Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on October 18, 2010 by Spirit Wolf
Torah Torah Torah. The ‘TOH’ rah. Meesh (Hammer Kossoy) practically dances around the room (or at least in her seat) while saying these words, speaking of the magnificence of Torah, her whole being consumed with the brilliance of G-d’s revelation and the Rabbis’ inventive minds. I think she’s crazy. During my time at Pardes, these Continue Reading »
Posted on September 22, 2010 by Bookie
Sukkot is just moments away here in Jerusalem, and I can’t help but contemplate on a sight foreign to my Los Angeles eyes. In front of every apartment, in alleys, on balconies, and on rooftops sukkot dot the landscape. It really gives you a sense of one of the many meanings of the holiday: the Continue Reading »
Posted on September 22, 2010 by Mosheh
Before coming to learn at Pardes I lived in Chicago for five years. Having moved from the suburbs of Detroit, I was quite taken aback by actually living in the ‘big city’ for the first time in my life. One of the things which really struck me was all the homeless people on the streets. Continue Reading »
Posted on May 13, 2010 by Mosheh
Hebrew has traditionally been written without vowels, allowing us freedom to make connection between different words with the same constantans but different pronunciations. Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Hanina: “Scholars increase peace throughout the world” (and what is the scriptural proof of this?) for it is said in Isaiah: “All your children Continue Reading »
Posted on December 5, 2009 by Mosheh
One central aspect of religion and tradition is ritual. Regardless of one’s theological perspective on the meaning of religious ritual, ritual in and of itself plays a primary role in human life. People have both religious and not-necessarily-religious rituals for waking up, leisure time, family time, important life transitions (such as a bar mitzvah or Continue Reading »
Posted on November 9, 2009 by Mosheh
I just want to say one thing: I love our tradition. The following is commentary, so buckle in. I love our tradition because of the way it normalizes and honors imperfection – the real, as opposed to idealized, experience of our lives. We will start with examples in Halakhah and then move on to our Continue Reading »
Posted on October 26, 2009 by dbrill
So when I came to Pardes, I wanted to know what the word itself actually meant. I googled it and found that Pardes literally translates as “orchard.” Huh? Now I know this is a nice image but what does it have to do with studying Torah? Apparently quite a lot. Text study in general can Continue Reading »
