Tag Archives: rabbinical school

Yearning

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From my blog:

This piece was an assignment for the Hartman Rabbinical Students Seminar. We were asked to choose one poem or song that we studied and one other piece of text that we studied, share a line or a paragraph from each and a reflection on it. Ever the overachiever, I ended up weaving together themes from three different pieces.

Sources:

Rabbi Hiyya’s Initiation, Zohar on Shmot verse 2

Rabbi Hiyya heard & said, “Oy! The high ones are busy with learning inside the house and I am sitting on the outside!” And he wept. Continue reading →

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Written in the middle of applying for Rabbinical School

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When I was applying for rabbinical school in 2011, I was inspired to write this poem:

I’m on a lifelong quest for wholeness.
Understanding, of course, that wholeness has broken edges,
that every circle is a shard of light
that every soul is a piece of God
that every shadow is a trick of the light
and every flame contains its black, undulating centre.
I am on a journey toward wholeness of self
toward mostness
with an understanding that the journey itself is the big picture.
That each twist and turn is leading me closer to my centre.
I forget myself sometimes
like in the winter
when cold makes me too stiff to dance
and bleak skies blunt my foresight
when the earth and my bedroom
begin to thaw
I suddenly see clearly again in the streaks of dusty sunlight
all the way across my room to my bookshelf
to my journal, to the texts that set me on fire.

What can I tell you about wholeness?
Or brokenness?
Continue reading →

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[Student Profile] Kyle Lebell

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Kyle was raised in Berkeley, CA to a father who had rejected his Jesuit upbringing and faith altogether, but remained knowledgeable through his work as a publisher of religious books, and a Jewish mother who did not have a strong traditional upbringing.  While Judaism as such did not play a positive, central role in her early life, God and spirituality certainly did.  Her mother taught her the Shma as a blessing to allay her fears, and she still instinctively recites it when appropriate.

Attending bi-weekly Hebrew school a half-hour drive away from home during her primary school years, Kyle felt that: “Judaism was a building I attended Hebrew school in.”  Nevertheless, her mother did not abandon the hope that Judaism would play a central part in Kyle’s life, and her efforts paid off.

While attending a private high school — education was and continues to be one of the highest values in the household — Kyle participated in the New Jewish Film Project, bringing together Jewish high school students from the Bay Area to create a film to be shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival in the summer of 2002.  They created a documentary, Not Another Jewish Movie, about what it was like growing up Jewish in the Bay Area, and it was screened widely. Continue reading →

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[Student Profile] Louis Sachs

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Over the course of many consecutive summers as a camper at JCA Shalom in Malibu, Louis learned about Judaism “without realizing” it. He first attended camp as a fifth grader, and returned year after year until the summer after his first year of college (as a camp counselor).

“I did USY for six years, and went to Hebrew school through 10th grade, but the biggest influence upon my Jewish identity was definitely JCA Shalom.

Camp was the first time I felt connected to a Jewish community – first time I went to a Shabbat service… it really changed the way I felt about Judaism in general – it made me want to go to Hebrew school!“

When Louis began college at UC Berkeley, his older brother suggested that he join Alpha Epsilon Pi – the international Jewish fraternity. “After all,” he said, “if you’re going to hang out with other Jewish students anyway, you might as well join ‘AEPi’.”

Louis became president of his fraternity, and his chapter ran several fundraisers for Shaare Zedek Medical Center, successfully raising more than $7,000 for the Jerusalem hospital. Additionally, the young man was inspired to organize an Israel advocacy event at UC Davis after visiting Israel with Birthright during Operation Cast Lead, and brought his AEPi chapter together with other Jewish student groups to present “the good that Israel brings to the world.” Israeli professors spoke out at the AEPi house that day, and the Israeli Consulate General arrived from San Francisco to discuss Israeli current events on campus.

Beyond his fraternity, Louis contributed to the Jewish community in multiple ways during his time at UC Davis. He worked at Hillel, interfacing with donors and doing graphic design for their capital campaigns; and he worked at a reform temple throughout college, advising the NFTY youth group, teaching Hebrew school, and developing a unique shabbaton program led by high school students that he personally trained during the school year.

Towards the end of college, Louis began to consider the possibility of becoming a non-pulpit rabbi, and his family’s rabbi suggested that Pardes would be great for him. Louis applied to the Year Program, and it just so happened that on the day that he received his acceptance letter, he also happened to receive an e-mail from his friend Sam Blumberg (’10, Educators ’10-’12) telling Louis come to study at Pardes with him.

“I really love the Pardes environment – so many people from so many different backgrounds – there are so many different streams and expressions of Judaism that I encounter at Pardes on a daily basis!”

Next year, Louis returns home to California to begin his rabbinical studies at AJU, and he’s been in correspondence with the U.S. Navy about training to become a military chaplain. “It would be a great way to support Jewish men & women in the armed forces, and work with people of other faiths,” he says, “I really enjoyed being a religious studies major and – becoming a chaplain would give me the opportunity to learn about other religions and foster interreligious dialogue.”

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A Touching Moment

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Here is a photo that student Scott Roland* took of his Talmud teacher Rabbi Zvi Hirshfield putting tefilin on his son for the first time…

It was a beautiful moment:

Rabbi Zvi Hirshfield helping his son put on Tefilin for the first time.

*Scott is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College.
He is studying in Israel this year.
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[Student Profile] Jonathan Tassoff

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On his 40th birthday, during a silent Shambhala meditation retreat on a mountain in Vermont, Jonathan (’09-’10, Fellows ’10-’11) asked himself, “what do I really want to do?” And the answer came to him, “I want to study Torah in Israel.”

