JBD - Jews of the (Melbourne) CBD

10/09/2026

Shana Tova v 17 #01 [11th September 2026]

JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn.

Rosh Hashana starts on Friday night at 5:49pm. On Saturday night, light candles after 6:47pm from a pre-existing flame. Holiday ends on Sunday at 6:48pm.

Monday is Tzom Gedaliah - fast begins at 5:05am and ends at 6:41pm.

Gen26 is now open.
Gen26 – the Australian Jewish Community Survey – is now OPEN to Jewish adults aged 18 and over who currently live in Australia and can be completed online only on any device. It takes approximately 30-40 minutes to complete. Complete the survey. Link in the comments.

Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Collins, using the WhatsApp group to confirm a minyan each day.

Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: property set-backs. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Geoff Bloch

On Rosh Hashanah we implore G-d to inscribe us in the Book of Life for the next year. But we first lay the foundation for our request. How so?

The Torah reading of Nitzavim always falls immediately before Rosh Hashana. In it, Moshe asks every single member of the Jewish people to enter into a covenant with G-d prior to entering into the Land of Israel - from the hewer of wood to the drawer of water.

The covenant is G-d’s restated eternal covenant that we will never be utterly forsaken as a people and it is this covenant which we invoke at this time of year.

We remind G-d of both the hewer of wood - Avraham, the very first Jew, who hewed wood for the akeida; and the drawer of water - Eliyahu Hanavi who tested the Prophets of Baal with water and who will accompany the Messiah when he finally arrives.

In other words, Moshe is referring to the whole sweep of Jewish history which, of course, includes us.

We are not spectators who happen to have been born thousands of years after the real action. Jewish history is a work-in-progress which we are just as much a part of as was the generation which conquered the land of Israel and every generation since.

We, too, are party to G-d’s covenant not to forsake us. We rely on that covenant in making our request that we be inscribed in the Book of Life.

03/09/2026

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #46 [4th September 2026]

JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn.

Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:43pm and ends on Saturday at 6:41pm. The weekly Torah portion is Nitzavim-Vayelech.

Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Collins, using the WhatsApp group to confirm a minyan each day.

Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: property set-backs. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Avi Gordon

This week's reading of Nitzavim commences with the words, “Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem – All of you are standing, this day, before the Lord, your G-d.”

After telling us that we are all standing before G-d, the Torah goes on to cite different categories of people within the nation: ‘Your heads’, ‘your elders’, ‘your tribes’, ‘your officers’ etc.

The commentator Alshich Hakadosh asks, if everybody was already included in the initial statement – ‘all of us are standing before G-d’ – why do we need these specifics?

He explains beautifully that the opening statement reveals to us how G-d sees us: without titles, without descriptive terms, without professions and without careers. He sees through to our hearts and to our souls.

The second statement relates to how we see ourselves and others. For titles are only important in the minds of humans.

The message is clear: we should look at our fellow as G-d looks at us.

Without the titles, without the letters after their name, but for the people they genuinely are and the people they can be.

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #46 [4th September 2026] September 4, 2026September 3, 2026 admin JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn. Follow us here. Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:43pm and ends on Saturday at 6:41pm. The weekly Torah portion is Nitzavim-Vayelech. Mincha continues at 1.00pm at ...

27/08/2026

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #45 [28th August 2026]

JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn.

Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:37pm and ends on Saturday at 6:35pm. The weekly Torah portion is Ki Tavo.

Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Collins, using the WhatsApp group to confirm a minyan each day.
Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: property set-backs. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Yehuda Gottlieb

The commentator Chizkuni asks why the commandment of Bikkurim - the first fruit offering - can be fulfilled by designating just one fruit. If the purpose is to thank G-d for the harvest, why not bring a substantial portion of the crop? He explains that the mitzvah is not about the quantity of fruit but about the attitude it creates. The moment a farmer sees the first fig, grape, or pomegranate beginning to ripen, he marks it for G-d. By dedicating the very first sign of success, he acknowledges that the entire harvest comes from G-d.

Gratitude is not something reserved for when all the produce has been gathered and stored, it begins at the first moment that blessing becomes visible. One fruit is enough because it symbolises everything that follows.

