These and Those

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

Tag Archives: Poland

מחיה המתים

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Joe Schiff

This blog post was written by Joe Schiff, a second year PEP student. The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting last academic year took eleven lives. I happened to be at Pardes during the attack last year. Among our cohort were multiple people who knew the synagogue, the area, and the victims intimately. When a person is killed, Continue Reading »

What I learned from the Holocaust

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Golda Gross

This blog post was written by Golda Gross a first semester student (Fall 2019) from France. Our last step in Auschwitz was Block 27: a room containing a non-exhaustive list of people who had set foot in this cursed place during the Holocaust. We flipped through the thousands of pages filled with names, and then Continue Reading »

No time to Think, Poland 2020

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Lara Rodin

This blog post, written by Lara Rodin, a second year PEP student, was originally posted on January 19, 2020 on her personal blog. It has been reposted here with her permission. “They didn’t have time to think,” Dean Bernstein told us about the victims of Treblinka, Majdanek, Auschwitz, and the other death camps and memorial Continue Reading »

My experience in Poland, 2020

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Branden Charles Johnson

This blog post was written by Branden Johnson, a PEP student. Before learning about the Heritage Poland 2020/5780 trip, I had never wanted to go to Poland. I know many people who have been there, and most of them said it was cold, dark, and too sad. After returning from the trip, I can now Continue Reading »

Mincha at Tarnow

Posted on January 16, 2020 by David Bernstein

A 17th c. Shul blown up by the Nazis on November 11, 1939. Pardes students turn it into a place for Jewish prayer again. The roof was built by the Lauder Foundation in the 1990’s.

My Poland Experiences, by Elyssa Hurwitz

Posted on January 16, 2020 by Elyssa Hurwitz

This blog post was written by Elyssa Hurwitz, 2019 PEEP student. Today I am 25 and a half. I know that that may seem insignificant, but it’s important to me. I was born on July 14, 1994, and I can’t remember being the kind of person who has liked being spoiled or the center of Continue Reading »

Day 2 Reflection – Heritage Poland 2020

Posted on January 14, 2020 by Mimi Farb

This blog post was written by Mimi Farb, first year PEP student. My day began with morning minyan in the hotel conference room in Warsaw. We read the beginning of Sefer Shemoth from the tiny Sefer Torah we borrowed from the family of Adi Rubnista, that we carried against our chests later in the day Continue Reading »

Why I am going on the Heritage Poland 2020/5780 Trip

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Doug Berkowitz

This blog post was written by PEEP student, Doug Berkowitz, prior to his trip to Poland this year. Two things that are true about me: 1. I love to travel 2. I really enjoy learning about history So you’d think that when I learned that Pardes was taking students to Poland on a Jewish Heritage Continue Reading »

Reflections on Gniewczyna, Poland

Posted on February 27, 2018 by Doug Russ

A few weeks ago, while on the Pardes trip to Poland, I and our group visited the hometown of my paternal grandfather, William Russ z”l. It’s a small village named Gniewczyna, located in Southeastern Poland. My grandfather grew up there with his two brothers and parents – one of the twelve Jewish families in a Continue Reading »

Post-Poland Reflection

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Nate Goldman

From our trip to Poland, we definitely had our share of sad sights. Through the five days of our tour of the country we visited countless ghettos, camps, and graves. The stories about life as a Jew during the Shoah were tragic and horrifying. Other stories, like the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, seemed heroic. Seeing Schindler’s Continue Reading »