Parashat Terumah 5779 Meir Sendor We took some time from our usual schedule last week and visited the nature reserve at Mount Arbel on a beautiful sunny day. The Arbel features steep cliffs with dramatic views overlooking the Kinneret and…
Graven Images
Parashat Mishpatim 5779 Meir Sendor We spent a few days in Tiberias last week, on the shore of the Kinneret. It’s only forty minutes or so from our home, but at 200 meters below sea level, it was significantly warmer…
Storm System
Parashat Yitro 5779 Meir Sendor The recent storm system that blew through Israel dropped 53cm (21 inches) of fresh snow on already snow-capped Mount Hermon. We have a view of the mountain from our home and it’s a majestic and…
Bitter but Good
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…
