Musings from students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted in Uncategorized on Dec 22nd, 2009
R. Levi Cooper, my Chassidut (Chassidism) teacher, has consistently inspired me with his wisdom. I’ve heard some of my own thoughts echoed back to me in Levi’s particularly articulate and reasoned way, and other insights of his have seeded entirely new contemplations in my mind.
In discussing the history of the Chassidut, RLC taught us that [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Dec 22nd, 2009
Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the future.
“But,” you say “it’s too soon to be thinking about life after Pardes. You have until the end of May.”
Trust me. I know. After today, I have one hundred and sixty days left in Jerusalem. That’s plenty of time to figure out what I’m going to [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Dec 13th, 2009
Experiencing prayer is one of my favorite things in Israel and Jerusalem in particular.
This whole country is a place of prayer. Where else but Israel, would one hear in the beginning of the show “Survivor” one of the secular contestants sing “Modeh Ani” (a prayer praising G-d for returning to life in the morning)?
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There are [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Dec 5th, 2009
One central aspect of religion and tradition is ritual. Regardless of one’s theological perspective on the meaning of religious ritual, ritual in and of itself plays a primary role in human life. People have both religious and not-necessarily-religious rituals for waking up, leisure time, family time, important life transitions (such as a bar mitzvah or [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Dec 3rd, 2009
The rumors were swirling even before the day of Rav Landes’ shiur k’lali last week. Tuesday morning he would be addressing the Pardes community about kavod shel Beit Midrash (respect for the Beit Midrash) and what this means in terms of behavior.
Although presumably no one knew in advance exactly what our Rosh Yeshiva was going [...]