Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on March 23, 2015 by Geo Poor
My favorite service of the whole year is Hallel, a special service we add to certain holidays and to the seder. Hallel has a strange structure. It starts out by saying we are commanded to praise God. Why would be commanded to praise? Does praise really even count if it is not done by choice? Continue Reading »
Posted on January 17, 2011 by Tamara Frankel
Dear Friends, I hope you are all well, wherever you are and whatever crazy winter weather you are experiencing! It’s hard to believe that the fall semester at Pardes ended last week. I have learned SO much in these last few months and look forward to soaking up as much Torah as possible, further exploring Continue Reading »
Posted on January 2, 2011 by Tamara Frankel
Dear Friends, Much of the Book of Exodus, including last week’s Parshat Va’era, is about linking the beginnings of the world, and particularly the history of one family (i.e. Abraham and Sarah’s), their struggles and triumphs, to the development and history of a specific nation, soon to be known as Bnei Yisrael–the Jewish People. I Continue Reading »
Posted on November 27, 2010 by Pious Antic
This is a cross-post from my personal blog. Earlier this week, in Judy Klitsner’s Bereshit class, we were looking at the issue of Noah’s naming. When he names him, his father Lemech explains the name, saying “this one will give us relief from our work and the toil of our ands from the land which Continue Reading »
Posted on November 26, 2010 by Mosheh
We see a fascinating and at first glance disturbing pattern in Joseph’s life this week. He tells his brothers about multiple dreams where he is not only in a place of tremendous power and success, but where the brothers are in a place of subjugation. Could he not have left the latter part out? We Continue Reading »
