These and Those

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

Tag Archives: Pardes Center for Jewish Educators (PCJE)

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 »

[Alumni Guest Post] Friends for a Lifetime by Sarah Levy

Posted on February 20, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Sarah Levy (Mechina ’07, PEP ’08-’10) shares a personal reflection about Pardes: A friend of mine once told me that she felt all of her friends fell into one of three categories: Friends for a reason (and once that reason no longer existed, neither did the friendship) Friends for a season (and once that time Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Reminder of Home

Posted on February 14, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Jessie Gindea (PEP ’10-’12) reflects upon the first Pardes Educators Conference in Baltimore There have been moments throughout my first year teaching amidst the messy lockers, lost homework, and lunch boxes strewn around the hallways, when my experience at Pardes seems like a hundred years ago. I love my job as the Coordinator of Jewish Continue Reading »

[PCJE Dvar Torah] Parshat Terumah – A Guide to Classroom Teaching by Avi Spodek

Posted on February 14, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Starting Tuesday, my fellow Pardes Educators will enter a variety of Jewish day school classrooms across the US as part of their student teaching experience. With an eye toward this opportunity, here are a few lessons/ideas from this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Terumah, regarding pedagogy: The parsha opens with an appeal for donations of the Continue Reading »

Rosh Hodesh Adar at the Kotel

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Andrea Wiese

From my blog: We went to the Kotel (Western Wall) to pray this morning for Rosh Hodesh Adar. It started last night organizing taxis for everyone from Pardes who wanted to go. This morning, I woke up at 5:30…I made the decision to wrap my arm tefillin and wear my coat over it. I wrapped Continue Reading »

[PCJE Dvar Torah] Mishpatim: Seeing our Personal God (by Leah Kahn)

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Leah Kahn

In last week’s Parsha, Yitro, we left B’nei Yisrael at Mt. Sinai, having just received the Ten Commandments directly from the mouth of God. Most would agree that they are reasonable commandments, which aim to help this newly freed people maintain order and positive values as a newly minted nation. Switching gears immediately from the 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 »

[PCJE Dvar Torah] Yitro/Reuel Midrash by Annie Matan Gilbert

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

This week’s parsha, Yitro, mentions Moses’ father-in-law (known by seven names in Tanakh.)  In Yitro, he swoops in, Jean-Luc Picard style, to teach Moses how to delegate and manage his community more efficiently and then swoops out again. This midrash was written at Pardes in 2009-2010 and tells the story of their meeting and how their Continue Reading »

Art for Pardes’ Guide to the Jewish Holidays

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

I don’t consider myself to be much of an artist but I am pretty happy with the way this turned out!  Thanks to Jessica Katz, Stuart Matan Lithwick and Abayiss Ancselovits for encouraging me! Karen Feuer is looking for some more art for the Jewish Holidays for Pardes’ Jewish Holiday guide, which is in the Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Focus on Rochel Czopnik

Posted on January 24, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Rochel Joanna Czopnik (Year ’05, PEP ’07) shares the story of how she ended up back in Poland after graduating from the Pardes Educators Program (PEP): After graduating from PEP, I was scared and quite anxious about my first job. I moved to Baltimore and for the first time was to live in the US Continue Reading »