That Freedom

Posted on June 16, 2013 by Ben Weiss

So this blog post rises out of a series of conversations I’ve had with Pardes students and faculty. There is a (mis)conception that Pardes is a bubble. It is perhaps one of the pitfalls of living in an expatriate environment. It is very easy to stick close to one’s institutional community and let things end there. I would argue that there is another path. With a little initiative there is a lot to do outside the Pardes bubble.

When in a strange place, one of the most useful ways to make new friends is find a common interest group. That way you’ll have a cohort with whom you have something to talk about naturally. It can be anything: left wing politics, rock climbing, kosher cooking, Continue reading →

True Blue

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Bogo

I shared this dvar in honor of the Robbin Landes Family @
a 7 Brachot meal for Hannah Robbin Landes & Eitan Gavson:

Dear Sheryl, Rav Landes, Isaac, Hannah and Eitan,

I am so touched to have the opportunity to address the five of you directly in celebration of Hannah’s & Eitan’s marriage. Thank you.

You all mean a great deal to me – both as individuals, and as a model of a beautiful family. And in both cases, you demonstrate a searching for meaning that is expressed in the thoughtfulness of the choices that you make. Your Judaism – the Judaism that compels me – is a delicate balance of commitment to our Halakhic heritage, and the embracing of every individual’s self driven journey to find his or her best and most true self.

I’d like to consider one component of Parshat Shlach with you now, examining it through the lenses of choice and commitment.

At the very end of this week’s Parasha, on the fringe, so to speak, we find the mitzvah of tzitzit (Numbers 15:38-40):

לח דַּבֵּר אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם, וְעָשׂוּ לָהֶם צִיצִת עַל-כַּנְפֵי בִגְדֵיהֶם, לְדֹרֹתָם; וְנָתְנוּ עַל-צִיצִת הַכָּנָף, פְּתִיל תְּכֵלֶת.	38 ‘Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them throughout their generations fringes in the corners of their garments, and that they put with the fringe of each corner a thread of blue.
לט וְהָיָה לָכֶם, לְצִיצִת, וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ וּזְכַרְתֶּם אֶת-כָּל-מִצְו‍ֹת יְהוָה, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם; וְלֹא-תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם, וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם, אֲשֶׁר-אַתֶּם זֹנִים, אַחֲרֵיהֶם.	39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye go not about after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go astray; Continue reading →

[Alumni Guest Post] Choose Wisely!

Posted on May 21, 2013 by admin

Tamara Frankel (PEP '09-'11) is in her second year of
teaching at Chicagoland Jewish High School.

It’s one of the first sunny days in Chicago this spring and my students beg me to take them outside for class. We negotiate and decide to review our homework in class, on the board, and then go outside to start the next sugya. Eleven rambunctious and extremely insightful freshmen sit on the grass beside the bleachers while I stand up top. I ask my students to imagine that they are at the foot of Mount Sinai and that God is holding the mountain over their heads, expecting—maybe even threatening—them to accept the Torah. If not, they will die.

My students think I’m crazy. I tell them that Rav Avdimi recounts this dramatic “filling-in-the-gaps” of a pasuk in Shmot 19:17: “ויתיצבו בתחתית ההר” “And they [the Israelites] stood at attention at the foot of the mountain”. For a moment, I’m off the hook; I could never make up this story! Continue reading →

[Alumni Guest Post] A Lesson from Ruth and Orpah

Posted on May 19, 2013 by admin

X-posted from Eryn's blog post:

Eryn London (Summer ’06 & ’07, Community Education ’10, Year ’10-’11, Hourly ’11-’12) made Aliya from New Jersey three years ago. She is currently studying in the Manhiga Hilchatit Program at Midreshet Lindenbaum, which is a 5 year advanced Halacha learning program. Beyond learning she also runs activities at a nursing home, teaches theatre, and directs plays on the side.

The brand-new Divrei Mahamal blog is written by the women that are currently studying in the Manhiga Hilchatit Program. The blog should be updated weekly by one of the women. The d’vrei Torah will be written in English, Hebrew or French.

Naomi entreating Ruth and Orpah to return to the land of Moab by William Blake, 1795 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If your spouse died, your sister’s spouse died, your father-in-law died, and then your mother-in-law decided to go back to her land, and she told you to go back home, what would you do?
Continue reading →

Bound. because I Want to.

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Sam Kaye

I’m leaving for Israel and my father hands me two bags. “Take these with you. The furrier, Shlomo, your great grandmother’s brother-in-law, left them to me. Find out if it’s meaningful for you.”

The first is black felt, light to the touch, with a golden Magen David embroidered in cord on its front. The Tallit inside is thin, composed of silky white fabric that is shifting towards an aged grey. Blue stripes run along its slender frame while an intricate latticework of linen falls away from the edges only to tangle up with the Tzitzit at the corners. It’s German Reform, classic and beautiful. So light I barely feel its weight when I try it on. So thin and delicate it barely covers my shoulders. It’s not my first Tallit.