Soon thereafter, Jonathan applied to Pardes, and received the nicest e-mail from Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy that he had ever received in his life.

“The Pardes faculty just care so much about your growth, about Torah, about it being meaningful to you, about sharing with you… I am incredibly grateful.”

As a child, he had great enthusiasm for Hebrew school, and as the grandson of a brilliant Talmudist, Jonathan reflected much upon his personal connection to his family’s shared heritage. This wonder drove him to study biblical history at the Alexander Muss H.S. in Israel, and he recalls beginning college at UPenn with a heightened sense of “seeking.”

The young man majored in economics and philosophy, taking a heavy interest in German existential works, Aquinas, and Aristotle. Eventually, his “seeking” led Jonathan back to Jewish study, and he attended a transformative Chabad summer program, which infused him with a strong sense of purpose, which he has “been trying to recapture ever since.”

Several years after his graduation, Jonathan founded a software company during the Internet Boom, and even as he developed his business, the young “seeker” continued taking courses of higher education throughout the NYC area – never missing a single semester. Eventually, he came to feel that he wanted to leave the business, and he applied to Pardes in 2009.

Now a 2010-11 Pardes Fellow, Jonathan says that he plans to attend Hebrew College Rabbinical School after honing his learning skills for another year, and he repeats again and again that his sense of gratitude defines his Pardes experience.

“I’ve gotten so much from people that I really see as role models – people that I have love, and gratitude, and admiration for… 

I think the best way to repay them would be to share their gift with others.”

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Panel of Rabbinical Students at Pardes

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Happening RIGHT NOW: Panel of rabbinical students currently studying at Pardes. From Right to Left:

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[Student Profile] Kara & David “Bookie” Bookbinder

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Although they both hail from Los Angeles, Kara and David only met in college at UC Santa Barbara.

As a child, Kara attended Christian Science church every week with her mother, but she became skeptical about religion as a teenager, and came to identify herself as culturally Jewish. David was raised in the Conservative Jewish movement, attending Hebrew school in the afternoons and Camp Ramah during the summers.

Before they met one another on their first date, their friends “forgot” to tell Kara that David was an aspiring rabbi. The following week, Kara found herself at Hillel for the first time, and then decided to study Hebrew so that she could fully participate in the Jewish prayer service. Kara soon became one of Hillel’s most active students on campus.

In college, David worked for the Conservative Movement through KOACH College Outreach, but he gradually found himself being drawn towards non-denominational Judaism, and eventually to Modern Orthodoxy. After college, David contacted Yeshivat Chovevei Torah to inquire about their rabbinic program, and they encouraged him to spend a year at Pardes before beginning his studies.

The young couple are now very active members of the Pardes community, and of course, both have their favorite courses! Kara greatly enjoys the Pardes “Foundations of Judaism” class, as Rabbi David Levin-Kruss designed the curriculum around the students’ own questions; while Rabbi Elisha Ancselovits’ “Thinking Like a Halakhic Sage” class continues to shape the way David has come to understand halakha, Judaism, and the universe… David says that this class impacts all of his other studies.

At Pardes “we study Jewish texts for themselves,” says David with a smile, “it’s not a denominational approach to Jewish study - we’re learning from all of our classmates’ diverse perspectives!”

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[Student Profile] Stefan Tiwy

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Student Profile on Stefan Tiwy by Fellow Student Vicki Raun

You won’t find Israel between Germany and the United States in a typical atlas. But for Pardes Year Program student Stefan Tiwy, it is a logical route.

Stefan, born in Germany, is hoping to become a liberal rabbi in the United States. At Pardes, “I’m able to study with fellow young Jews,” Stefan, 25, said, “and strengthen my ties with Jerusalem and Israel.” His year at Pardes allows him to study Jewish text in depth with Jews of a wide range of traditions and practices, something not typical in Jewish institutions in either Germany or the United States.
Stefan was in his teens when he first thought about becoming a liberal rabbi, but it was during a year of graduate school at Clark University in Massachusetts that he found real encouragement. Rabbis Dennis S.  Ross and Ilene Bogosian, both then at Temple Emanuel in Worcester, Mass., supported his career goals. At Temple Emanuel he also learned trope, the tunes for reading the Torah, from B’nai Mitzvah Tutor Debbi Morin, so he could celebrate his bar mitzvah before he returned to Germany and completed the equivalent of master’s degrees in English and Spanish. Stefan also speaks Modern Hebrew and reads Biblical Hebrew, Greek and Latin. He looked for the best place to expand his Jewish education while applying for rabbinic school. Pardes was recommended by friends, his Jewish Studies professor at Clark and by his rabbis in Worcester.

At Pardes, “I am able to work on the practical and social skills I need for the future as a rabbi,” he said. “I’m becoming better prepared for the whole spectrum of rabbinic activities.” Stefan’s courses at Pardes include advanced Talmud and Tanach, Women in Judaism, Modern Jewish Thought, and Halacha. “Learning is my big passion,” Stefan said, “and at Pardes, there is always something to learn.”

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Any questions?

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Greetings to readers of this blog!  The reason I’m at Pardes is to deepen my learning, undisturbed by the demands of my daily life in Charlottesville, VA, USA.    I’m studying to be a rabbi through ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal.  I’ve been involved in Jewish renewal practices since 1991.  For me, Jewish renewal means  a deep committed to Jewish life, Jewish practice, Jewish study and the Jewish people.  It means, also, approaching all of these religious components with openness and full  involvement: heart, mind, spirit, body.  Psychological awareness, interpersonal sensitivity, mindfulness and consciousness are all factors of Jewish renewal practice.  Feel free to ask me if you’d like to know more.
~Heena

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