Dear [first_name],

What a wonderful country we live in! The Prime Minister of Israel - the representative of Am Yisrael - visits and is honoured by the presence of the Prime Minister of Australia, the Premier of NSW, two former Prime Ministers and a host of dignitaries.

The two Prime Ministers then speak of the great affinity that exists between Australia and Israel.

What an amazing honour to be present on such an auspicious occasion.

To paraphrase our daily prayers, "How lucky we are, how goodly our portion, how pleasant our lot, how beautiful our inheritance", to be Jewish and living in this blessed country Australia.

* * * * *

This week is Parashat Shekalim where we read of the obligation of every Jew to give a gift of one half shekel to the Temple.

Why a half a shekel?

It has often been explained that we learn from this that we are only a half - that without the "other" we are not whole.

This is certainly true.

But there is another lesson here as well. And that is that without us, the "other" is not whole either!

So on the one hand, we must realize that we are only half and cannot do it on our own. On the other, we must know that without our unique contribution - something that we, and only we, can give - the world will b

This is summed up by one of our great rabbis who said: Just as a person must be aware of his shortcomings, he must be equally aware of his qualities. Only this double awareness can lead us all to the realization of our full potential.

With best wishes for a good Shabbos, on behalf of the Rebbetzin and all of us at South Head.

Rabbi Benzion Milecki OAM

President's Message

Each year I get invited to the Smith Lecture by my friend Bill Hurditch. Bill is one of the members of the committee to honour the memory of Anglican theologian Bruce Smith, who taught at the University of Sydney and died young. The 2016 Smith Lecture was one of the best: it was delivered by Dr Bruce Robinson, an endocrinologist from Perth (he is a professor at the University of Western Australia and a specialist in lung cancer) who was the West Australian of the Year in 2013 for his work in establishing the Fathering Project.

As Bruce explained things, mothers have natural maternal instincts that make it clear to children how important they are. For fathers it is different. Many fathers do not concern themselves enough with what happens with their children. The Fathering Project aims to fix this shortcoming in the following ways: Read More

The Shule thanks our anonymous sponsor for tonight's Kiddush.

If you would like to sponsor a Kiddush in honour of a Simcha, Birthday or a Yahrtzeit please contact Shmuly on 0401 558 223 or shmuly@southhead.org.

Once I embarked on my chosen career, I had occasion to write to the Rebbe several times to ask for advice. I recall that in one letter he sent me a monograph about the Menorah in the Temple. And he explained that any Jew can light the Menorah. The Kohen, of the priestly class, must clean the wick and supervise the lighting, but really any Jew can light the lamps. The important thing is not to remove the fire before the lamp is burning on its own. So I wrote to the Rebbe to make sure I understood what he was telling me: "Do you mean I have to look after my students until their light can burn on its own, because they need my knowledge and support until then?" And he answered, "Yes." Read More

The Parasha in a nutshell:

• Moshe begins to explain the 613 Mitzvot in detail to the Jewish people.
• The Jewish people are taught all about the civil laws that they are required to keep.
• Some of the Mitzvot which the Parasha talks about are keeping Kosher, telling the truth, not accepting bribes and a the laws of how to deal with a Jewish slave.

To learn about the Parasha in more detail, download our Parasha sheet!