Tag Archives: Hebrew College (HC)

[Alumni] Mazal Tov to Avi Strausberg on 100!

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When Avi Strausberg (Year ’10-’11) studied at Pardes, she began the ‘Haiku Torah Project‘, and wrote a haiku for every parasha of the Torah. This project was then continued by Ben Barer (Fellows ’11-’12), and he continues to write weekly ‘Torah Haikus’ on his blog.

Since leaving Pardes, Avi began her rabbinical studies at Hebrew College, and now has taken upon herself a new endeavor – Daf Yomi! Avi is back to writing haikus, but now they’re daily – for every daf of Talmud that she covers… and she recently passed #100, which means that Avi has covered more than the first 100 consecutive pages of Talmud in the Daf Yomi cycle!

Wow! Mazal Tov!

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My PEP Graduation Dvar Torah

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By Esther DuBow, PEP ’12

Daniel Weinreb, you are truly a scholar and a gentleman and having you as a colleague these past two years has been wonderful. I want that “sugya” you wrote for closing lunch. In return, I’ll give you a copy of our spiel, (PAUSE) assuming there are some left that weren’t burned in protest.

I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you and give hakarat hatov:

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My Dvar Torah from PEP Graduation Ceremony

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By Joanne Loiben, PEP ’12

Writer’s block. How can I sum up these past 3 years into a neat little 3 minute Dvar Torah? The memories, the moments, the worlds that once existed on this 3rd floor hidden paradise. The teachers, the knowledge, the learning, the constant flow of engaging conversations. Who I was 3 years ago is not exactly who I am today, and I have Pardes to thank for that. I came not knowing what to expect, packing up my bags after college graduation and landing at Ben Gurion, without even so much as an address in Jerusalem, or a phone number to dial to let someone know I have arrived.  I am leaving a confident and Continue reading →

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[Student Profile] Kyle Lebell

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Kyle was raised in Berkeley, CA to a father who had rejected his Jesuit upbringing and faith altogether, but remained knowledgeable through his work as a publisher of religious books, and a Jewish mother who did not have a strong traditional upbringing.  While Judaism as such did not play a positive, central role in her early life, God and spirituality certainly did.  Her mother taught her the Shma as a blessing to allay her fears, and she still instinctively recites it when appropriate.

Attending bi-weekly Hebrew school a half-hour drive away from home during her primary school years, Kyle felt that: “Judaism was a building I attended Hebrew school in.”  Nevertheless, her mother did not abandon the hope that Judaism would play a central part in Kyle’s life, and her efforts paid off.

While attending a private high school — education was and continues to be one of the highest values in the household — Kyle participated in the New Jewish Film Project, bringing together Jewish high school students from the Bay Area to create a film to be shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival in the summer of 2002.  They created a documentary, Not Another Jewish Movie, about what it was like growing up Jewish in the Bay Area, and it was screened widely. Continue reading →

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[PEP Student] Teach the Way You Daven

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Since I lifted off from the Holy Land on February 23th, life has definitely been a whirlwind on what I affectionately like to refer to as “My Whirlwind North American Tour” (sounds snazzy, huh?). From New York City to Boston to Detroit (to Toronto for an impromptu drop-in in my hometown, then back to Detroit for work on Monday!) – it’s definitely been an intense ride.

No hoards of fans or seas of camera flashes, no VIP status or personal dressing rooms, instead my “tour” has been filled with appearances at every Jewish Day School in the Boston area, finding kosher snacks to pack for my plane rides, and an every-growing stack of long-distance charges on my phone bill.

Yes, it’s a lot less glitz, but Continue reading →

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[Student Profile] Avi Strausberg

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After graduating from Northwestern University in 2005 with a major in theater, Avi Strausberg (2010-2011) started a non-profit theater company called the ‘Hometown Theater Project’, and continued acting and directing in Chicago for nearly three years before she found herself becoming antsy.

“I wanted to be some place beautiful, and I became interested in organic eating & farming — so I moved to New Zealand to farm and manage an organic grocery store!

