These and Those

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

Tag Archives: Jerusalem

a Shuk experience

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Suzi

I wrote this last Friday, after Sukkot: Someone dear to me used to say I saw the big picture bigger and the details as if through a microscope, but couldn’t see the real world as it exists in front of me. Is that why I set off happily for the shuk today, oblivious to the Continue Reading »

Houses from Within – Free tours Nov. 4-5/Big discounts for students at Israel Museum

Posted on October 21, 2011 by The Director of Digital Media

Hi Everyone: Two items: The first won’t interest you unless you like at least one of the following: Design, art, architecture, technology, engineering, Jewish History, Muslim history, Jerusalem history… Houses from Within is a change to get free guided tours of homes, buildings, and major projects in Jerusalem. It’s Nov. 4 and 5, and takes Continue Reading »

Two Sounds in One Ear

Posted on October 9, 2011 by Soffer

Originally posted on Darkeynu דרכינו: וברכה שלום, Throughout my year in Israel, I will use this blog to share what I study in the classroom, and to describe what I observe on the streets; I will discuss not only the Torah that I learn, but also the Torah that I live. I hope that in Continue Reading »

Driving Lessons

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Shibley

Since arriving in Israel last July, I have repeated numerous times the phrase, “The only thing worse than an Israeli driver is an Israeli driver in training.” They fly or creep down my street with the big lamed on top of the car. Sometimes multiple students are in the back seat. The instructor often has Continue Reading »

Shrine of the Book – Postcard Commentary #5

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Daniel Weinreb

4. The entrance to the Shrine’s underground level, similar to entrances to ancient sanctuaries. It’s not only the confluence (conflation, overlap and confusion) of ritual and secular life that makes life in Jerusalem out of the ordinary. Another aspect of life in Israel in general (b’gadol as Israelis say) are the layers of history piled one Continue Reading »

Shrine of the Book – Postcard Commentary #4

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Daniel Weinreb

3. The stairs connecting the upper plaza to the shrine’s entrance resemble those in a mikveh excavated at Qumran. Ritual life in Jerusalem is like nothing I have experienced elsewhere. The mikveh on the front of this card is only one part of life here that is enveloped in symbolic acts. The food in Jerusalem Continue Reading »

Shavuot: a Temple Holiday without a Temple

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Zach

I know a lot of my posts have been about how holidays are celebrated in Israel, but I hope you’ll bear with me through one more.  I promise, no more! Last week we celebrated Shavu’ot – the “Festival of Weeks” and the forerunner to Christian Pentecost.  Like most Jewish holidays, it was originally an agricultural Continue Reading »

Shrine of the Book – Postcard Commentary #1

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Daniel Weinreb

The week I arrived here, I knew I would have to make a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Book (Heykhal HaSefer). To me, it is more moving than is the Kotel, and more inspiring. After all, what other nation has a shrine to a book in the heart of its capitol? Of course, libraries Continue Reading »

Jerusalem Day

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Pious Antic

Yom Yerushalayim, which was observed this week, celebrates the reunification of the old city of Jerusalem under Jewish control in 1967, after 19 years in which the city was divided between Jewish and Arab control. Unsurprisingly, given the historical, political and moral complexity of the events it commemorates, Yom Yerushalayim is not a universally beloved Continue Reading »

[PEP Student] From the Mountain Top…

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Tamara Frankel

Dear Friends, This past Monday I visited Mount Herzl in Jerusalem with my classmates to commemorate Yom Hazikaron, Israel Remembrance Day. We visited the graves of young soldiers who had fallen recently and those of heroic figures like Hannah Senesh. Many questions raced through my mind as we walked among the graves: Where am I Continue Reading »