Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on January 29, 2012 by David Bogomolny
“What influenced me the most was how my parents acted toward others. Both of them were my role models. Both were black sheep… I like black sheep :)” After escaping from Hungary during the Holocaust, Carolina’s grandparents didn’t affiliate themselves with the Jewish community of Venezuela, and raised their children without much Jewish tradition… so it came as Continue Reading »
Posted on January 15, 2012 by Barer
Growing up in the Sephardi community in Toronto, Esther’s Judaism derived mainly from her mother and the weekly Shabbat dinners at her grandmother’s house. Her father, who comes from an essentially secular background, did not push for such a traditional upbringing, and Esther fondly remembers being snuck into McDonalds by her father, where he would Continue Reading »
Posted on January 8, 2012 by David Bogomolny
Shaul Janes grew up in Elizabeth, NJ around the corner from a synagogue that his family did not attend. They were culturally Jewish, but their lives were nearly void of Judaism. As a young man, Shaul fell in love with cooking – he would think about cooking all the time – it became his creative outlet – it was all he wanted to Continue Reading »
Posted on December 5, 2011 by David Bogomolny
Michael (pronounced Mee-kha-el) originally hails from Portland, Oregon, where he was the only person in the whole city who had shoulder-length payos (sidecurls), and he was often mistaken for a girl until the age of eight or nine because many people did not know what payos were. His parents, two Reform rabbis, had followed a Chassidic Continue Reading »
Posted on December 4, 2011 by Barer
Deborah grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts, where her family was active in a local chavura, as well as a Conservative shul. When Deborah was eight years old, her mother decided to attend the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC), and her family moved to the Philadelphia area. While studying at RRC, her mother also became very involved Continue Reading »
Posted on November 20, 2011 by Barer
Naomi grew up in a Modern Orthodox community in South Miami, where her family helped found a Young Israel. She was immersed in Judaism from a young age – shul, day school, day camp – but rarely in a community as diverse as Pardes. It is in a Modern Orthodox community that Naomi feels most Continue Reading »
Posted on November 14, 2011 by David Bogomolny
Having grown up in Newton, Massachusetts, Sean had a lot of exposure to Judaism. His family’s liberal church would often invite Jewish members of their extended community to speak from the pulpit, and Sean attended many Passover seders at a family friend’s house as a boy. And of course, he only dated Jewish women 🙂 Sean began dating Kelilah Continue Reading »
Posted on September 16, 2011 by David Bogomolny
“All of my grandparents were holocaust survivors, and they all grew up in traditional Jewish families in Hungary… I want to be a part of the tradition that they grew up with… and at Pardes, I can begin to reclaim it.” Amy arranged her arrival to Israel to overlap with the final weeks of her Continue Reading »
Posted on September 13, 2011 by The Director of Digital Media
Let’s meet some more of this year’s Pardes Fellows! Kalie is originally from Phoenix, Arizona, and before arriving in Israel, she was completing her undergraduate degree in American Studies at George Washington University (where she also directed a hip hop dance company!). In the fall of 2010, she was gearing up to begin an M.A. in Media and Public Affairs at Continue Reading »
Posted on September 11, 2011 by The Director of Digital Media
Let’s meet some more of this year’s Pardes Fellows! David was born in Jerusalem, but he grew up in New Jersey, and he lived in Washington, DC for several years before coming to study at Pardes in 2009. He completed his undergraduate education at CWRU in biomedical engineering, worked for two years as an AmeriCorps Continue Reading »
