Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on December 28, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
From my blog: A few weeks ago, an actress came to Pardes to do a kind of skit, stereotyping Four Faces of Israel, or four different people that one will inevitably encounter in Israel. She portrayed the narratives of a Haredi woman, a settler, a kibbutznik and an Arab woman. Somehow, every experience that I have, Continue Reading »
Posted on December 24, 2013 by Dorielle Parker
From my blog: I was recently given the task of writing my own “autobiography” for a final paper in one of my classes. Below is an excerpt from my introduction: It is told: There are tiny cracks in the ether that makes up our Universe. It is how all of the light from the Cosmos Continue Reading »
Posted on September 16, 2013 by Sam Stern
From my blog: This is no ordinary lamp. It once changed the course of a young man’s life. A young man, who, like this lamp, was more than what he seemed. A diamond in the rough. Yom Kippur did not bring about the fast that I had expected. During my Friday afternoon prep, I made Continue Reading »
Posted on September 9, 2013 by Avi Benson-Goldberg
From my blog: This summer, I tried to teach Judaics to 15 year olds for 8 weeks. It was probably a failed mission from the beginning, because the last thing any 15 year old wants to do is spend an hour inside with a 24 year old authority figure, even as patently cool and with-it Continue Reading »
Posted on September 3, 2013 by Stefanie Groner
From my blog: I had more class hours today than I attended in an average week of college. This post is a ‘typical day’ post, but you might notice this is not a ‘typical’ school in any way. Here’s what I studied: 8:30-11:15 am: In our intro to Mishneh class (early biblical commentary), we studied Continue Reading »
Posted on August 22, 2013 by Ben Schneider
From: my blog Living in a new place surrounded by new people has given me a new appreciation of how great it is to move past the “coming out” stage with Jewish communities. Coming out with subtlety, in individual conversations, is exhausting, and when I’m around large groups of people who don’t know I’m gay Continue Reading »
Posted on August 14, 2013 by Falynn Schmidt
From my blog: Does any other language have a word for the particular pride we feel when someone we love does something great? I am not sure, but perhaps this is specific to the Jewish people and their languages of Yiddish and Hebrew. Nachas. It is exactly that: a word that describes in two syllables the almost Continue Reading »
Posted on May 28, 2013 by Daniella Adler
I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to come to Pardes this year. It is taken me on a journey of Jewish learning and spiritual growth that has exceeded my wildest dreams and expectations. Around March of 2012 I was working three jobs, I felt tired and disconnected from myself. I was missing Continue Reading »
Posted on May 24, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes
From my blog: The most challenging course I am taking at Pardes is called “Critical Issues in Modern Jewish Thought.” There is no Hebrew involved. There is no Aramaic. I don’t even have to memorize birth and death dates of famous Jewish thinkers. What I do have to do, however, is think for myself. And Continue Reading »
Posted on May 13, 2013 by Gabby Goodman
Reflections on Rosh Hodesh Sivan with Women of the Wall, 5773 – 2013 Throughout the year I have studied here in Jerusalem, I have learned that the Wall has its own identity crisis. It is part of a larger structure that was built and carried, lost, built again and then destroyed, and built again, and Continue Reading »
