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Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:10pm and ends on Saturday at 6:11pm. The weekly Torah portion is Pinchas.

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: borrower dignity. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Isaac Balbin.

Pinchas, in an act of zealotry, killed the prince Zimri, who publicly cavorted with the Midianite princess. Some leaders mocked Pinchas because of his ancestral lineage, noting that his maternal grandfather, Yisro, was once a notable idol-worshiping functionary. Why mock him? If Pinchas’s motives were pure and his act of zealotry was justified, then what does it matter who his grandfather was? If his motives were not pure, how would a perfect lineage justify or mitigate such a complex deed that requires a pure heart to suspend the prohibition of “Thou shall not kill”?

Rav Kook explains that his ancestry, or yichus, did affect Pinchas. However, it wasn’t the lineage through Yisro that influenced his purity of action. For this reason, the Torah lists the ancestry of Pinchas as being from his grandfather Aharon, the lover of peace who loved all people and drew them near to the Torah. That influence and upbringing ensured that he was not merely motivated by spite and revulsion for Zimri’s act.