But after about a year in New Zealand, I realized that I really missed having a Jewish community… and then I heard about ‘Adamah’.”

In the Fall of 2008 Avi joined Adamah, and found exactly what she had been looking for. She lived in, farmed along with, and celebrated Shabbat with her new Jewish community, and even started exploring the texts of the siddur and Tanakh on her own.

After completing her three month Adamah program, Avi felt that she wanted to continue Jewish text study, and she spent the Summer of 2009 learning at Elat Chayyim before moving to NYC to begin a prestigious, year-long fellowship at Yeshivat Hadar. As one of 18 Fellows, Avi learned a great deal at Hadar. She developed her Talmud study and shaliach tzibbur skills, and she became inspired to study towards the rabbinate.

At Yeshivat Hadar Avi also met her girlfriend Chana Kupetz, another Fellow, who had come from Israel to study Torah for the year after completing her Israeli Army service. After being accepted into Hebrew College for rabbinical studies, Avi deferred to live and study Torah in Israel for a year, and she selected the Pardes Year Program for its diverse student body.

At Pardes, Avi can be found leading the egalitarian minyan as its gabbai, and grabbing volumes of Talmud off the shelves of the beit midrash with her chevruta. In Talmud class, Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield pushes Avi to become an independent Gemara student, and she finds herself greatly appreciating the skills that she learned from Leah Rosenthal at dissecting and clarifying Amoritic texts… some day, she’d like to integrate her new text skills with her passion for theater and the arts.

“I’d like to synthesize text with the creative energy of the arts to create deeper connections with the material, and make it more relevant and more personally meaningful. This was my vision for the Haiku Torah Project, which I began on Simchat Torah.”

UPDATE: Avi received the Wexner Fellowship for next year!

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A Touching Moment

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Here is a photo that student Scott Roland* took of his Talmud teacher Rabbi Zvi Hirshfield putting tefilin on his son for the first time…

It was a beautiful moment:

Rabbi Zvi Hirshfield helping his son put on Tefilin for the first time.

*Scott is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College.
He is studying in Israel this year.
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[Student Profile] Jonathan Tassoff

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On his 40th birthday, during a silent Shambhala meditation retreat on a mountain in Vermont, Jonathan (’09-’10, Fellows ’10-’11) asked himself, “what do I really want to do?” And the answer came to him, “I want to study Torah in Israel.”

Soon thereafter, Jonathan applied to Pardes, and received the nicest e-mail from Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy that he had ever received in his life.

“The Pardes faculty just care so much about your growth, about Torah, about it being meaningful to you, about sharing with you… I am incredibly grateful.”

As a child, he had great enthusiasm for Hebrew school, and as the grandson of a brilliant Talmudist, Jonathan reflected much upon his personal connection to his family’s shared heritage. This wonder drove him to study biblical history at the Alexander Muss H.S. in Israel, and he recalls beginning college at UPenn with a heightened sense of “seeking.”

The young man majored in economics and philosophy, taking a heavy interest in German existential works, Aquinas, and Aristotle. Eventually, his “seeking” led Jonathan back to Jewish study, and he attended a transformative Chabad summer program, which infused him with a strong sense of purpose, which he has “been trying to recapture ever since.”

Several years after his graduation, Jonathan founded a software company during the Internet Boom, and even as he developed his business, the young “seeker” continued taking courses of higher education throughout the NYC area – never missing a single semester. Eventually, he came to feel that he wanted to leave the business, and he applied to Pardes in 2009.

Now a 2010-11 Pardes Fellow, Jonathan says that he plans to attend Hebrew College Rabbinical School after honing his learning skills for another year, and he repeats again and again that his sense of gratitude defines his Pardes experience.

“I’ve gotten so much from people that I really see as role models – people that I have love, and gratitude, and admiration for… 

I think the best way to repay them would be to share their gift with others.”

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Panel of Rabbinical Students at Pardes

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Happening RIGHT NOW: Panel of rabbinical students currently studying at Pardes. From Right to Left:

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