Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on November 11, 2014 by Alana Bandos
Today at Pardes, we had a faculty panel about the conflict and two related day trips- one to Hevron and the other a tour of 3 vastly different cities (a Charedi village, secular Kibbutz, and Arab-Israeli village). On the panel sat Meir Schweiger, Rahel Berkovits, Tovah Leah Nachmani, and Daniel Roth, four incredible teachers from 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 March 20, 2013 by Ruthi Wicks
Just a couple weeks ago, Dr. Micah Goodman of the Ein Prat Academy visited us at Pardes to address the student body at shiur clali. His insights into Israeli society were stimulating and refreshing. His analysis, based on the election results, that Israeli society is moving towards Jewish pluralism and openness was inspiring and very Continue Reading »
Posted on January 28, 2013 by Avi Benson-Goldberg
(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) It’s been quite a long time since we last checked in. As you might recall, in parts one and two, we looked at what Meir and Rahel had to say about praying. The arrangement of the shiur was fascinating, because we heard first from a very capable prayer, and Continue Reading »
Posted on December 26, 2012 by Avi Benson-Goldberg
(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) At Pardes, it is easy to look at our faculty and see inhumanly perfect beings. This is an unfair assessment. Don’t tell Rabbi Eliezer I said this, but sometimes kavod rabbeinu (respect for our teachers) can go too far in making it impossible to see something of ourselves in Continue Reading »
Posted on December 19, 2012 by Avi Benson-Goldberg
(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) Pardes was rocked by a shiur clalli (public class) about prayer in the Jewish world, particularly as experienced by three of our teachers: Rahel Berkovits, James Jacobson-Maisels, and Meir Schweiger. It was certainly an honor to see these teachers of ours open themselves up and expose the real humans inside! Continue Reading »
Posted on May 14, 2012 by Derek Kwait
(Mostly X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) The weekend before last was the retreat Shabbaton for Self, Soul, and Text class at Kibbutz Hanaton, our teacher James’ home, in the Galil. The schedules Friday and Saturday were nearly identical, each day going like: 9-9:45: Sit. 9:45-10:30: Walk. 10:30-11:15: Sit. 11:15-12:30: Lunch. 12:30-1:15-Sit. It Continue Reading »
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 »
Posted on March 17, 2012 by Derek Kwait
(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) The biggest event this week was our Critical Issues speaker, Rabbi Michael Melchior, former Member of the Knesset, executive in the World Zionist Organization, current Chief Rabbi of Norway, and, would-be top candidate to succeed Jonathan Sacks as Chief Rabbi of Britain, if he wanted the job, Continue Reading »
Posted on February 19, 2012 by Derek Kwait
(Mostly X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) * For Tuesday’s group lecture, Robby Berman, head of the Halakhic Organ Donor Society came to give a riveting, inspiring, infuriating talk. I’ll sum it up in brief: There is no valid Jewish (or non-Jewish) reason to not save lives by being an organ donor. If Continue Reading »
