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Shabbat starts on Friday at 8:18pm and ends on Saturday at 9:24pm. The weekly Torah portion is Vayeshev and Mevarchim Chodesh Tevet. Chanukah starts on Sunday night and continues until the following Sunday night/Monday. Rosh Chodesh is next Shabbat & Sunday.

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

Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.20pm (before mincha) at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: governance of charity collectors. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Geoffrey Bloch

At the beginning of the weekly Torah reading of Vayeshev, Yosef is introduced to us as a “naar” – a young dreamer with a price ticket on himself. So much is evident from how Yosef speaks in the first person about his first two dreams which he relates to his family. In the first dream he tells of his brothers’ sheaves bowing down to “my” sheaf and in the second, how the sun, moon and stars bow down to “me”.

But by the end of the portion, Yosef has transformed from a “naar” to a “tzaddik”. He is still a dreamer but without any price ticket on himself at all. When interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh’s butler and baker, Yosef takes no personal credit for his gift of prophecy: to the butler and the baker he says “God will provide the solution.” Similarly, at the beginning of Miketz, next week’s reading, when Yosef interprets Pharaoh’s dreams of the 7 fat cows and the 7 thin cows and the 7 fat ears of corn and the 7 thin ears, Yosef says to Pharaoh: “Interpreting your dreams is beyond me… God will provide the answer.”

If Yosef, who had ruach hakodesh, disclaimed any personal achievement in so profound a gift as prophecy, how much more so should we, with our relatively limited talents and abilities, always view our achievements and any good fortune, as gifts from God.

We should have the same appreciation when viewing the masterful achievements of our people and our miraculous geopolitical ascension in the Middle East over the past two years.

In contrast to the decline of Western societies elsewhere, God, together with the IDF and IAF, now seem to be working in harmonious partnership which will hopefully usher in a prolonged period of peace and prosperity.