These and Those

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

Tag Archives: prayer / tefillah / davening

Week 31: The Incoming Tide

Posted on April 6, 2012 by Derek Kwait

Long story short, I was accepted to be a Pardes Fellow next year, charged to be a leader in the community and run the blog while getting paid a generous stipend. Of course this is what I wanted to do, but the question keeping me up at night was whether or not it is what Continue Reading »

[Self / Soul & Text] The Practices of Giving & Openness

Posted on April 3, 2012 by David Bogomolny

I picked an amount of money to donate that was more than I felt comfortable donating, and I took the cash from the money that I’d put aside to pay for my Poland trip. I have enough funds available to me to cover my upcoming Poland adventure, but when I first decided to donate X Continue Reading »

צו

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Barer

This week’s parsha continues to detail the different sacrifices, this time focusing on who can and cannot eat them.  The second half of the parsha (ch. 8) moves from commandment to narrative (or sorts) as the text describes the actual anointing of Aharon and his sons as active priests.  While the text is repetitive and Continue Reading »

[Self / Soul & Text] Prayer

Posted on March 26, 2012 by David Bogomolny

I committed myself to davening 3x per day with the beginning of the Pardes school year, and I’ve been pretty good about davening consistently since then. My commitment to myself was not simply to daven 3x per day – it was also to create a meaningful davening experience for myself, and I’m happy to say Continue Reading »

Week 29: Role-Playing, or Jesus, Death, and All Their Friends

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Derek Kwait

(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) Sunday night Pardes made history as the first yeshiva ever to host the launching event for a new edition of the New Testament. The Jewish Annotated New Testament, co-edited by friend of Pardes and Gene Wilder look-alike, Mark Z. Brettler, is actually a lot like the original Continue Reading »

ויקרא

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Barer

It is always hard exegetically to transition from Bereishit and Shmot to Vayikra (from Genesis and Exodus to Leviticus).  However tough it might be to draw a message from repeated details about building the Mishkan (Tabernacle), it is nothing compared to the density of chapter after chapter detailing how much blood – from non-human animals Continue Reading »

[PEP Student] Teach the Way You Daven

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Esther Mazal

Since I lifted off from the Holy Land on February 23th, life has definitely been a whirlwind on what I affectionately like to refer to as “My Whirlwind North American Tour” (sounds snazzy, huh?). From New York City to Boston to Detroit (to Toronto for an impromptu drop-in in my hometown, then back to Detroit Continue Reading »

What’s Meaningful to Me

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Heligman

Last December I attended the first of a series of Meditation Retreats in Hannaton (co-led by Pardes faculty member James Jacobson-Maisels).  It’s been about 2 months now since experiencing the awakened state of being that defines “Retreat”. I call it an awakened state because the sensitivity you develop during these retreats can be described in Continue Reading »

[Self / Soul & Text] Radical Acceptance

Posted on March 13, 2012 by David Bogomolny

I spent last Shabbat at Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s moshav near the city of Modi’in, where my grandparents and other close family members live. This Shabbaton was particularly convenient for me because it allowed me to visit my family without worrying about rushing back to J’lem for Shabbat (especially during the winter). It was also quite Continue Reading »

[Self / Soul & Text] Singing

Posted on March 6, 2012 by David Bogomolny

Weariness wrapped itself around him, and in moments of reflection he realized he missed his family. This was a moment of such reflection. He’d wanted to spend some time singing several days earlier, but after meditating and speaking to G-d, he’d been interupted by his roommate before he could begin his song. The interuption had Continue Reading »