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Shabbat starts on Friday at 7:16pm and ends on Saturday at 8:16pm. The weekly Torah portion is Bereshit and Shabbat Mevarchim Cheshvan. Rosh Chodesh will be on Sun and Mon..

Mincha at Ainsworth Property – 7/459 Collins St (North Tower) on Mon-Wed at 1.45pm using the WhatsApp group to confirm numbers.

Special lunch & shiur continues on Wed at 1.25pm at A-P 7/459 Collins – and via zoom, followed by mincha at 1.45pm. Current topic: Landlord & tenant obligations. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Ezra May.

King David writes in Psalms (119:160) “rosh d’varcha emet” – “Your first utterance is truth”.

The commentator Baal HaTurim notes that the final letters of the first three words of the Torah, “b’rereishit barah Eloikim” (tov, aleph & mem) are an anagram for the word “emet” – “truth”. This hinting at the fundamental characteristic of truth in the Torah.

The Vilna Gaon notes that it is not only the Written Torah that is emblazoned with G-d’s seal of truth, but the Oral Torah as well. The Ten Commandments begin with the letter aleph (“anochi“), the Mishnah begins with the letter mem (“mei’eimasai“) and the Talmud starts with the letter taf (“tanna“), again spelling the word “emet“.

He also points out that Rashi begins his commentary on the Torah with the letter aleph (“amar Rav Yitzchak“) and ends with the letter taf (“asher shibarta“). And the word in the midpoint of his commentary on the Torah (Leviticus 11:42) begins with mem (“me’avim“) in , again an anagram of “emet” – truth.

All of this is to subtly reinforce to us that even though the world maybe a place of lies and falsehoods, Torah remains the ultimate Truth.