These and Those

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

Tag Archives: Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute

Kohenet Shacharit prepared by Kohenet Annie Matan Gilbert

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

Wednesday morning, at our weekly Creative Shacharit, I led a Kohenet style davenning. This means that the liturgy of the service follows the arc of a traditional shacharit service but is often not traditional liturgy. This particular service is compiled from chants and prayers from the Kohenet siddur and from my own writing and repertoire. Continue Reading »

Hachnasat Sefer Torah

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

Today at Pardes, we had the honour and the pleasure of dancing our new sefer Torah, (donated in honour of a recent Bat Mitzvah) around the school. We heard lovely divrei Torah from Pardes student, Dr. Aileen Heinberg and from Rav Landes. There was some mention made of the fact that a Hachnasat Sefer Torah Continue Reading »

Why Fast for Ta’anit Esther?

Posted on February 21, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

This fast comes in contrast with the feasting of Purim to come. In the Purim story, Esther asked Mordechai to ask the Jews to fast for three days. Some texts say this is because they were preparing for battle and others say this was to invoke God’s help and protection. There are two Hebrew words Continue Reading »

Introducing… Songs from the Darkness

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

From my blog: It seems silly to me now, but I have resisted writing a blog because I couldn’t fathom writing prose with enough frequency to make it viable and I doubted I had anything of use to say.  And then… In the past couple of weeks, I wrote some poems.  And posted them.  And Continue Reading »

Prayer for Comfort

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

Thanks to Joseph Shamash for leading an inspiring Creative Shacharit this morning! We spent time practicing the Desire meditation from James Jacobson-Maisels’ Self, Soul and Text class, then were given paper and pens and markers to express what came up for us in the form of a drawing or a prayer, etc. Here is what Continue Reading »

Tzimtzum Poems

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Annie Matan Gilbert

I have been prompted twice this year so far to share these poems – once inspired by Rav Landes Shabbat Shuva Shiur and then after I read them at Salon Pardes. I wrote these as part of my final project for an Aleph Rabbinical School class exploring the concept of tzimtzum in Jewish texts.  My Continue Reading »