These and Those

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

Tag Archives: tolerance / intolerance

[Alumni Guest Post] Ruin Your Life for the Better

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Jamie Bornstein

“Zvi ruined my life.” That was the common refrain heard in the hallways of Pardes at the conclusion of Rabbi Zvi Wolff’s class in 2005. Said with a shake of the head and a smile, we uttered these ironic words with love. We even considered making t-shirts. For several hours every week the brilliant Rabbi Continue Reading »

One month was not long enough

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Ilana Arje-Goldenthal

When I received my acceptance letter from Tel Aviv University (TAU) Law School to do a semester of exchange, I was surprised that the semester only began on February 16th. I calculated the time between completing the fall semester in Toronto and beginning the winter semester at TAU, and realized that I would have over Continue Reading »

[Jerusalem Medley] Omar

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Candace Mittel

About Jerusalem Medley Omar We’ve been here in this same location three hundred eighty five years. We came from Jerusalem, we owned a house seven hundred years ago, we still own it, we live upstairs.  I was born and raised upstairs.  The store was closed for eight days during the Six Day War.  In 1967, Continue Reading »

Dare I Rant?

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes

From my blog: I am usually a very tolerant person, especially when people are trying to understand human diversity. I will kindly explain that, no, Connecticut is not New York and that, yes, I would rather watch reruns of “Gilmore Girls” than new episodes of “Jersey Shore.” I will gladly explain that I would much Continue Reading »

Contra Dance in Jerusalem

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Tadea Klein

The first time that I heard about contra dance, I was a sophomore in college and just taking the first baby steps towards having a social life with people my own age. It was described to me as a “really fun and really easy social dance, everyone should go.” I subsequently managed to find an Continue Reading »

A Shtender Bender

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Leah Stern

Most people have never even heard the word shtender. They think I am making up a pretend word, though to my knowledge it is Yiddish. I said it recently to an Israeli friend and the closest word I could use to explain it was the word מעמד, which means a stand, but that isn’t even Continue Reading »

Mikketz, Chanukah, the Holocaust, and Dreams: a D’var Torah from 2009

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Derek Kwait

At my shul back home, Young People’s Synagogue, members take turns giving the d’var Torah each Saturday morning. This is one I gave for Parashat Mikketz/Shabbat Chanukah on December 19, 2009 about the parsha, Chanukah, and the Holocaust. For what it’s worth, these themes repeated themselves again this year when we began learning about the Continue Reading »

Week 14: Things I Love About Israel

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Derek Kwait

(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) (In no order) *People here really look out for you. I know I’ve written about this at least twice before, but I really can’t get over it: Last week, when I went to pay utility bills at the post office, when I finally got to see the Continue Reading »

[Student Profile] Natalie Mittelman

Posted on February 18, 2011 by David Bogomolny

Natalie (above, right) and her sister Sharyn (above, left) from Melbourne, Australia arrived at Pardes in September, knowing they would only be able to join us for one semester. Natalie (Nat) informed These&Those that the Australian summer holiday is in December and January, and the academic year runs from February through November. This explains her plans to return home next week to continue her professional studies. Continue Reading »