[Alumni Guest Post] A Holy Stranger with Open Arms

Posted on May 1, 2013 by admin

Alissa Thomas (Spring '11) blogs about relating to
Jewish Converts, inspired by her own father:

Alissa Thomas on Sh’ma Blog

There is nothing like seeing my father dressed head to toe in all white.

His soul hearkens to the time of the Kabbalistic rabbis who, draped in white clothing, would sing Kabbalat Shabbat in the fields. I imagine my father in his Shabbat white watching the sun set with his arms spread like angels’ wings and his heart leaping out of his chest toward his Creator. It is quite a breathtaking sight.

My family takes the Kabbalistic practice of wearing white clothing on Shabbat and many chagim very seriously. Every family member has a section of his or her wardrobe for the special white pieces, including shoes. We appreciate the physical expression of spiritual openness and humility; but my father has always had a special relationship with this practice. Continue reading →

[PCJE Dvar Torah] ‘Sacrificing Our Time’ by Aliza Geller

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Aliza Geller

Devar Torah Workshop, Parashat Emor

Over the past couple of weeks, students in their first year of the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators have been participating in a Devar Torah workshop with DLK (Rabbi David Levin-Kruss). This is the Devar Torah I wrote to be presented at the workshop yesterday, for Parashat Emor. Please keep in mind that this was written for middle school students and it is written to be read aloud. Emor has a many parts and it was hard to decide what to focus on, especially since I needed to find something 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] Connection by Distinction – by Eryn London

Posted on April 8, 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.

Why is it important to distinguish between things? Twice in this week’s Parsha, Parshat Shimini, B’nei Yira’el are told להבדיל, to create distinctions.

The first time it is mentioned is after we are told that Nadav and Avihu were killed for bringing a “strange fire” into the Mishkan, and the Torah gives a ruling: Continue reading →

[Alumni Guest Post] Into This Breach – by Rabbi Joshua Ratner

Posted on April 6, 2013 by admin

R. Joshua Ratner (Pardes Year ’98-’99) is the rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in Cheshire, CT. Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in May 2012, Rabbi Ratner was a Joseph Neubauer Fellow and also earned a Master’s Degree in Midrash and a Certificate in Pastoral Care. He also worked as an attorney for five years prior to entering rabbinical school. He has received training in congregation-based community organizing and was part of the original rabbinical student cohort of Rabbis Without Borders fellows. He and his wife, Dr. Elena Ratner, are the proud parents of Dimitri, Eli, and Gabriella.

“Dad, why did they have to die? Why couldn’t God have just injured them a little bit?” My boys and I were discussing this week’s parashah, Parashat Shmini, in which Aaron’s eldest sons, Nadav and Avihu, get vaporized by Divine fire after offering “alien fire” incense offerings to God (Vayikra 10:1-2). This episode of seemingly extreme, disproportionate punishment for an unclear violation has perplexed commentators for millenia. Continue reading →

[Pardes from Jerusalem Podcast] Shmini 5773

Posted on April 4, 2013 by admin

This week, Rav Daniel Landes discusses Parashat Shmini.

Shmini ’73

Shabbat shalom!

[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 →

My Ayeka Journey

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

Among the many blessings I have experienced this year is the Ayeka course facilitated by David Bogomolny. I share here some of my favourite take-aways from the course (handily preserved in my writing exercises and reflections.)

This module was about bringing God back to the conversation. I felt like it gave me a place to engage with my relationship with God and my beliefs in a spiritual way amidst a year of otherwise mostly intellectual pursuits. I always manage to find my way back to faith and my relationship with God but in the Ayeka sessions, God was our starting point, not only the destination.

Session 4, on the conversation or hitbodedut, took place during the Pillar of Cloud preparations. According to my reflections, hitbodedut at this time came as a welcome relief during a time of confusion, when I felt inarticulate and confused. Here is what I wrote: Continue reading →

[PCJE Dvar Torah] Tzav: The Burnt Offering by Joseph Shamash

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Joseph Shamash

In last week’s Parsha, the first 5 Chapters of the book of Vayikra described the variety of sacrificial practices that were addressed to the Children of Israel (Burnt, Flour, Peace, Sin and Guilt Offerings). This week, in parshat Tzav we continue with more details and regulations that are directed to the priests, namely Aaron and his sons but in a slightly different order (Burnt, Flour, Sin, Guilt, Peace). Peace falls two spots from 3rd to last place!

For our purposes, we’re gonna focus on the first sacrifice, the Olah (burnt-offering):

“And God spoke to Moshe saying, Command Aaron and his sons saying: This is the law of the olah; it is the olah which shall burn upon the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall burn in it. And the kohen shall wear his linen garment, and he shall wear linen trousers upon his flesh, and he shall take up the ashes which the fire has consumed with the olah upon the altar, and he shall place them beside the altar. And he shall remove his garments and wear other garments, and he shall remove the ashes outside of the camp, to a place that is pure. And the fire upon the altar shall Continue reading →

[Alumni Guest Post] Seeing the Hand of God In Your Life by Damian Zoppo

Posted on March 18, 2013 by admin

Damian (PEP '04-'06) is currently teaching elementary school
in Even Yehuda, Israel, and taught for four years at Tarbut
V’Torah before making Aliyah with his family.

The time I spent with friends and teachers studying the wisdom of our people at Pardes was a magical time in my life. I was a student, learning every day with people who shared my passion for learning. I lived in one of the most special cities in the world, Jerusalem, and was newly married to the love of my life, my wife Tammy.

During this time it was easy to see the hand of Hashem working in my life. I had the time to reflect, and I did not have the distractions that I have in my life today. I got exactly what I needed, which was clear evidence that Hashem was actively and overtly involved in my life and its direction.

Today my life is much different. Continue reading →

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