The Brisbane Synagogue

Archive for February, 2019

Although we have just entered the happy month of Adar, today was a sad day for our community, as we bade farewell to one of our great communal stalwarts, the late Michael Solomon OAM, of blessed memory. Please see below tribute to late Michael OBM in this regard.

Mortgages and home-loans have been very much on the  agenda this past week. Families sign away a sizeable chunk of their income for thirty years or so to acquire a home. The sages of the Talmud go so far as to say that “a man without a homestead is not a man.”

A home is more than a roof to keep out the rain, walls to keep out unwanted visitors, a kitchen in which to prepare food and a bed in which to sleep. Forts, office buildings, hotels and restaurants can perform those functions as well, or better, than any residence. But only at home is a person at home. Home is where you can make faces at the mirror, walk around in pyjamas, and eat pickles with peanut butter—because you feel like it.

Hashem, too, desires a home—a place where He can be fully and uninhibitedly Himself. The chassidic masters ask: Why did Hashem create the physical world? What can our coarse, finite, strife-ridden existence give Him that the spiritual dimensions of creation cannot? And they answer: G‑d created the physical world because He wanted a home—a place where He may reside and feel comfortable among our physical lives and our universe.

This week we read of the construction of Hashem’s first home, the Mishkan – Tabernacle, which was a two-room, 45-by-15-foot building, which was positioned in the very centre of the Israelite camp in the desert, and was designed so that it could be dismantled and reassembled as they wandered from place to place for the forty years between their exodus from Egypt and their entry into the Holy Land. Later, a larger and more permanent version was constructed on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Although we no longer have the physical Mishkan, nevertheless, the instruction to build an abode for Hashem exists spiritually, as each of us is responsible to build within our heart and soul a place of sanctity, a dwelling place for the Divine presence, through our conscience engagement with the world for the sake of a higher purpose and goal.

May we very soon merit the ultimate blessing of the third and final Bet Hamikdash, in which Hashem’s presence will once again be manifestly revealed for the entire world to experience.

Please consider signing up for and joining us over the next 6 weeks for our upcoming fascinating JLI Course, Crime and Consequence. Please see information and booking link below. 

Shabbat Shalom

Levi and Dvorah Jaffe

This week we read of the various civil laws of the Torah which form the bedrock of western civil law and society, such as redress of damages, the granting of loans and the responsibilities of guardianship and the rules governing the conduct of justice by courts of law.

It is quite timely that this Parsha comes as Australia awaits the handing down of the Banking Royal Commission report, which demonstrates the importance of proper governance of law with regards monetary matters which, unfortunately causes many to allow themselves to be corrupted, if gone unchecked and not properly regulated.

From a Jewish perspective, money and material wealth is not the ‘root of all evil’ but rather, like all aspects of the material world, are created to be harnessed towards the fulfillment of our combined mission on earth, namely to elevate ourselves and the world towards a higher purpose through positive acts of goodness and kindness.          

This week many of our children have commenced the new school year, and many of us parents are concerned about how we may make the new school year positive and successful for our children. There are many strategies in guiding our children in this regard, though here is one tip I believe to be possibly the most crucial.

The content children learn in school is often forgotten after exams/tests or in some cases (with our ever changing world), will lose its relevance. What we really want more than anything else out of the school experience is for our children not merely to learn, but to become learners. The goal of education is not only to absorb material and content. Rather we want our students to develop a deep love of learning and excitement and determination to pursue knowledge, and to become independent learners after they leave School.

The most effective way to inspire our children in this regard is to demonstrate by example that learning is a lifelong experience. When children witness parents pursuing education with joy and enthusiasm they absorb the powerful message that learning does not end at the conclusion of a class or at the end of the school experience.

So if there is one powerful thing you can do for your children as they begin the new year it is to engage in your own learning, and in particular, Jewish learning. On this note, please consider joining us over the next 6 weeks for our upcoming fascinating JLI Course, Crime and Consequence. Please see information and booking link below. 

This Shabbat, being Shabbat Mevarchim Adar, which blesses the incoming happy month of Adar we will, as  we have done in previous months, gather earlier at Shul prior to the service at 7.30am tomorrow morning, for the recital of the book of Psalms, to which you are welcome to join. Following the service we will enjoy a scrumptious Cholent Kiddush.  

This year, being a Jewish leap year, we add an extra month of Adar Sheni (2), thus we are blessed with double the joy!           

Shabbat Shalom, Chodesh Tov, and successful academic year for all, materially and spiritually.

Levi and Dvorah Jaffe

Thank you Rabbi MIchael Gourarie of BINA for inspiring some of the above content