Parshat Ki Tavo Rabbi Meir Sendor Our daughter-in-law sent along a note she received this week from our granddaughter’s math teacher: R. was so beautiful in Maths on Friday. We were learning about probability, the concept of things that will…
Justice of Justice
Parshat Shoftim 5776 Rabbi Meir Sendor This week we started Ulpan in Tzfat. It’s a second level course known as אולפן תעסוקה, Occupational Ulpan, focusing on technical terminology and practical expressions used in the work world, blue collar and white.…
Not-So-Simple Gifts
Parshat Ekev 5776 Rabbi Meir Sendor We met this week with the Chief Rabbi of Tzfat, Rav Shmuel Eliyahu, shlit”a. Since we have moved to Tzfat to teach in his jurisdiction, it was the thing to do, to introduce ourselves…
Precious Stones
Parshat Matot 5776 Life of souls is the air of your Land, of pure myrrh is your powdered dust, and honey from the comb – your rivers (R. Yehudah Halevi, ‘Zion’). One of the favorite Tzfat stories concerns the great…
Dark Gravity
Parshat Pinchas 5776 שיר השירים פרק ו יא) אל גנת אגוז ירדתי לראות באבי הנחל לראות הפרחה הגפן הנצו הרמנים יב) לא ידעתי נפשי שמתני מרכבות עמי נדיב: “To the nut garden I went down, to see the buds…
Morid Ha-Tal
Parshat Hukkat 5776 Meir Sendor In Erez Yisrael in the long dry summer season the phrase “morid ha-Tal” is added to the Amidah, in nusach Ashkenaz as well as Sefarad. We praise HaShem Who “brings down the dew” in the…
Aliyah ve-Klitah – Ascent and Absorption
In the Gemara Megillah 17b the Rabbis ask what prompted the men of the Great Assembly, who arranged the blessings of the Shmonah Esreh in a specific order, to place the blessing for ingathering of the exiles after the blessing…
