Sukkot 5781 Meir Sendor The mitzvah of the Four Species on Sukkot is to take one Lulav, three branches of myrtle leaves and two branches of willow leaves bound together in your dominant hand, and the Etrog in your other…
Total Immersion
Yom Kippur 5781 Meir Sendor ישעיהו פרק כד (י) נשברה קרית תהו סגר כל בית מבוא: The confused city is broken, every house is locked down so none shall enter (Is. 24:10). The prophet Yeshayahu knew about lockdowns, and…
Brave New Year
Rosh Hashanah 5781 by Meir Sendor We’re about to go into a three-week lockdown here in Israel, taking us from Rosh HaShanah through Sukkot. Several sectors of society are complaining, but we have brought this on ourselves. Some of those…
Choose Life
Parashat Nitzavim/ VaYelekh 5780 Meir Sendor You would think this would be an easy choice: דברים פרק ל (יט) העדתי בכם היום את השמים ואת הארץ החיים והמות נתתי לפניך הברכה והקללה ובחרת בחיים למען תחיה אתה וזרעך: I…
Hard Knocks
Parashat Ki Tavo 5780 Meir Sendor Last week we got together with family for an outing before the grandchildren return to school in this challenging time of pandemic. We met at one of the national archeological parks that we figured…
Knowledge is Compassion
Parashat Re’eh 5780 Meir Sendor The pandemic is having devastating global impact on people’s livelihoods as well as health, and both aspects of the crisis are life-threatening. Israel finds itself struggling to balance the need to restrict social interaction to…
In the Blink of an Eye
Tisha B’Av – Parashat VaEtchanan 5780 Meir Sendor In our daily prayers, three times a day, we ask HaShem to “return the divine service to the innermost sanctum of Your House, and the fire offerings of Israel and their prayers…
Where Art Thou?
Parashat Devarim, Shabbat Hazon 5780 Meir Sendor The Mishnah says “When the month of Av enters, decrease joyfulness (Ta’anit 4:6)” This year it won’t be much of a stretch to get in the mood – but will we get the…
The Sky’s the Limit
Parashat Matot-Masei 5780 Meir Sendor Here in Israel not quite everyone is getting the point about the restrictions intended to protect us all from the pandemic. You often see masks worn as chin straps, earrings or bracelets, odd fashion accessories.…
Fast Times
Parashat Pinchas 5780 Meir Sendor The fast of the Seventeenth of Tammuz this Thursday starts the three weeks of mourning for the destruction of the Temples and the two thousand year exile from the Land of Israel, our homeland, an…
