Musings from students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 26th, 2009
Our Chanukah break is coming up soon, and I’ve been considering what sites in Israel I’d like to visit in my precious free time. Traveling to Rosh HaNikra and Haifa during our last holiday break whetted my appetite for adventuring throughout Israel. Perhaps I’ll take a bus up to Tzfat (I love its gentle atmosphere), [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 24th, 2009
Two weeks ago, my grandfather passed away. He had been ill for a long time, and it was not a sudden death, but it has been nonetheless a difficult experience. At his funeral, my uncle shared a story about my grandfather that has become something of a mantra for me in the last few weeks:
“My [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 18th, 2009
Last Friday, after three consecutive days of hiking in the Negev, I woke up at 6:30 am. Rather than sleep in, my roommates and I rolled out of bed, boarded a bus, and travelled up north to a kibbutz near Rehovot. Our mission? To “rescue” clementines that would have been left [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 9th, 2009
I just want to say one thing: I love our tradition.
The following is commentary, so buckle in.
I love our tradition because of the way it normalizes and honors imperfection – the real, as opposed to idealized, experience of our lives. We will start with examples in Halakhah and then move on to our role models, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 7th, 2009
During a Shabbat picnic in the Tayelet, the group of Pardesniks I was with was approached by the most evil-looking tomcat I have ever seen in my life. Of all the feral cats I’ve encountered on the streets of Jerusalem, none approached this one for pure badness. This was the Leroy Brown of cats.
Fortunately [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 7th, 2009
Two wonderful things happened to me this week that made me realize why Pardes was the best place I could be post college.
One was that I had an amazing conversation with one of my teachers this past week over lunch discussing feminism and Judaism. We discussed our struggle with being obligated or not, how it [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 3rd, 2009
On Tuesday afternoons a number of Pardes students volunteer with organizations throughout the Jerusalem area, and I’m working with a community called Yotzer Or. Yotzer Or is composed of mostly immigrant families, many from Ethiopia, who are living in housing projects in the neighborhood of Talpiot directly across from the wealthy neighborhood. They come to [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 1st, 2009
Some weeks ago, I bought myself a pair of house slippers because my roommate & I had agreed not to wear shoes inside our apartment. My decision was mostly based upon my preference for wearing shoes while davening (praying) at home (traditional Jewish law requires footwear during prayer), but I also thought it would be [...]