8 results for author: Dafna Neiman
The 3 Weeks
I'm still in shock. I have no words to describe what have happened in Israel a couple of days ago. Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzeira Z'L, a great cabbalist rabbi and grandson of the Baba Sali (the Baba Sali was a great and righteous rabbi, famous for his miracles), was murdered on Thursday night. When I first heard about it, I thought that for sure it was an Arab, a terrorist attack or so. But it is even worse; he was murdered by a Jew! A fellow Jew who frequently visited R' Abuhatzeira to receive blessings and advice, that was upset because he did not succeed after receiving his advices! But beside the spiritual loss, what distress me the ...
Chag HaKatzir – The Harvest Holiday
We are preparing ourselves for Chag Shavuot, for the day when we received (and actually every year receive again) our precious Torah. One of the names of this holyday is Chag Hakatzir, the Harvest Holiday. Thus, I want to share with you a harvest experience that I lived last year. With my seminar, I don't remember where exactly in the Negev(south of Israel), meaning, in the midst of the desert, we went on a trip to a farming area, implemented by the evacuated from Gush Katif. While stil in Gush Katif, its habitants developed innovative farming techniques, and there, far away from their hometown, we had the opportunity to witness one of them. ...
“Eretz Israel sheli yafa vegam porachat”
For those who did not learn that song when you were little kids at school, this song means “My Land of Israel is beautiful and blooming”.
The reason I did not write last month’s blog is because I was pretty busy preparing for one of the most important steps in my life: I made aliyah! Just before Pesach. I came back to Israel just for aviv-spring time, the time of blooming. Being honest, one of the hard things of leaving Chile, was to leave its natural wonders (just to mention an example, from my window, I could enjoy the view of the Andes every single day). That’s why I feel so blessed for getting here just in time for ...
It’s time to increase our unity
First of all, I want to apologize, because I won’t write about any environmental topic. I just want to refer to the situation in Israel, that we have been living in the last couple of weeks. Our brothers and sisters that either were killed, or are suffering after the trauma, deserve this words.
Every situation that we live has a meaning, an underline message. Of course there is no way to understand why that specific family (Z.L) from Itamar was brutally killed, or why the victims of the terrorist attack at the bus stop were there, but still, we must ask ourselves, what our Creator wants from us, what’s the message here for Am ...
Disposable or not disposable, that’s the question
B'H
With some friends we hold an “after Tu B'Shvat” celebration, in my home town, Santiago de Chile. After having a picnic, I taught a shiur (class) on the topic. After studying about trees in Judaism, we ended up having a long discussion about the use/abuse of disposable items. Half of the group argued that if you use it for a holly purpose, like having many guests on Shabbos, it should not be considered as Bal Tashchit (“Do not destroy”, a biblical commandment which root is not to destroy a fruit tree on war time; it was extended by our sages, considering any kind of useless destruction as Bal ...
Primer seminario eco-judío en español
Hace dos semanas se llevó a cabo en Yerushalaim el primer programa en español de Jewish Eco Seminars (organización con sede en Israel que involucra y educa a la comunidadjudía a través de seminarios inspiradores sobre la sabiduría judía en relación al medioambiente). En medio del invierno, un grupo de treinta y un personas de Midreshet Chail, (incuyendo alumnas de Chile y Argentina, sus coordinadoras y dos de sus rabinos), más el staff de educadores de Jewish Eco Seminars, dejaron de lado el frío para aventurarse por los bosques de Har Nof, para experienciar y estudiar sobre el ...
First Jewish Eco Seminar for Spanish-speaking communities
Two weeks ago, first Jewish Eco Seminar’s program for Spanish-speaking communities (Jewish Eco Seminars engages and educates the Jewish community through inspiring seminars on Jewish environmental wisdom) took place in Yerushalayim. In the midst of winter, a group of thirty one people from Midreshet Chail (including students from Chile and Argentina, their coordinators and two of their rabbis), besides the Jewish Eco Seminars’ staff of educators, put aside the cold to venture into the forests of Har Nof, to experience and study about the environment in Judaism.
After a short walk, the girls participated in an experiential activity ...
Pray for rain!!! We need a miracle!!!
We could all notice that the weather is going crazy. I’m lighting Hanukkah candles in Israel and feel the same weather that I should feel lighting candles in Chile. Besides our hands being drier than ever, in Israel we are suffering a serious issue: the lack of rain. In the last weeks, rabbis have decreed two fasting days and a day of collective prayer at the Kotel, in order to ask Hashem for rain.
Jewish people have a special relationship with the rain. Unlike other countries where G-d created vast rivers and freshwater lakes, in Israel we depend on rain water. The blessing of our production depends on rainfall, which fills the streams ...