This also explains why the declaration of Bikkurim focuses so heavily on the land of Israel: “I have come to the land that G-d swore to our forefathers to give us.” The farmer is not simply saying thank you for a piece of fruit, but rather he is expressing gratitude for the privilege of living in the land that G-d promised to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. The first fruit reminds him that every blessing he enjoys is only possible because G-d fulfilled that promise of yishuv h'aretz - settling the land.

The lesson for us is that true gratitude means looking beyond the immediate blessing and recognising the larger gifts that make it possible. Just as one fruit represents the entire harvest, every success in our lives should remind us of the countless blessings G-d has given us.

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #45 [28th August 2026] August 28, 2026August 27, 2026 admin JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn. Follow us here. Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:37pm and ends on Saturday at 6:35pm. The weekly Torah portion is Ki Tavo. Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Colli...

20/08/2026

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #44 [21st August 2026]

JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn.

Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:31pm and ends on Saturday at 6:30pm. The weekly Torah portion is Ki Teitzei.

Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Collins, using the WhatsApp group to confirm a minyan each day.
Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: property set-backs. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Yudi New

These days we talk alot about intentionality, particularly as it applies to our spiritual lives.

In this week's Torah reading, Ki Teizei, we are given a different perspective.

Among the many interpersonal laws in the portion, the farmer is commanded to leave for the poor the sheaths of wheat which he may have neglected to harvest.

The commentator Rashi confirms that, although the farmer did not intend or plan his generosity, he is rewarded nonetheless.

As he so often does, the Lubavitcher Rebbe applies a twist, explaining that nothing in a person's G-dly service is by chance, not even inadvertently helping another.

Even if we are not feeling it, our positive actions are generated by our inherent desire to do good and tap into our, often latent, G-dly soul.

As we prepare through the month of Elul for the High Holidays, we can burden ourselves with calibrating our intentions to make sure we get it right.

Perhaps, the lesson of the reward for the lost sheaths is that we are already hardwired to get it right.

More than anything, we need to tap into our pure G-dliness and natural will to do good, especially to others who rely upon our support.

Wishing everyone a Shabbat Shalom and Ketivah Vachatima Tova.

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #44 [21st August 2026] August 21, 2026August 20, 2026 admin JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn. Follow us here. Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:31pm and ends on Saturday at 6:30pm. The weekly Torah portion is Ki Teitzei. Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Co...

13/08/2026

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #43 [14th August 2026]

JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn.

Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:26pm and ends on Saturday at 6:25pm. The weekly Torah portion is Shoftim.

Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Collins, using the WhatsApp group to confirm a minyan each day.

Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: property set-backs. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Rafi Goodman

In this week’s Torah reading, we are told to place “judges and officers at all your gates.”

Chassidut explains that every person has “gates” — our eyes, ears and mouth. Through them, the outside world enters us, and through them, we affect the world around us.

The powerful idea is this: not everything that reaches us has to become part of us.

We can’t always control what we see, hear or experience. But we can choose what we give importance to, what we absorb, and what we allow to shape us.

That is real inner freedom.

A Jew is not meant to simply be moulded by the world around them. We are meant to refine it - to take an ordinary moment, conversation or experience and bring a little more truth, kindness and G-dliness into it.

Sometimes changing the world begins simply by guarding the gate.

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #43 [14th August 2026] August 14, 2026August 14, 2026 admin JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn. Follow us here. Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:26pm and ends on Saturday at 6:25pm. The weekly Torah portion is Shoftim. Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Colli...

06/08/2026

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #42 [7th August 2026]

JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn.

Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:20pm and ends on Saturday at 6:19pm. The weekly Torah portion is Re’eh and Mevarchim Chodesh Elul. Rosh Chodesh is on Thursday and Friday.

Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Collins, using the WhatsApp group to confirm a minyan each day.

Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: property set-backs. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to David Prins

The weekly Torah reading of Re’eh opens with a striking grammatical juxtaposition: “See [singular] I set before you [plural] today a blessing and a curse.”

While national destiny is experienced collectively, the moral vision required to shape it remains an individual obligation.

In today’s world, this duality underpins a core challenge, as communities face rising antisemitism. In his foundational work Kol Dodi Dofek first presented 70 years ago, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik distinguished between a “covenant of fate” – unity imposed externally by antisemitic threats and shared vulnerability – and a “covenant of destiny” – unity forged internally through shared spiritual and ethical purpose.

