These and Those

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

Tag Archives: minhag / custom

[Alumni Guest Post] How is Kaddish related to mourning?

Posted on April 23, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Chanan Kessler (Year 1985-86) shares the following reflection with us in his mother’s memory. Chanan is a NYC school teacher, and lives in The Bronx. During the year that I recited the Kaddish after the death of my beloved mother, Hinda Yael bat Yosef v’Chaya, may her memory always be with us, I asked myself Continue Reading »

What’s in a (Jewish) name?

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Ma'ayan Dyer

From my blog: With the tenth of February just around the corner, it’s hard to believe that I’ve been in Israel for a month already. I have big plans for my time abroad, and while I’ve mostly been happily consumed with Jewish studies at Pardes, I feel like there’s still just so much for me Continue Reading »

Ten Years of Chesed

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Stu Jacobs

The year after Ben and Marla were killed was a year of mourning for our whole community, even for those, like me, who never had the pleasure of meeting them. The first Yom Iyun shel Chesed enabled us to come together and celebrate the lives of two fellow students by creating something positive from the Continue Reading »

It’s Complicated

Posted on February 3, 2013 by David Bogomolny

I can’t speak highly enough of Ben Barer (Fellows ’12), and I am consistently appreciative of his blogging. His recent post on ‘Picking Our Battles’ gave me pause because Ben and I agree on many things, but we’ve chosen different sides of the “Orthodox Community” – he’s chosen to be outside of it, and I’ve Continue Reading »

[Student Profile] Michael Rutenberg Schoenberg

Posted on December 5, 2011 by David Bogomolny

Michael (pronounced Mee-kha-el) originally hails from Portland, Oregon, where he was the only person in the whole city who had shoulder-length payos (sidecurls), and he was often mistaken for a girl until the age of eight or nine because many people did not know what payos were. His parents, two Reform rabbis, had followed a Chassidic Continue Reading »

Uniforms

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Shibley

I would venture a guess that the majority of jobs throughout the world have some sort of uniform. Whether said uniform is mandated by the employer, it is simply practical, or it becomes a matter of identity, the fact is that such a uniform exists in most cases. Israel is no different in this regard; Continue Reading »

Tradition

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Barer

What value does tradition have? What is added to an action, ritual, or practice from it being something that has been done for 500 years as opposed to 50 years or 5 years, or compared to starting a new ‘tradition’ altogether? As anyone who has watched Fiddler on the Roof knows – and judging by Continue Reading »