Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on October 30, 2015 by David Wallach
I hate Daylight Saving Time! I don’t like changing the clock. I don’t understand why we do it. I spend the next day confused and angry. Is it 1:00? Is it 2:00? It’s just unnecessarily confusing. I wish it never happened! “But David,” you might be saying to yourself, “this parsha doesn’t have anything to Continue Reading »
Posted on October 23, 2015 by David Derin
This Shabbat, we will be reading לך-לך פרשת (Parshat Lech-Lecha). In reading over the parsha, it did not take long at all for me to find something that I feel is incredibly applicable to all of our lives here at Pardes. The very first verse of this week’s reading speaks to the journey that each Continue Reading »
Posted on May 6, 2015 by Jonah P.
Ever a hyper-literate people, even in grief and death, we customarily learn mishnayot in honor of a deceased parent on the anniversary of his or her death. To this end, I would like to share some mishna learning in honor of my biological father, who died 10 years ago today, a man who has had Continue Reading »
Posted on November 21, 2014 by Yocheved Retig
Parshat Toldot finds us smack in the middle of a generations-long family dynamic concerning favoritism and absenteeism that has yet to be resolved or recognized. The dynamic comes to a climax when Rivkah Imanu compels Ya’akov Avinu to deceive his father into receiving the blessing that Hashem pre-ordained for Ya’akov (כה:כג), but that Yitzchak intended Continue Reading »
Posted on October 24, 2014 by Anna Pomson
I’d like you for a minute to imagine the scenario. Hashem sent a message to the whole world that they were not acting right. How did he send the message? He killed all of them except one family and few animals. The heavens opened and it rained for forty days and forty nights. Just imagine Continue Reading »
Posted on September 17, 2014 by Geo Poor
Parshat Nitzavim starts with the children of Israel nitzavim – standing – before God and community, ready to enter into covenant, a covenant with rights and responsibilities, in order to become established as a people. At first glance, this seemed to me like a perfectly logical entrance to a covenant, but then it occurred to Continue Reading »
Posted on June 12, 2014 by Carolyn Gerecht
My dvar Torah from PCJE graduation: To commemorate the last day of our Gemara class this year with Rahel, we looked together at a special passage from Masechet Avoda Zara, Daf Yud Tet, Amud Alef. In the passage, Levi and Rabbi Shimon are studying together with Rah-bee. When they finish the text, Levi demands that Continue Reading »
Posted on May 30, 2014 by Carolyn Gerecht
Sitting in the Beit Midrash earlier this week, I casually flipped open a Tanakh to begin jotting down some thoughts for this blog post. What’s Parshat Naso all about, anyway? I opened up Bemidbar to find out. And then I realized I was about to write a Dvar Torah about the longest parsha ever. No, Continue Reading »
Posted on May 21, 2014 by Hannah Joy
From my blog: (I know, I know. I haven’t blogged in months. And my year here will be over in less than three weeks. Unreal.) This past Shabbat was the final Pardes shabbaton. Here are some thoughts I shared at the tisch Friday night. Parshat Bechukotai deals with blessings and curses. It opens with the Continue Reading »
Posted on May 18, 2014 by Andrea Wiese
My dvar Torah from the Final 2013-14 Shabbaton: In Leviticus 26:42 (ויקרא כו:מב): וְזָכַרְתִּי, אֶת-בְּרִיתִי יַעֲקוֹב; וְאַף אֶת-בְּרִיתִי יִצְחָק וְאַף אֶת-בְּרִיתִי אַבְרָהָם I will remember the brit of Yakov, even the brit of Yitzchak, and even the brit of Avraham. What I want to focus on here is that the text doesn’t just say Avot… it Continue Reading »
