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Times: Shabbat starts on Friday at 7.29pm and ends on Saturday at 8.25pm. The weekly Torah portion is Ki Tisa and Parshat Parah

Mincha continues at Ainsworth Property – 7/459 Collins St (North Tower), at 2.01pm 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, followed by mincha at 2.01pm. Current topic: commercial disputes.  Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Rabbi Dovid Gutnick.

God tells Moshe that “you shall see behind Me but My face shall not be seen”. A novel interpretation on these words: We often struggle to perceive G-d’s involvement, when we are face to face with life’s vicissitudes. It is hard to have clarity in the moment of disaster. However with the wide angled lens of time and perspective, looking at things from behind, we can see clearly that our unique destiny was attained precisely via the crucible of our hardships.

There is a well known and rather uncanny  correlation (both in language and content) between the chronicle of Esther and the account of Yosef. Both narratives detail a series of seemingly random, catastrophic events that ultimately precipitate an extraordinary and miraculous salvation.

Of course through the long lens of history and knowing the happy endings we can be quite comfortable, even jubilant with the series of events. One can imagine however, that living through the dire events in real time would have been more than harrowing. Imagine Esther waking up every morning trapped in a forced marriage to a despotic and maniacal king who had his previous wife decapitated. Or Yosef waking in a cold prison cell as days became, weeks, months and years.

Yet in the fullness of time, not only did transformational deliverance arrive but each of the negative occurrences played a pivotal role in the ultimate triumph. The triumph was orchestrated by G-d in ways we only fathom in hindsight.

May we all be blessed with only goodness and kindness all the days of our lives. But on those occasions we are tossed hither and yon and the tribulations of life threaten to engulf us entirely let us strive for the patience and trust that comes with ‘seeing life steadily and seeing it whole.’