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Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:26pm and ends on Saturday at 6:25pm. The weekly Torah portion is Eikev.

Mincha continues at 1pm at A-P GF/459 Collins Mon (special meat lunch), Wed, and Thu 1.45pm at L1 Capital using the WhatsApp group to confirm numbers.

Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm (after mincha) at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: law of neighbours. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Ezra May.

This week Moshe highlights to the Jewish people that the land of Israel would be different than the land of Egypt (11:10-11) as Egypt was irrigated by the Nile River, whereas in Israel they would be reliant on rainfall.

A natural water supply is seemingly advantageous in that it is more certain. So why is relying on rainfall considered an advantage?

The Kotzker Rebbe explains that Moshe wasn’t merely relating an agricultural fact. He was teaching that because in Egypt they never had to look skyward for water,and as a result, they never gazed Heavenward, effectively cutting themselves off from a relationship with G-d.

The Exodus from Egypt wasn’t only a physical redemption from slavery, but represented a deeper philosophical journey. It was an exchange of a world view devoid of spirituality, through which everything is understood and explained according to science and nature, to one in which we declare that G-d runs the universe and we are dependent on Him.