These and Those

Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem

Tag Archives: introspection

Week 5: Days of Awe

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Derek Kwait

(X-posted to my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim,) Rosh HaShana was amazing. The services at Yedidya (which is a lot like YPS except much bigger, and, frankly, younger) were filled with singing and soul, and I got to attend lots of fantastic meals– in terms of both food and company–at the homes of a Pardes Continue Reading »

Sacred Time

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Barer

Judaism, one could argue, is obsessed with marking time as sacred, normal, or anywhere in between.  At this time which Judaism demarcates as particularly sacred — we are in the middle of the Aseret Ye’mei Teshuva, the Ten Days of Repentance — it is hard not to be caught up in the spiritual fervour that Continue Reading »

The Unattainable Prayer

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Shibley

The lead-up to Rosh Hashana is in full swing, slichot start in a few hours. Each morning except for Shabbat and erev Rosh Hashana we have heard, and will hear the blats of the shofar, it awakenings us, and reminding us of the importance of the upcoming days. Aside from intensifying the tshuva process, that Continue Reading »

Conference room davening

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Shibley

Throughout the first year of of my blog I tried to write about a few different locations where I davened, in an effort to try and understand how a space does or does not impact the tfillah experience. Yesterday afternoon, I was asked by one of my Pardes teachers if I would go to mincha Continue Reading »

[PEP Student] Little Me

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Tamara Frankel

Dear Friends, This week I was flabbergasted by how much the parsha spoke to my own life. This week I began to trek out to start my new job and life in Chicago. I was anxious about the border control- you know how they can be sometimes…red tape, and all. As I approached the control Continue Reading »

On Prayer

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Jeremy S.

I originally posted the following entry on my blog back in February: And going out to meet You, I found You coming toward me. -Yehuda Halevi (c. 1075-1141) It was my first shabbat in Jerusalem. After lunch I walked with a young aspiring rabbi to the Old City, in through the Jaffa Gate and down to Continue Reading »

By their families and their ancestral houses

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Pious Antic

Last week, I spoke briefly at Pardes’ closing lunch, and I have adapted what I remember of them, since I never actually got around to typing them up ahead of time, here: Two years ago, when I first arrived at Pardes, I was struck by something our dean, David Bernstein said during one of the Continue Reading »

[PEP Student] Wilderness in the Desert

Posted on May 29, 2011 by Tamara Frankel

Dear Friends, This afternoon during my Tanach class I took a poll of students and staff asking the following questions: have you spent (significant) time in the desert? If yes, how did it feel? How would you describe your experience(s) there? The reason I took this poll is because these questions have followed me as Continue Reading »

[Take 5] Amy Martin: How I Pray

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Joel D.

מצרע, metsora

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Avi Strausberg

in this week’s parshat metsora, we continue to delve in-depth into the procedure of ridding a leprous person of his eruptive affections.  after reading pages and pages of how to determine whether a person is unclean and therefore off-limits to society, i was bewildered when i arrived to the conundrum of how to detect a Continue Reading »