The second bag is old and mustard yellow, fine prismatic threading has frayed across its front where it spells out the words “Tefillin” in Hebrew. The Tefillin inside are old with paper caps atop the Shel, each heavy with lacquer. The leather is cracked and aromatic, the black stain no longer present along the edges. The two bags go into my duffel, right next to my other Tallit, but as I put them down one Tefillin fall out of their yellow bag. The paper top tips off and the shin of the Rosh stares up at me like blurred eye still heavy with sleep. I stare back. What do I do with you?

Why does a Reform Jew wrap T’fillin? Continue reading →

Yevgenia Baron Probst

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Bogo

I shared the following words at Pardes, wishing my friend Yevgenia and her family chizuk (encouragement, support) and Hashem’s rachamim (mercy).

She was born with a congenital heart defect, which has always impacted the quality of her life. Last Sunday, a week ago, I was not entirely surprised to learn that she had been hospitalized.

Yevgenia inspires me to believe that we can all achieve more than we may believe possible if only we push ourselves to succeed and live our lives to the fullest. She has certainly done so herself. Continue reading →

Why I am Making Aliyah

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Liviah Landau

April 15th, 2013

It’s Erev Yom HaAtzma’ut and just a few days ago I had my first meeting with Nefesh b’Nefesh, an agency that works for North American Jews intending on immigrating to Israel. My application is in, and a few more papers are needed, but the decision has been made. I am making Aliyah to the State of Israel.

I have been grappling with this decision for a long time. My family lives very far away, but even farther away from following any sort of path that vaguely resembles my own. My decision feels like signing a contract of fate: to always being distant from them. It doesn’t mean that I will literally be cut off, nor are they disavowing their filial connection or love for me. But I am ensuring that my parents will never have a close relationship with their grandchildren, my brother’s children will never be regular playmates of mine and I may not always be able to afford to come and see them every year. I am hurting us both. I take it all very seriously. Even the concept of this sacrifice has quite frankly been too much for me to bare in the last few months I have been chewing on the decision. In order to become part of my greater Jewish family, I must Continue reading →

[Alumni Guest Post] Educating my Jewish Daughter by Whitney Fisch

Posted on April 5, 2013 by admin

Whitney Fisch (Year 2008-09) shares a personal challenge
of hers, regarding the role of women in Judaism:

Whitney Fisch grew up within the Reform movement in Marietta, GA. She started her career in Jewish communal work at the University of Georgia Hillel as the Jewish Student Life Coordinator, which led her to other positions in the Jewish world, most notably as the Outreach and Education Coordinator at the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs in Chicago and Education Director for the Anti-Defamation League’s Florida region. Tired of being considered a ‘super Jew’ for working in the Jewish world but feeling like she needed or even required more Jewish education for such a title, she decided to attend Pardes’ year program from 2008 – 2009. She met her now husband while in Jerusalem for that year. She is a middle school counselor at a private Jewish day school, a new mom and blogger at JewHungry.

Eight months ago my life forever changed… I became a mother of a daughter. My husband and I decided to find out the sex of our baby at 20 weeks and, of all things to say to all people, the ultrasound tech looked at me and said, “Oh! You have a little princess!”

: Whitney with her mother
and her daughter Siona

: Fellow Pardesnik, R. Andy Shugerman leading Siona’s Simchat Bat ceremony

Oy. Listen, I get it. Our culture celebrates women/girls as princesses. But in that moment, in that exact moment, I thought to myself, “this is exactly what is supposed to happen.” See I’m a social worker. I’m also a feminist and Continue reading →

Lovely Women, or In Defense of Sniyut and Halter Tops

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Tadea Klein

The difference between a lovely woman and a plain one
Is the way that,
When dressed in her right clothes
Or doing her best loved tasks,
She unfurls like a rare flower
Her back straight and her eyes shining
And she unleashes that 100 Kilowatt smile
That all women keep tucked up in the corners of our mouths
For fear of being thought bold
Or of rubbing our joy in the face of a temperamental world
And that is why, my dear,
I will stick to my flats and long skirts
And you will wear halter tops and high heels
And we will both be lovely flowers
Stretching up towards the light of the sun

Time to Stir Up Some Controversy…

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Ari Abelman

From my blog:

I’d like to use this post to respond to a sentiment that I have frequently heard in recent years among Israelis with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The sentiment goes something like this: “I’m in favor of peace with the Palestinians, including a two-state solution in which the Palestinians would have a state in most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. I supported it back in the ’90s when it seemed about to become a reality, and in theory I would support it today. However, Israel has tried and tried to create this sort of deal with the Palestinians, and it has failed because there is no serious partner on the Palestinian side. Therefore, I do not support efforts to reach a deal with the Palestinians at the present time.” Continue reading →

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