These and Those

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

Tag Archives: shul / synagogue

Everything’s Better on Shabbos….Even My Hair

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Ariella Siegel

From my blog: I have pretty normal, brown, curly-girl Jew hair. Nothing special, not terrible, regular curls. I do my best to condition, to take care of them, and style them in a manageable (and hopefully acceptable) way, and I tend to do pretty good job at that. However, on Shabbat, something special happens. My Continue Reading »

Shabbat: New Experiences and Emotions

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Jessica Baverman

From my blog: Since I’ve been keeping Shabbat, I have had some that are absolutely fabulous and some that aren’t as much. It depends on whom I’m with, mainly. This past Shabbat was so amazing; I can only attempt to explain it. On Friday night, Emet and I went to a Reform shul. I haven’t Continue Reading »

The Parents Come to Town

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Naomi Bilmes

From my blog: I have been living in Israel for 10 months, and everyone knows what happens after 10 months in a foreign country: you go broke and finally start paying attention to the foreign country’s politics. In addition to that, your parents come to visit! It had been five months since I had physically Continue Reading »

Split Down the Mechitza

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Emet Ozar

From our blog: How many times have I been asked “ben o bat?” (boy or girl) in Israel? How many times have I been stopped trying to enter the women’s side of the Kotel? Maybe I should explain first off that I’m genderqueer. I have a female body, but don’t identify with femininity at all. Continue Reading »

The Kiddush Paradox

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Yisrael Ben Avraham

It was a paradox in the space time continuum. Two spaces that were but only a few meters away was actually worlds away. What was an inconspicuous courtyard I felt was actually a wormhole to that connected two very different worlds that seemed like other dimensions. What I’m talking about is the courtyard between the Continue Reading »

TGI (almost) Cheshvan

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Sam Stern

From my blog: We dance, we kiss, we schmooze, we carry on, we go home happy.  What do you say?  Come on. The holiday of Sukkot is sometimes referred to as the Festival of In-gathering.  In the agricultural world, this time period marks the completion of the harvest and the beginning of the planting/rainy season. Continue Reading »

Not just once, but four times!

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Andrea Wiese

From my blog: Like any other normal day, I received an email from the synagogue/ beit knesset that I go to every week here in Jerusalem, Mizmor le David. Usually, I delete them because I know the prayer times and have my meals already planned. But with all the chaggim/ holidays, I read through the Continue Reading »

[PCJE Dvar Torah] On Yom Kippur, the shul is full.

Posted on September 11, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

On Yom Kippur, the shul is full. The normally sparse rows are packed, white plastic pool chairs spill out and crowd the aisles. Why do people come. The people that never come, why do they come now, on this day. As a child, I wasn’t even sure why I came. No holiday made me question Continue Reading »

Singsongy Services

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Stefanie Groner

From my blog: On just under eight hours of sleep, I was somewhat alive, alert, awake, enthusiastic for meeting Alisa to go to Yakar in the morning. The mechitzah minyan was recommended to her by a friend was liberal, easy-to-follow, and singsongy. We got a little lost heading into Katamon, the area neighboring mine, and Continue Reading »

A Peek into the Black and White World

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes

From my blog: I have Haredi cousins. I did not know this until last Friday night, enjoying couch-conversation with one of said cousins before Shabbat dinner. “So what do people in this neighborhood call themselves?” I asked, wondering (after seeing all the black hats and streimels) which sect of Ultra-Orthodoxy I had resigned myself to Continue Reading »