Dear Friends,
These weeks go by so fast! Here's your weekly reminder of what we're doing here on the Gold Coast to celebrate this week:
- Friday evening at the Southport Community Centre, Room F5, at 6.30PM. Service to welcome Shabbat, followed by an Oneg featuring everybody's culinary offerings. $15 per person requested donation and bring a dish to share.
- Saturday at the Levy home. 11.00AM Service followed by lunch provided. Then, after lunch a bit of Pirkei Avot. $15 per person requested donation.
Sound familiar? Looking forward to seing you!
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TIsha B'Av - the Fast of the Ninth of Av - is approaching; it will take place from sunset on Saturday, 25 July through sunset on Sunday, 26 July. I encourage you to participate in this fast for the contemplation of the historical condition of the Jewish people. If you have any health conditions that would contraindicate fasting, I recommend that you not even think about participating.
But fasting or not, we invite you to come to the Levy home on Sunday afternoon at 3.00PM for study, special prayers, and breaking the fast. A light evening meal of soup, salad and bread will be provided. We're asking a $15 donation as with most of our services. Please let us know if you're coming. Remember, that's 26 July: not this coming Sunday!
(The special gathering next Sunday will be in addition to the regular Shabbat gatherings.)
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Thank you so much for those who have agreed to sponsor siddurs. As you remember, I obtained 72 pristine copies of Mishkan T'filah for Weekdays and Festivals, free except for shipping, from a large congregation in the USA. We will inaugurate these books on Tish B'Av. The cost of shipping them to us comes to just under AUD $18 per book. We're asking you to prayerfully consider how many books you would 'sponsor' by paying for the shipping. So far, we have donations or pldeges to cover about half of the books. Who ELse will step forward?
A couple of individuals have also asked if they could actually buy one of the books for their own use. We can do that; 72 books is more than we need at present, and more (at the same terms) are always available to us. So if you want to purchase a book to take home, you can pay AUD $50 which is close to what they sell for in the USA (not including shipping). But note, if you already have the single-volume Mishkan T'filah as used by UPJ congregations, then you already have everything in this book.
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We haven't yet set a new date for the Yard Sale, but we're still willing to take your second-hand treasures that are taking up your space, off your hands. Let me know if you have anything.
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We're now in a series of weekly thoughts in the area of Shemirat Lashon, literally 'Guarding the Tongue' but referring to the vast body of Jewish law concerning forbidden communications via speech or writing of any kind.
I believe with all my heart that this is THE problem in the Jewish community today; its pervasiveness makes a mockery of all our claims of the mantle of Torah. The essence of the laws is that we are forbidden to convey any adverse information about someone else except in very limited, rare circumstances. I cannot over-emphasise this; Not a week goes by that I do not personally see the dleterious effects of Evilspeak in our Jewish community!
I'm bringing to you the teachings of the Chofetz Chaim, Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan (1839-1933), who published extensively on the subject and indeed is considered the all-time master teacher on what the Torah has to say about it.
Rabbi Kagan teaches: It is forbidden to relate derogatory information about someone even when you mention that you yourself have the very same shortcoming or have committed the same act. Even if our intention in doing so is pure, such as rreassuring someone that they are not alone in some shortcoming.
I have to tell you, this is an easy one to transgress. I know that I have done it, when someone asked me for help them to overcome some behavior. I unthinkingly told them: Don't feel too bad...I do that sometimes myself, and others you know - for example So-and-so - have caught themselves doing it. You see? My immediate aim was to provide the person the comfort of knowing that his was a common failing, and yet in trying to buck him up i ended up 'outing' someone else for behavior that is already understood to be negative.
Bottom line: Just remember that the circumstances when it is okay to talk about someone else's failures are so few that we should just consider it forbidden, period.
I hope that everybody is having a great week and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on Shabbat!
Rabbi Don
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