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Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:12pm and ends on Saturday at 6:10pm. The weekly Torah portion is Achrei Mot and Mevarchim Chodesh Iyyar. Yom HaShoah is on Tuesday and Rosh Chodesh is on Wed and Thur.

Mincha 1pm continues at Ainsworth Property – GF/459 Collins Mon-Wed. Join the WhatsApp group where we take a count to confirm each day.

Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at about 1.10pm (after mincha) at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: paying employees in a timely fashion. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Avi Gordon.

In this week’s Torah reading we open with the laws of the Yom Kippur service including the lottery of the two goats: one to be sacrificed to G-d, the other ceremoniously thrown off a cliff – quite literally the “scapegoat”.

There’s a fascinating aspect to the law of the two goats: halacha requires that the two goats must be identical in size, appearance, and cost. Both must be unblemished and, so-to-speak, “good-looking.”

This begs the question: It makes sense that the goat offered to G‑d should be the best and the nicest, but why does the scapegoat need to be perfect if it’s destined to be pushed off a cliff? 

There’s a deeper meaning here:

Azazel (the cliff) represents our physical, selfish desires and needs. How do we treat the Azazel within us? We often treat it very well! We want upgrades, we want first-class, we want bigger, better, and nicer things. But when it comes to G‑d’s needs, we aren’t as particular.

The lesson is clear – may we all have the clarity to put the emphasis on the important and spiritual matters in our life – at the very least, to the same extent we put into other mundane and material pursuits.

Based upon talk of Rabbi Yossi Goldman