Parashat Tazria/ Mezora 5780 Meir Sendor The basic mitzvah of Sefirat haOmer, in which we are engaged during this season, is simply to count aloud, day by day, each of the forty-nine days of the seven weeks from Pesach to…
Rollercoaster Ride
Shevi’I shel Pesach – Parashat Shemini 5780 Meir Sendor It’s often the case that a crisis doesn’t hit as a single, momentary event but unfolds in a series of oscillating waves, and it’s vital to stay awake and shift tactics…
Going Viral
Parashat Tetzaveh 5780 by Meir Sendor Heidi Wyle, a friend of ours, is a principal with a startup in China and reported first-hand in a powerful op-ed last week in the Boston Globe on the way the Chinese have responded…
The Real Deal
Parashat Bo 5780 by Meir Sendor Rabbi Shaul Yedidya Eleazar Taub (1886-1947), the scholarly and musically talented Modzitzer Rebbe, ztz”l, lived through two world wars, narrowly escaped Poland as the Nazis were closing in, made his way via Japan to…
Holy Chutzpah
Parashat Va’era 5780 Meir Sendor As leaders from all over the world converge on Jerusalem this week to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, it’s clear that a large part of the battle between Israel versus the…
Armed and Ready
Parashat Shemot 5780 by Meir Sendor Rabbi Yosi in the Gemara Hagigah (12b) says: Woe to people who see but don’t know what they are seeing, who stand but don’t know what they are standing on. The earth, on what…
Hear to Heart
Parashat Noach 5780 by Meir Sendor I’m grateful to have permission to relate the following story in accurate but sufficiently vague terms to protect confidentiality. A friend was hospitalized recently for several days of observation for a heart condition that…
Eternal Return of the New
Parashat Bereshit 5780 by Meir Sendor I joined some friends this past week to celebrate the combined Yom Tov of Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah at the Beit HaKnesset HaTzaddik HaLavan – the Synagogue of the White Tzaddik, also known…
Waterworks
Chol HaMoed Sukkot 5780 Meir Sendor Israel’s second round of elections remains inconclusive, as Knesset members continue to wrangle over whether and how to form a unity government. Most Israelis I speak with, from a wide range of political persuasions,…
How Are You Doing?
Yom Kippur 5780 by Meir Sendor We’ve been very impressed with the Blake Street Kehillah of Melbourne, and the Melbourne Jewish community in general. We’ve found the members to be warm and caring, with a sincere modesty, a strong Jewish…
