Musings from students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 17th, 2010
Pardes alumna Noga Fisher & her husband Warren joined us on the 2010 Poland Trip. Here are her thoughts:
“It’s been a month since our trip. During our intense 5 days I felt numb much of the time. But since then I have been thawing, thinking and feeling, and the process is far from over.
I keep [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 16th, 2010
This will likely be my final note on the Pardes ‘10 Poland Trip. We’ll see.
Much of what I’ve reflected upon has been inspired by R. Levi Cooper, and I’m particularly appreciative of his emphasis on the wealth of Eastern European Jewish culture before the Shoah. We spent much of our final day touring the Jewish [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 13th, 2010
Auschwitz I (the main Auschwitz camp) has been turned into a museum.
I have photographs of the museum displays at Auschwitz I… photographs of human hair and human hair woven into cloth, of spectacles, frames, and lenses, of tallitot (plural form of tallit), of bowls, plates, and cups, of prosthetic limbs and canes, of suitcases with [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 11th, 2010
A poem inspired by the 2010 Pardes Poland trip by Cheryl Stone:MAJDANEK
Breathe deeply my dear
Breathe
We have long since been forgotten
Breathe
They will not remember
The guard tower watches over us
Protecting
The city pulses nearby
But we are already dead
Breathe
The light brushing of blue
on the walls
on the ceiling
small, crisp, cool sky
Visions of poppies, peonies, [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Feb 8th, 2010
I’ve been busy recently, but that’s not the only reason it’s been taking me so long to write this post.
Last week I had a conversation with a chevruta (study partner) on the subject of how we perceive & relate to the presence of G-d (it was a class assignment). We discussed a difficulty that we [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 30th, 2010
I credit R. Cooper with presenting our group with a broad, illustrative picture of Jewish life in Poland before (and after) the Shoah in addition to exposing us to & teaching us about Nazi horrors. In my posts, I must necessarily gloss over some of the sites we visited because I lack the time to [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 27th, 2010
There’s a stunning, old shul (synagogue) in Tikocyn, Poland. It’s made of stone so it remains standing… the wooden synagogues of Polish yesteryear are no longer. The shul currently serves as a museum; the prayers painted upon its walls have been redone by Poles who traced the faded, unfamiliar letters (and made some errors in [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 25th, 2010
A brief explanation. As David pointed out already, the Poland trip was filled to the brim with learning , walking, and reacting. Getting back to the hotel at midnight, we were expected up and bright eyed by 5:45. As the days went on, it became increasingly difficult to process our thoughts by the [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 24th, 2010
One of the Poland trip participants wrote an e-mail to her father about the Poland trip, and sent it to me for this Pardes blog… here it is:
Hi
Poland was an enriching experience. The days were emotionally intense and long
and cold, but Rav Levi Cooper–my Hassidic teacher and main tour guide made sure
the trip was educational [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jan 24th, 2010
I had intended to post daily from Poland, but the schedule left me exhausted; I didn’t sleep for more than five hours at any time… late nights and early mornings (particularly for those who woke up to daven Shacharit)… trekking through the bone chilling cold and snow of Poland… travelling back and forth by bus [...]