External hostility routinely unites Jewish communities within the plural dimension of fate. Defensive survival permits no alternative. However, achieving sustainable blessing necessitates the singular dimension of destiny. It demands that each individual consciously chooses to construct a positive, cohesive Jewish future. True blessing depends on defining our Jewish identity not based on those who oppose us, but through the eternal values that we collectively and individually choose to uphold.

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #42 [7th August 2026] August 7, 2026August 4, 2026 admin JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn. Follow us here. Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:20pm and ends on Saturday at 6:19pm. The weekly Torah portion is Re’eh and Mevarchim Chodesh Elul. Rosh Chodesh is on Thu...

30/07/2026

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #41 [31st July 2026]

JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn.

Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:14pm and ends on Saturday at 6:14pm. The weekly Torah portion is Eikev.

Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Collins, using the WhatsApp group to confirm a minyan each day.
Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: property set-backs. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Rabbi Dovid Gutnick

A significant contributing factor to anxiety and mental fragility is our desire for certainty in an increasingly uncertain and chaotic world. It is well known that there is a primal but damaging human instinct to crave certainty and total control over every aspect of our lives.

We ordinarily read the famous words from this week’s Torah reading, “Do not say in your heart: ‘My strength and the power of my hand have produced this success for me,’” as a warning against arrogance. The successful person looks back and forgets G-d, forgets those who helped along the way, and imagines himself to be the sole author of his achievements.

But perhaps the verse describes a deeper untruth that we are tempted to tell ourselves “in our hearts,” born not so much from arrogance but from fear and anxiety because human beings find uncertainty so difficult to tolerate. We convince ourselves that everything depends upon my strength, my intelligence and my decisions, because if it does, then perhaps everything can be controlled. My success can be secured, my future predicted, and nothing need lie beyond the reach of my hands.

The Torah responds in its very next words:

“Remember Hashem your G-d, for it is He who gives you the power to create abundance.”

Certainty is found not in the strength of your hands but in the mystery of the Divine reality. To be sure we must actively pursue our dreams, strive and take responsibility; yet we must also resist the fiction that our hands control every outcome.

In the preceding verse, Moshe tells the Jewish people to remember the wilderness and the manna. Manna was an education in uncertainty. They could not manufacture it, secure its long-term supply or fully understand it. They received what they needed one day at a time.

Life is in parts terrifyingly uncertain. We are unsure what tomorrow will bring, and such uncertainty is instinctively uncomfortable. The Torah trains us to hold uncertainty more gently and faithfully, recognising that ultimate certainty is G-d's business.

In these words, Moshe encourages the children of Israel to travel onwards towards the Promised Land despite the uncertainty ahead. We need not know precisely how the story ends in order to write its important next chapter.

Let us learn the wisdom to hold uncertainty faithfully and tenderly. Doing so diminishes the ego. It frees us from the brittle pretence of being all-powerful. It opens us to trust in the Creator of heaven and earth – the only One to whom the uncertain future is already known.

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #41 [31st July 2026] July 31, 2026July 31, 2026 admin JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn. Follow us here. Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:14pm and ends on Saturday at 6:14pm. The weekly Torah portion is Eikev. Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Collins, usin...

23/07/2026

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #40 [24th July 2026]

JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn.

Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:08pm and ends on Saturday at 6:09pm. The weekly Torah portion is Va'etchanan and Shabbat Nachamu. Tu B’Av is on Wednesday.

Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Collins, using the WhatsApp group to confirm a minyan each day.

Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: property set-backs. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Ya'akov Waller

The weekly Torah reading of Va’etchanan commands: “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor subtract from it.” The prohibition against subtraction is obvious. But why should addition be equally objectionable?

The answer may lie in the verses that immediately follow. Moshe recalls the destruction at Baal Peor, contrasting those who were swept away with “you who cleave to Hashem your G-d,” who remained alive. In the aftermath of a tragedy in which the survivors were distinguished by their steadfast loyalty to G-d, the Torah takes an unexpected turn, highlighting the risk of uncontrolled—and ultimately misguided—piety.

The reason for prohibiting both subtraction and addition is stated in the verse itself: we must preserve the commandments of G-d. Addition, no less than subtraction, can alter their content and character. What presents itself as greater devotion may instead substitute our own conception of holiness for G-d’s command.

There are occasions for going beyond the letter of the law. But an addition that reshapes the divine command can be as fundamental a departure as subtraction. In either case, the individual moves from serving G-d to serving something else and, at its worst, places the human being at the centre of divine worship.

