JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn. Follow us here.
Shabbat starts on Friday at 4:50pm and ends on Saturday at 5:52pm. The weekly Torah portion is Beha’alotcha.
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 will continue 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 Mandi Katz.
The concept of the pintele yid is a very beautiful idea, that deep within every Jewish and perhaps would be Jewish person, however they were raised, is a spark of Jewishness that may at some time be ignited, perhaps some deep inherited and unconscious memory of having been at Sinai.
Rabbi Ari Shavit Artson brings a poignant and touching vort that he learned from his colleague Rabbi Maurice Kaprow that attributes this idea to words in this week’s parsha, Beha’alotcha. The Hebrew word for meek is anav, usually spelt with ayin, nun, yad and vav. In this parsha in describing Moshe as “very meek , more so than all men on earth “ the word anav does not include the letter yud, and this is often regarded as a reflection of Moshe’s modesty.
When writing down the Torah Moshe did not include the letter yud that denotes God, because his humility made him unwilling to compare himself to God. And where did that yud go? It is buried within the soul of every Jew – the pintele yud became the pintele Yid.
Moshe left out the yud to avoid any appearance of claiming likeness to God. But Jewish tradition has turned that around, and sees a reflection of God within every Jewish soul; holiness attends us all. Our very sense of self, dignity and worth is rooted in the sacred spark within each of us so that cultivation of the spark: learning Torah, experiencing the beauty of Jewish practice and prayer, acts of hesed (kindness) can lead to that spark being reignited in every Jew.