Mazal Tov to Mendel & Raizel Jaffe and families on the birth of a daughter
Condolences to Jeremy Rapke and family on the tragic passing of his son Gershon
Condolences to Joe & Ari Lederman and families on the passing of their mother Seyma (in Israel)
JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn. Follow us here.
Shabbat starts on Friday at 5.27pm and ends on Saturday at 6.24pm. The weekly Torah portion is Tazria Metzora. Tuesday is Yom HaZikaron and Wednesday is Yom HaAtzma’ut.
Mincha continues at Ainsworth Property – 7/459 Collins St (North Tower), at 1.00pm and we use the WhatsApp group to confirm numbers.
The weekly lunch & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm at A-P 7/459 Collins – and via zoom, followed by mincha. Current topic: disputes between buyers and sellers. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.
Thought of the Week with thanks to Avi Gordon.
The laws of tzora’as (the ancient spiritual affliction discussed in this week’s Torah reading) are very complex and require great expertise.
Logically, it therefore makes sense, that a Rabbi who is most accomplished and senior both in knowledge as well as experience should be the one responsible to making the very difficult decision as to whether someone has contract tzora’as or not.
Interestingly, however, irrespective as to how accomplished or smart the Rabbi may be, he has no power whatsoever to make this determination, rather it is the Cohen alone who can make this call – even if he is a complete ignoramus.
One reason for this is that the formal status of having tzora’as is devastating to an individual. To declare a person has this spiritual affliction, it needs more than just knowledge and expertise, but compassion, empathy and sensitivity to the relevant individual.
No one can do this other than the children of the high priest Aharon who is “ohev shalom and rodef shalom” – loves peace and pursues peace. This biological sensitivity makes them the only qualified people to shoulder this responsibility and power.
May we all learn and be inspired by Aharon and his family’s love and sensitivity to a fellow human being.