Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on December 14, 2012 by David Bogomolny
We spent last Shabbat with a friend and his partner. He is a Jewish convert who is currently not halakhically observant, but his Jewish identity is very important to him, and his attitude towards Jewish tradition and halakha is very respectful. His partner is a woman whose father is halakhically Jewish, but she is not halakhically Jewish herself. Therefore, she must go through Continue Reading »
Posted on December 2, 2012 by Falynn Schmidt
Originally posted on my blog: Years ago I heard comedian Yisrael Campbell give his shpiel about converting to Judaism. It is hilariously funny in the way that can only come from truths. In one part, the rabbis ask him, “Do you put your lot in with the Jewish people.” “Sure,” he shrugs, realizing that is Continue Reading »
Posted on November 27, 2012 by David Bogomolny
Evan was my first flatmate in Israel; he and I studied at Pardes together, and we had plenty of conversations about our shared Jewish heritage over the course of that year. He had fond childhood memories of his grandfather, a traditional, American shul-going Jew, and recalled the smell and texture of the tallit that he had worn at Continue Reading »
Posted on November 13, 2012 by Falynn Schmidt
Originally posted on my blog: There is a particular majesty in cresting a hill and taking in the landscape: the great expanse of the Negev Desert or the sparkle of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), the Jordan River or the heights of the Golan. There is a sense of awe when your legs work in Continue Reading »
Posted on November 8, 2012 by Derek Kwait
“Oh, so you’ve been here [almost a year/two years]! So are you planning on making aliyah?,” they say, bearing their teeth and gently lifting their eyebrows in anticipation of the upcoming hearty “Mazel tov!” they’re sure to owe me. “No.” “Oh,” this is less an expression than the sound a face makes as it falls. Continue Reading »
Posted on November 2, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
by Suzanne Singer, Alex’s mom Three events happened this year that gave us a theme for the Alex Hike. Benjy joined around 250 IDF officers on their trip to Germany and Poland to learn about and see the physical remains of the Shoah. Benjy’s son Itai went with his 12th grade class to Poland to Continue Reading »
Posted on October 17, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
by Ben Barer (Fall 2010, Fellows 2011-12) Cross-posted from his blog. “All Jews are friends” I came across this article recently, and the tenor of the article greatly disturbed me. My friend and fellow Pardes alum did a wonderful job setting the record straight, but I see the underlying problem as requiring more thought as Continue Reading »
Posted on October 17, 2012 by David Bogomolny
Bruce Shaffer was raised in an assimilation-bent household in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Northwest Detroit, fairly typical of what he saw around him. His curiosity for Jewish learning and Jewish text was seeded at his Hebrew school. There was no core of professional Jewish faculty – Bruce’s teachers were mostly Yiddish-speaking European refugees, and Continue Reading »
Posted on October 16, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
Posted on September 27, 2012 by Kayla Higgins
This essay is cross-posted from The Jewish Daily Forward‘s April 13, 2012 issue. The article including this personal essay in The Forward was a collection of “It Gets Better” posts requested from young queer-identified Jews involved with Nehirim, a national community of LGBT Jews founded in 2004: “Jewish Enough” Kayla Higgins, 22 ‘It gets better” Continue Reading »
