Parashat Beshallach 5779 Meir Sendor We have a lemon tree in our front yard whose fruits ripen throughout the winter season, and this week we picked two large baskets full. We’ve had a very rainy winter in Israel, and though…
Start Up Nation
Parashat Bo 5779 Meir Sendor Livnot U’Lehibanot, the fine and effective educational organization in Tzfat that inspires love for Israel through programs offering hiking, volunteering and learning, also hosts Birthright groups and their extension programs under the banner “Mountains and…
Preferred Pronouns
Parashat Va-era 5779 Meir Sendor One of the participants in a shiur I taught on prayer told me that she talks to HaShem constantly throughout the day, not just at the three official daily times of tefillah, Shacharit, Minchah, Maariv.…
Mamaloshen
Parashat Shemot 5779 Meir Sendor The twenty-first of Tevet is Yom Ivrit in Israel – Hebrew Language Day. It’s set on the birthday of Eliezer Ben-Yehudah (1858-1922), the linguist and lexicographer who, with single-minded devotion, was instrumental in helping to…
All for One and One for All
Parashat Vayechi 5779 Meir Sendor I’ve been getting used to the Edot ha-Mizrach liturgy and customs of the Moroccan Kehillah we attend. It’s more wordy than Ashkenaz liturgy, but there are some nice flourishes. For instance, when a man gets…
Gathering In
Parashat Vayigash 5779 Meir Sendor This week Yaffa Batya DaCosta, the founder of the Israeli organization Ezra L’Anousim came to meet with me, prompted by last week’s blog post that featured the story of a woman from Brazil who discovered…
The Guiding Light
Parashat Miketz 5779 Meir Sendor I have been teaching a series on Talmudic mysticism at a women’s Beit Midrash in Tzfat, and this week at the end of the shiur we discussed some of the mystical aspects of Hanukkah based…
Remember Who You Are
Parashat VaYeshev 5779 Meir Sendor The congregation of the Beit HaKnesset we attend is largely Moroccan. It was founded by a building contractor who directed the construction himself, and he took care with it, so it’s pretty nicely appointed. As…
Badge of Courage
Parashat VaYishlach 5779 Meir Sendor Israeli journalist Hanoch Daum recently featured on his Facebook page the story of Captain Ziv Shilon. Six years ago, Captain Shilon was critically wounded by an explosive device while on patrol along the border of…
Rock and Roll
Parashat VaYetze 5779 Meir Sendor In the midst of the bombardment with 460 or so rockets that Hamas launched this week against the Israeli civilian communities of the South causing death, injury and destruction, in the midst of Israel’s retaliation…
