The Brisbane Synagogue

Archive for June, 2021

Due to the current lockdown, which concluded on Friday evening at 6pm, there will be no Friday evening Kabbalat Shabbat  service at the Brisbane Synagogue this week, however the Shabbat  – Saturday Morning Service will proceed as usual. The weekly Erev Shabbat zoom service will be conducted this Friday at 4.30pm. via our usual link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85085122008

Please be aware that, for the next two weeks, it is mandatory for everyone attending the Synagogue to wear masks, practice social distancing and sanitize hands. For those attending Shabbat services, it is imperative that you pre-register via our website at www.brishc.com  as we we will unable to write down your name or use a QR code.

Our anticipated Shabbat Mevarchim Kiddush will take place the following Shabbat, Parshat Matot Masei, on July 10, which coincides with Rosh Chodesh Menchem Av.   

Hopefully the lockdown will only last for three days. If, for any reason it is extended, the Shabbat – Saturday morning service will be canceled as well.

We have Baruch Hashem received our vaccinations. Please make every effort to receive yours too, for the well-being of all of us.

This week, we read among other topics, about the various Jewish festivals and the various special offerings associated with special days on the annual calendar. However we also read of the daily Tamid – constant offering, brought each morning to inaugurate the daily Temple service, and each afternoon, rain or shine, wrap up the daily hectic day.

Our lives are comprised of a mesh of constants and variables. Getting out of bed every day: a constant. What time we get up: a variable.

We eat constantly, but what we eat varies. Most of us surf the net daily, but how long our eyes are glued to the screen depends on our level of boredom.

In Judaism, as well, we have the constants: daily prayer and study, ethical behavior, kosher, and boring speeches. And we have the variables: holidays, ceremonies, Yom Kippur, a guest speaker.

Isn’t change preferable over the predictable? Can we all agree with the teenage motto, “Normal is boring”?

So who needs constants? Why don’t we have a holiday every day?

Amid all the change was a pillar of stability: the Tamid sacrifice. .

We each have a Holy Temple inside of us. We each need our Tamids, our constants.

Change is great, but only within the framework of stability. Too many variables in life, like the “celebrity life,” put one on the front cover of tabloids. There have to be certain aspects of life that are etched in stone. Your commitment to your marriage, children, ethics, G‑d, your health, the world.

Once you have stability as your bedrock, then, by all means, shake the applecart, take a vacation, do something abnormal (like calling up a friend from high school), buy an unusually beautiful pair of tefillin. Live it up!

May we soon merit to join together with our loved ones, for happy festivities, in good health.

Shabbat Shalom and may we share good news.

Levi and Dvorah Jaffe

Thank you Rabbi Levi Avtzon for the above message 

This Sunday will be the fast of Tammuz, as we commence the Three weeks, a period of mourning in the Jewish calendar, as we commemorate the destruction of ancient Jerusalem and the Bet Hamikdash (Holy Temple).

The Talmud teaches us that the primary reason which led to the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash, was due to Sinat Chinam (Baseless hate) and therefore, to counteract this sad time and transform these weeks from sadness to joy, we should focus on Ahavat Chinam, (unconditional love).

From a Jewish perspective, we always look for the positive and uplifting elements within every situation and experience, and our sages teach us that, within these three weeks are contained unique potential for us to reveal goodness and blessings, particularly through the study of the Bet Hamikdash, in the words of our sages,”one who studies the building of the Temple, is as if they are actually building it”. Please consider joining us for our upcoming three week course in this regard, entitled, Heaven On Earth – Timeless Vessels, Timeless Lessons.

Please note that we will hold a Shacharit (morning) service this Sunday for the fast of Tammuz at 7.30am, at which we will read from the Torah.

As we read this week of the infamous prophet Bilaam, who was hired to curse the Jewish people, and all his intended curses were transformed into blessings, so too, may all negativity and sadness be transformed into revealed goodness and joy, with the rebuilding of the third and final Bet Hamikdash in Yerushalyim (Jerusalem)

Shabbat Shalom and may we share good news.

Levi and Dvorah Jaffe