Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on September 3, 2013 by Stefanie Groner
From my blog: I had more class hours today than I attended in an average week of college. This post is a ‘typical day’ post, but you might notice this is not a ‘typical’ school in any way. Here’s what I studied: 8:30-11:15 am: In our intro to Mishneh class (early biblical commentary), we studied Continue Reading »
Posted on August 30, 2013 by Jessica Baverman
From my blog: Yesterday morning, I went to the Kotel for the first time since May. The last time I went, I had the realization that the current system of gender segregated prayer disallows for people with gender-variance to pray comfortably on either side. This time, I wanted to go to Robinson’s Arch, which is Continue Reading »
Posted on August 22, 2013 by Ben Schneider
From: my blog Living in a new place surrounded by new people has given me a new appreciation of how great it is to move past the “coming out” stage with Jewish communities. Coming out with subtlety, in individual conversations, is exhausting, and when I’m around large groups of people who don’t know I’m gay Continue Reading »
Posted on July 2, 2013 by Ben Macdonald
Two months ago, I decided to do a little experiment. For those who haven’t heard me talking about it, I decided to take 30 days and live shomer mitzvot. I started on Yom HaZikaron and ended on Shavuot and from the first day in I had a really difficult time. First off I needed to Continue Reading »
Posted on June 12, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes
From my blog: Forty-eight hours ago, I was in a different country. And no, I did not drive across the border from Mexico to Texas. During the past few weeks, I’ve done a lot of personal journaling, because a lot of what’s happened is just that – very personal. Consequently, less has ended up on Continue Reading »
Posted on June 3, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert
From my blog: Stu and I spent our last afternoon in Jerusalem running errands. One of those errands was a final visit to the Kotel to put a note in the wall. Stu collected prayers from family members and hand-copied them from emails, even including typos so each person’s prayer went in exactly as written. Continue Reading »
Posted on June 3, 2013 by Eva Vadasz
I shared these words in the beit midrash on the last day of the 2012-13 Pardes year I dressed up in white. Because whenever I am preparing to do something big, I always wear white. This is a principle of mine since I have known Zsolt Erőss. Zsolt – a Hungarian mountain climber. Zsolt, who Continue Reading »
Posted on May 28, 2013 by Aliza Geller
I made homemade pop-tarts for tomorrow’s Community Davening on the Tayelet! [expand title=”click here for info about tomorrow’s davening”] We will begin at 5:05am. Sunrise is at 5:36. Our schedule for the morning is: Birkot HaShahar and Psukei led by Mike Nash and Laura Marder with simultaneous yoga led by Emly (Yoga mats will Continue Reading »
Posted on May 27, 2013 by Derek Kwait
At the end of last year, I gave the world “The Kwait“ the necessarily abridged First Edition of The Practical Dictionary of the Pardes Lexicon. Now, as my Pardes experience comes to a close, I present this still necessarily abridged Second Edition, to be known as “The Kwait Shayni.” This edition, like its predecessor, is Continue Reading »
Posted on May 24, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes
From my blog: The most challenging course I am taking at Pardes is called “Critical Issues in Modern Jewish Thought.” There is no Hebrew involved. There is no Aramaic. I don’t even have to memorize birth and death dates of famous Jewish thinkers. What I do have to do, however, is think for myself. And Continue Reading »
