Stand Up and Be Counted Parashat Hayye Sarah 5779 We participated this week in our first elections in Israel, a municipal election for mayor and the city council, and it was a moving experience to be part of the democratic…
Outside Looking In
Parashat Lekh Lekha 5779 Meir Sendor The hot topic in Tzfat these days is the upcoming municipal elections in two weeks. It’s a five year term for mayor and there’s a lot at stake. Tzfat is far from the hi-tech…
Standing Together
Parashat Ha’azinu 5779 Meir Sendor Israel mourns the martyrdom of Ari Fuld, zekher kadosh livrakhah, murdered by a terrorist this week in Gush Etzion. He was a heroic figure in the Gush and far beyond, much admired for his strong,…
A Different Drum
Parashat Shelach 5778 Over the last weeks the fire kite and balloon arson from Gaza has intensified and become a significant problem for the surrounding Israeli communities, with thousands of acres of farmland destroyed. This tactic uses the West wind,…
Renovation Road
Parashat Behukotai 5778 This week our Self Renovation workshop, a joint program between Tal Orot and Livnot U’Lehibanot, is in full swing. A number of adventurous adults have joined us here in Tzfat, most from the States, one person from…
This Land is God’s Land
Parashat Behar 5778 Meir Sendor This is our first spring tending the garden we started last fall, and it’s in bloom now, with figs and lemons ripening, the summer vegetables getting started, bees humming in the flowers, ladybugs beginning to…
Dependence Day
Acharei Mot/ Kedoshim 5778 Meir Sendor There’s a special feeling to Yom HaAtzmaut this year, celebrating seventy years since the founding of the State of Israel. In Pirkei Avot it says “seventy years signifies the venerability of old age (5:27),”…
Delicacies New and Old
Pesach 5778 Meir Sendor Among the long-term challenges of olim hadashim is achieving full fluency at speed in conversational Hebrew. We’re progressing, and I teach a few shiurim in Hebrew, but I’ve still got a long way to go, and…
Hide and Seek
Purim–Parashat Ki Tissa 5778 Meir Sendor Israel in general, and Tzfat in particular, are pretty good at doing Purim. In the week before the dress code is haute couture – the other haute. Little children are sent to school in…
Hearts and Flowers
Parashat Tetzaveh 5778 Meir Sendor This is the season in which the lupines flower in Israel, so this week we took the opportunity to visit Givat haTurmosim, Hill of the Lupines in the Elah Valley, on a beautiful spring-like day…
