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 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 10th, 2010
Several weeks ago, I decided that it was high time for me to visit the Tayelet in J’lem, and I woke myself up at an early hour to daven (pray) the shacharit (morning) service with my tefilin (phylacteries) at sunrise, facing the Old City of J’lem.
It was a chilly morning, and I felt it. According [...]