The Brisbane Synagogue

Archive for June, 2024

Due to some omissions from this newsletter, which was sent out last night, we are resending again today before Shabbat. Our apology for these omissions and the late hour of this post.
In conversation yesterday with one of our distinguished senior members, the topic of large families and good old-fashioned nutritious home-cooked food came up in our discussion. He was bemoaning the fact that when he was raised in pre-war Europe, his mother would work alongside his father from nine to five, yet she still managed to come home and prepare delicious three course meals each night for the family. We also discussed about how in his grandparent’s era it was common for parents with relatively low incomes to raise large families.
What has changed? Like many things in life, much of this has to do, not with our capabilities but rather priorities. When something is important for us, we seem to find ways to make them happen and conversely, when we are not interested, we find all the excuses to explain why we are unable to achieve.
This week we read about twelve upstanding leaders of the Jewish people, handpicked by Moshe (Moses), to check out the land of Israel (then known as Canaan), and bring back a report. Tragically, this story did not end well, as these men (with the exception of two) returned full of negativity, concluding that it would be impossible to conquer the land, thus the Jewish nation remained wandering in the desert for forty years.
Many commentators ask how come such great leaders failed their mission so miserably? According to the Chassidic masters, their failure was a result of their aspirations and priorities, as pious as they were, having not being aligned with the Divine will. They had become too comfortable with the spiritual cocoon of the desert life, in which all of their physical needs were provided for miraculously by Hashem, food from heaven, water from a rock, and protection from the elements by the Clouds of Glory, enabling them to dedicate their lives to spiritual pursuits. All very nice and altruistic however, the Divine will was for the people to enter the land and begin to live within the natural order. To translate their spiritual yearnings into creating a spiritual abode for Hashem within the physical constraints of our world.
It would appear that the issue of misplaced priorities and excuses to suit them is not a new phenomenon. Let’s learn from the past and create a future filled with healthy priorities and the positive outcomes, which will lead us successfully and peacefully to the Promised Land of Israel with the ultimate redemption.
In order to ensure that we may secure regular Minyanim, we have now set up a ‘Minyan Management’ Whatsapp group, so that we may communicate in advance to confirm our numbers for the respective Synagogue services. Please let us know by return email if you would like to be included in the group, as it will be appreciated greatly if we could have as many people as possible on this group.
Shabbat Shalom and we look forward to seeing you at Shul.
Rabbi Levi & DvorahJaffe

In conversation yesterday with one of our distinguished senior members, the topic of large families and good old-fashioned nutritious home-cooked food came up in our discussion. He was bemoaning the fact that when he was raised in pre-war Europe, his mother would work alongside his father from nine to five, yet she still managed to come home and prepare delicious three course meals each night for the family. We also discussed about how in his grandparent’s era it was common for parents with relatively low incomes to raise large families.
What has changed? Like many things in life, much of this has to do, not with our capabilities but rather priorities. When something is important for us, we seem to find ways to make them happen and conversely, when we are not interested, we find all the excuses to explain why we are unable to achieve.
This week we read about twelve upstanding leaders of the Jewish people, handpicked by Moshe (Moses), to check out the land of Israel (then known as Canaan), and bring back a report. Tragically, this story did not end well, as these men (with the exception of two) returned full of negativity, concluding that it would be impossible to conquer the land, thus the Jewish nation remained wandering in the desert for forty years.
Many commentators ask how come such great leaders failed their mission so miserably? According to the Chassidic masters, their failure was a result of their aspirations and priorities, as pious as they were, having not being aligned with the Divine will. They had become too comfortable with the spiritual cocoon of the desert life, in which all of their physical needs were provided for miraculously by Hashem, food from heaven, water from a rock, and protection from the elements by the Clouds of Glory, enabling them to dedicate their lives to spiritual pursuits. All very nice and altruistic however, the Divine will was for the people to enter the land and begin to live within the natural order. To translate their spiritual yearnings into creating a spiritual abode for Hashem within the physical constraints of our world.
It would appear that the issue of misplaced priorities and excuses to suit them is not a new phenomenon. Let’s learn from the past and create a future filled with healthy priorities and the positive outcomes, which will lead us successfully and peacefully to the Promised Land of Israel with the ultimate redemption.
In order to ensure that we may secure regular Minyanim, we have now set up a ‘Minyan Management’ Whatsapp group, so that we may communicate in advance to confirm our numbers for the respective Synagogue services. Please let us know by return email if you would like to be included in the group, as it will be appreciated greatly if we could have as many people as possible on this group.
Shabbat Shalom and we look forward to seeing you at Shul.
Rabbi Levi & DvorahJaffe