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Shabbat starts on Friday at 8:00pm and ends on Saturday at 9:05pm. The weekly Torah portion is Vayetzei.

Mincha at Ainsworth Property – GF/459 Collins is in recess for the summer. Join the WhatsApp group for updates.

Weekly lunch & shiur continues on Wed at 1.20pm at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: force majeure. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Michelle Coleman.

This week’s Torah portion opens with Yaakov fleeing from his home and murderous brother to go live with Lavan, his avaricious and duplicitous uncle. Little wonder that he is feeling disheartened, frightened and alone; but then G-d shows him a vision and tells him, “Behold, I am with you; I will guard you wherever you go, and I will return you to this soil; for I will not forsake you until I will have done what I have spoken about you: (28:15).

When he heads off the next morning, after erecting a monument to G-d in this holy place, it says that Yaakov “lifted his feet and went.”. Why not simply say that he went? Not a single word in the Torah is extraneous, so the commentator Rashi explains this expression to mean that “his heart lifted his feet” – he felt light and that his burden had been eased by the prophecy.

We all have anxieties, worries and burdens and this is particularly true at the moment. However, G-d is always with us and always loves us no matter what. Focussing on that can help us to ‘lift our feet’ and move forward with hope, confidence and joy.