Parashat Re’eh 5778 Meir Sendor Our eldest granddaughter is visiting us from the States. After meeting with a cousin for a lively lunch in Tel Aviv, we were traveling back north to Tzfat along the coast and thought to stop…
Milk and Honey
Parashat Ekev 5778 Meir Sendor On a glorious sunny summer afternoon in Efrat our grandchildren who live in Israel, joined by our granddaughter visiting from New Jersey, took part in a community-wide Tzedakah project at a local ball field. Children…
The New Normal
Parashat Va-etchanan 5778 Meir Sendor There have been a number of incidents in recent days in which mortars, rockets and even a fighter plane from warring factions of the brutal civil war in Syria have strayed into the Golan and…
Smoke Signals
Parashat Devarim – Tisha B’Av 5778 Meir Sendor The yahrzeit of Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, the Ari z”l, is the 5th of Menachem Av, and people gathered this week from all over Israel to visit his gravesite in the holy cemetery…
Four Weddings and a Wedding
Parashat Matot-Mas’ei 5778 Meir Sendor This week I’ve been teaching three sets of shiurim for the summer program of Nishmat: The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women in Jerusalem. One class is learning the second chapter of…
For my image, so they say, is immortal
Parashat Pinchas 5778 Meir Sendor This week’s parashah opens with a stark contradiction flagged by many Torah commentators. Pinchas is rewarded by HaShem with a “covenant of peace” for his violent act at the end of last week’s parashah: he…
Moveable Gifts
Parashat Hukkat 5778 Meir Sendor When Rabbi Yitzhak Luria arrived in Tzfat in 1570 his profound understanding of Kabbalah together with his personal spiritual skills electrified the resident scholarly community. His insights into the most recondite passages of the Zohar…
Making Space
Parashat Korah 5778 Meir Sendor The local Moroccan Beit HaKnesset we go to here in Tzfat has a delightful spirit. Though we have found most kehillot open and welcoming, there’s a different style to Moroccan custom. Everyone prays the liturgy…
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,…
