“Peak Attack”

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Eva Vadasz

I shared these words in the beit midrash
on the last day of the 2012-13 Pardes year

I dressed up in white. Because whenever I am preparing to do something big, I always wear white. This is a principle of mine since I have known Zsolt Erőss. Zsolt – a Hungarian mountain climber. Zsolt, who told me that when they prepare for the final climb, for the final 200 meters in the Himalayas, the so called peak attack, they wash with melted snow and dress up in white.

I had the chance to work at the book publishing company where Zsolt’s books were published. I edited, I marketed and I got to know a great mountain climber. This was more than 10 years ago. Since then I follow his hikes and I am proud of him and proud of that I know him. Zsolt started climbing when mountain climbing was not fashionable, he really was climbing for the sake of climbing and the spiritual experience. With a huge commitment and an eternal love of life. Two years ago he had an accident in the High Tatras and his leg was injured that much that it had to be amputated. He got a special mountain climbing prosthesis. Recently I knew it but only passively that he was climbing again. I saw the posts on Facebook and did not have time to read them. But I thought about him several times last week, because I was also preparing for Continue reading →

[Alumni Guest Post] Peter Avniel Salzman of Blessed Memory

Posted on May 24, 2013 by admin

Alicia Jo Rabins (Year '99, Fellows '00) wrote the following
in memory of her friend Peter Avniel Salzman z"l

A few weeks ago, when the current Pardes students asked me to write something for this blog, I planned to write about how the two years I studied there changed my life. How I was, at twenty, a secular American Jew hungry for spiritual wisdom, cobbling together rituals based on the few blessings I knew, reciting the Kiddush over beer on a Friday night in my college dorm room. How a chance encounter with an Orthodox student led me to Pardes, where I was introduced to the depth and beauty of Torah, and fell in love. How I now strive to bring some of that electric energy and excitement to my own teaching, and also to my work as an artist, in which I often build on Jewish texts and traditions. And how I am eternally grateful to Pardes for creating a space where I could dive deep into Torah without having to pretend to be anyone other than my young, eager, critical, exuberant self.

I thought I’d write about the palpable holiness of studying after-hours during night seder and on Shavuot – that feeling of navigating the depths while others sleep, and how it reminded me of the weeks I spent living on a boat in the middle of the ocean during my junior year. Or about the daytime energy of the beit midrash, the French press and bag of coffee grounds my chavruta Marc and I kept in our locker to fuel our learning sessions, my exhilaration as we dug into Talmud, the compassion and brilliance of our teachers. Or about the Shabbat dinners I hosted with my dear roommate Jill that first year – we couldn’t afford a table, so our guests ate on my twin mattress, which we flipped over and covered with a length of leopard-print material we’d bought in the shuk. I thought I’d write a simple love letter to Pardes.

Avniel

But this past Sunday, Peter Avniel Salzman passed away. Those of you who knew me in Jerusalem know how close we were during the years I was at Pardes; I loved him, as did many of you. He was 38 years old. So, with a heavy heart and the knowledge that my words are insufficient, I will write a few words in Peter’s memory. Continue reading →

[Faculty Guest Post] In Memorium: Michael Rosenak z”l

Posted on May 19, 2013 by admin

In Memorium: Michael Rosenak z”l

- Rabbi Daniel Landes

Michael Rosenak

The loss of Mike Rosenak is of particular significance to the world of Jewish education, and certainly to Pardes. Mike was an early leader of Pardes and saw and promoted its promise. From my vantage point, he was interested in two large ideas. The first was the creation of two groups – the first was an educated laity who would incorporate the enthusiasm for Jewish living into the very fiber of their beings. He saw Jewish communal living as well as Jewish text study as vehicles for the creation of, as he put it, these “lively and alive” young Jews. The second group was a new core of Jewish educators who Continue reading →

Ghosts in the night

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Abayiss

Tonight is the night.

No, I am not OK.

No, you can not help.

No, you do not understand.

No, I am not alone.

Tonight is the night I dread all year. All the ghosts that have been pushed into the shadows (with the exception of the occasional visit) come out. Tonight is their night. Tonight I am the visitor, the intruder. Tonight they will shove me another drink, just to keep me quiet, while they sit around and reminisce. Tonight I will stand, along with every Israeli and Jew in the world, and remember the brave men and women who died for this country, as well as the men, women and children who were massacred in terror attacks over the years. Tonight is the eve of the Day of Remembrance for Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism. Continue reading →

[Alumni Guest Post] Yom Ha… Season as Israelis

Posted on April 12, 2013 by admin

New Alumni Blog Post!
Stef Jadd Susnow (Year Program ’06-’07, PEP ’07-’09) 
and Matt Susnow (Year Program ’06-’07) 
Write about the "Yom Ha..." Season in Israel...
      it's a truly special experience being in Israel
      for these national holidays.

