Tal Orot: a Jewish Contemplative Society

The Vision

Tal Orot is a society for the refinement of Jewish spiritual and ethical awareness.  Our society seeks to promote wider familiarity with the full range of Jewish contemplative practices, to help cultivate a mature approach to Jewish spiritual life. The program includes training in authentic Jewish meditation and prayer techniques correlated with in-depth text study. Traditional Jewish meditation and contemplative prayer can have a transformative impact on personal and interpersonal sensitivity and effective action. The overall goal of our program is to foster expansive consciousness and awakened conscience.

יִחְיוּ מֵתֶיךָ נְבֵלָתִי יְקוּמוּן הָקִיצוּ וְרַנְּנוּ שֹׁכְנֵי עָפָר כִּי טַל אוֹרֹת טַלֶּךָ וָאָרֶץ רְפָאִים תַּפִּיל

The name Tal Orot comes from Isaiah 26:19, a reference to the stimulus for the ultimate revival of the end of days. The kabbalistic tradition reads the phrase as “dew of lights,” the illuminating flow of divine mind that gently infuses, refreshes and inspires collective human consciousness.

Tal Orot offers workshops in authentic Jewish meditation and contemplative prayer techniques correlated with study of traditional text sources relating to the training of consciousness to cultivate ethical and spiritual growth. We are now located in Efrat, part of Gush Etzion. We endeavor to fulfill the verse in Isaiah 2:3

“כִּי מִצִּיּוֹן תֵּצֵא תוֹרָה וּדְבַר ה’ מִירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם”

We are structured as a non-hierarchical, non-denominational society, in which the insights and experiences of all members are welcomed, shared and respected. Tal Orot expresses our vision for a contemplative society open to all Jews that can contribute to the spiritual and ethical vitality of Jewish life in Israel, North America and around the world.

Programs

Tal Orot workshops offer training in authentic Jewish meditation methods from the philosophic, kabbalistic and hasidic traditions. The experiential focus of Tal Orot is enriched by the study of traditional source-texts in Jewish philosophy, kabbalah, hasidism and ethics, and contemporary studies in the phenomenology of consciousness. Meditation workshops range from ongoing daily and weekly meetings to intensive programs of various durations. As of August 2020, all of our classes are using online technology, which allows us to connect to people all over the world. We are building our website to feature interactive webinars, recorded exercises and related materials, to cultivate a world-wide Jewish contemplative community. Articles and books are also planned.

Staff

Rabbi Meir Sendor, Ph.D., serves as the facilitator for Tal Orot. After serving as the rabbinic leader of the Young Israel of Sharon for thirty-two years, Rabbi Sendor and his wife Anne moved to Tzfat, Israel in the summer of 2016. With rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University and a doctorate from Harvard University in medieval Jewish history, with special expertise in the history of Kabbalah and Jewish philosophy, Rabbi Sendor teaches a wide range of subjects, from kabbalah, philosophy and hasidism to talmudic and biblical commentary, halakhah and ethics. He uses his three decades of experience teaching Torah and meditation in the Sharon and the Greater Boston area to implement this program in Israel.

Anne Sendor is the Executive Director of Tal Orot. A teacher for over forty years, with a background in Jewish studies and social psychology from Clark University, Torah studies from Shapell College for Women, and experience in programming and administration for educational non-profit organizations, Anne brings a wealth of resources to the development of Tal Orot as a dynamic society contributing to Israeli and Jewish culture worldwide.

Other scholars and practitioners will be engaged as facilitators on a regular and guest basis, and all participants will be invited to share their wisdom and experience.