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…
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),”…
Family Ties
Parashat Tazria/ Metzora 5778 Meir Sendor Our next-door neighbor was sitting Shivah this week for the passing of her sister, and people in the neighborhood who know the family were coming by for condolence calls and to help make the…
True Blue
Hol haMoed Pesach 5778 Meir Sendor During Hol haMoed we took a day trip with some of our children and grandchildren to Kibbutz Nahsholim on the Mediterranean coast just south of Haifa, to attend the Marine Tour sponsored by Ptil…
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…
Amazing Place
Parashat Terumah 5778 Meir Sendor We Jews value knowledge and our approach to Torah study is often oriented towards gaining knowledge and competence in mitzvot and halakhot, maybe even towards deeper analysis of their meaning, maybe even towards gaining wisdom…
Teamwork
Parashat Mishpatim 5778 Meir Sendor Our olive tree had a branch overhanging our neighbors’ driveway and was dropping olives, making a mess, so we asked our gardener to prune the branch. It’s now the dormant period for the tree and…
God Helps Those
Parashat Vayeshev 5778 Meir Sendor Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher in his commentary Ba’al haTurim on this week’s parashah compares Jerusalem to Tamar, wrongly accused but ultimately vindicated: בעל הטורים בראשית פרק לח פסוק טו מה תמר תחילתה בבזיון ולבסוף בכבוד…