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #40 [24th July 2026] July 24, 2026July 23, 2026 admin JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn. Follow us here. Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:08pm and ends on Saturday at 6:09pm. The weekly Torah portion is Va’etchanan and Shabbat Nachamu. Tu B’Av is on Wednesday....

16/07/2026

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #39 [17th July 2026]

JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn.

Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:03pm and ends on Saturday at 6:04pm. The weekly Torah portion is Devarim and Shabbat Chazon. If Moshiach does not come, Tish’a B’Av fast starts on Wednesday at 5:25pm and ends on Thursday at 6:00pm.

Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Collins, using the WhatsApp group to confirm a minyan each day.

Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm at A-P GF/459 Collins – and via zoom. Current topic: property set-backs. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.


Thought of the Week with thanks to Jeremy Herz

This week’s haftarah, after which Shabbat Chazon is named and which is always read before Tisha b’Av, contains the prophet Isaiah's rebuke of a corrupt society that continued its religious rituals while neglecting justice, honesty and compassion. It includes the word “eicha” and, according to many traditions, is largely read in the mournful tune of Megillat Eicha.

“[21] How [Eicha] has the faithful city become a harlot! Righteousness slept there – but now they murder! [22] Your money has been counterfeited, your wine is diluted with water. [23] Your officers are wayward and a band of thieves – they all love bribes and seek paybacks; they do not judge the orphan, and the plight of the widow does not reach them!”

The commentator Malbim explains that these verses are framed as a conversation between Isaiah and an incredulous individual who returns to Jerusalem after an absence and finds the city in a state of moral decay.

In verse 21, the questioner cannot understand how such a dramatic decline could have occurred so suddenly. Isaiah responds in verses 22–23 that the degeneration was, in fact, gradual. Murder was only the final stage of a process that began with seemingly lesser forms of wrongdoing: counterfeit money, diluted wine and corruption. Once people became desensitised to dishonesty and exploitation, the foundations had been laid for cruelty and violence.

The trajectory of a society is ultimately shaped by our ordinary interactions with one another. By insisting on honesty, fairness and sensitivity in the “small” things, each individual contributes meaningfully to the moral health of the community as a whole.

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #39 [17th July 2026] July 17, 2026July 16, 2026 admin JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn. Follow us here. Shabbat starts on Friday at 5:03pm and ends on Saturday at 6:04pm. The weekly Torah portion is Devarim and Shabbat Chazon. If Moshiach does not come, Tish.....

09/07/2026

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #38 [10th July 2026]

JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn.

Shabbat starts on Friday at 4:58pm and ends on Saturday at 6:00pm. The weekly Torah portion is Matot-Masei / Chazak and Mevarchim Chodesh Av. Rosh Chodesh is on Wednesday.

Mincha continues at 1.00pm at A-P GF/459 Collins, using the WhatsApp group to confirm a minyan each day.

Weekly sushi & shiur continues on Wed at 1.10pm at A-P GF/459 Collins - and via zoom. Current topic: property set-backs. Details here and on the WhatsApp group.

Thought of the Week with thanks to Ezra May

The weekly reading of Matot-Masei is invariably read during the Three Weeks - the period in which we mourn the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.

The opening words of the reading commands, "lo yachel devaro – a person shall not profane his word."

The Rabbis teach that our words possess tremendous power. They can build relationships and societies or destroy them.

They also teach us that the Second Temple was destroyed because of sinat chinam—baseless hatred. While hatred begins in the heart, it is mostly expressed through speech: gossip, insults and humiliation that leave lasting wounds.

Perhaps this is why Matot begins with the sanctity of speech. If the Temple was destroyed through the misuse of our words, its rebuilding begins with using our words for kindness and peace. Every kind word spoken, every argument avoided, and every effort to bring peace between people is another step towards transforming these days of mourning into days of joy.

Shabbat Shalom v 16 #38 [10th July 2026] July 10, 2026July 9, 2026 admin JBD – Jews of the Melbourne CBD is now on LinkedIn. Follow us here. Shabbat starts on Friday at 4:58pm and ends on Saturday at 6:00pm. The weekly Torah portion is Matot-Masei / Chazak and Mevarchim Chodesh Av. Rosh Chodesh is...