This week marked the beginning of one of the most poignant times on the Israeli national calender, a period I like to refer to as Yom Ha… season. Within the span of one week three major commemorative holidays occur: Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day). The emotional roller-coaster that the close proximity of these holidays create was thoughtfully designed when established by the Knesset (Israeli government). By concentrating these national commemorations across eight days, we have no choice but to see how the Holocaust, Israel’s many wars, and Israel’s independence are intrinsically tied.

This week began with Yom HaShoah, whose full name is Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah, “Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day”. As indicated in the name, this day is not only for commemorating the millions of lives that were lost, the millions that were murdered at the hands of the Nazis, but also for acknowledging and celebrating the heroism and resistance that is so often overlooked when talking about the Shoah (Holocaust). This point was driven home this year at Continue reading →

In Pain, but Numb.

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Megan D.

From my blog:

Photo of Israeli traffic on a major road stopping for 2 minutes for Yom Hashoah

Monday was my second Yom HaShoah in Israel. I was standing in the middle of the partition in the road on Rivkah and Pierre Koenig to get a good view of the people stopping their cars and getting out to pay their respects to the dead when the wail of the memorial siren sounded. Another woman stood with me, her phone out for video taping the streets during the two minutes that all of Israel stops on its tracks, and hopefully, takes the moment to remember what the world has lost. Last year, I was standing in a similar place, quietly battling an inner turmoil that comes with the day, and had been carrying around an ache that had settled from my throat to my chest, like I needed to let out a good cry, when I witnessed the unified mourning of a country at a standstill, even if only for a few moments. This year though, something happened that deeply disturbed me.

During the siren, a single car, a worker’s vehicle, came careening down the road, as if the driver not only refused to stop for those two minutes, but was driving in such a way that indicated that he wanted the rest of us who were standing and acknowledging the siren to know, that he was in no way with us on this. The woman with the camera on the partition stepped out into the road in front of the car to get him to stop, which he was forced to do, and at that point, he was caught at the red light. She shoved the camera close to his smug face through his open window, where he proceeded to Continue reading →

The Sirens Blared

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Heather K.

From my blog:

Pardesniks listening to the Yom HaShoah siren on the roof of Pardes – by Rachel Rosenbluth (Spring ’13)

There are certain moments in my life where everything has come to a screeching halt. Most of these have just been moments when my personal world, or maybe my family or community, has stopped. Today (Yom HaShoah), I experienced an entire country ceasing all activity – learning, work, driving, shopping – and pause for two minutes to remember to remember the 11 million who perished in the Holocaust – 6 million of whom were Jews, and 1.5 million of whom were children. Children who hadn’t done a single thing wrong except be born into unlucky circumstances. Continue reading →

[Alumni Guest Post] Reflection on Yom Hashoah

Posted on April 8, 2013 by admin

Daniel Shibley (Yr. '11, Fellows '12) shared the following:

A lit Yom Hashoah candle in a dark room (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A lit Yom Hashoah candle in a dark room (Photo: Wikipedia)

As the clock turned from 9:59 to 10:00, it began. Quietly at first, and then reaching a volume that brings all of Israel to a halt. The siren of Yom Hashoah silenced all other man-made noises, leaving every body to their own thoughts and memories of the Shoah and its victims. The gusty wind and the birds, which had been muffled by the sounds of the beit midrash, were accompanying the wailing of the siren. Although Hamas shattered my hope of never having to hear the siren outside the context of Yom Hashoa and Yom Hazikaron, somehow the sanctity of that moment rang true, the souls of the victims were standing with us as we paused our Torah learning on their behalf. Continue reading →

[PCJE Dvar Torah] God Cries Along – by Aviva Golbert

Posted on April 4, 2013 by admin

It is usually considered good practice to connect one’s Dvar Torah about the Parshah to some current event or to an upcoming holiday. As such, I want to find some segue between this week’s Torah portion – Parshat Shemini – and Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day, which will be commemorated in Israel next Monday. In truth, it is actually next week’s double portion of Tazria-Metzora under whose purview Yom HaShoah falls this year, but Shemini, and its telling of the death of Aharon’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, at God’s hands, because they “offered before the Lord alien fire which He had not enjoined upon them,” is often referred to as a jumping-off point for speaking about the death of six million Jews during the Holocaust.

And yet Continue reading →

The only way to leave mitzraim is out of love

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Shoshana Rosen

From my blog:

When I asked him why he made the haggadah he took a step back and gave me a weird shocked face, and said, “no one has asked me that question.” I also looked surprised, “no one has ever asked you why you wanted to make a haggadah?” He replied, “Well, not tonight.” (three hours into a five hour open art haggadah gallery of in the fancy Inbal hotel)

He then goes on to tell me why he made the haggadah. His wife got diagnosed with cancer around Passover time, went through chemo; and eventually, Continue reading →

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