Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on April 28, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert
Today at Pardes, we had the honour and the pleasure of dancing our new sefer Torah, (donated in honour of a recent Bat Mitzvah) around the school. We heard lovely divrei Torah from Pardes student, Dr. Aileen Heinberg and from Rav Landes. There was some mention made of the fact that a Hachnasat Sefer Torah Continue Reading »
Posted on April 28, 2013 by David Bogomolny
I shared the following words at Pardes, wishing my friend Yevgenia and her family chizuk (encouragement, support) and Hashem’s rachamim (mercy). She was born with a congenital heart defect, which has always impacted the quality of her life. Last Sunday, a week ago, I was not entirely surprised to learn that she had been hospitalized. Yevgenia inspires me Continue Reading »
Posted on April 3, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Posted by Ben Barer (Fall ’10, Fellows ’12): Having only one seder last year, while in Israel, followed by having two this year, has led me to reflect on why this custom is maintained, and how best to perpetuate it as a meaningful one. Like the other holidays that are celebrated one extra day outside of Continue Reading »
Posted on March 29, 2013 by Hannah Grossman
Throughout Pesach my mind has been overflowing with questions, thoughts and new insights. As I ponder what to share with you, I recall one tradition which gets my mind thinking every year. After the birkat hamazon (grace after meals) a cup set aside for the prophet Elijah is poured and we open the door for him. Continue Reading »
Posted on March 28, 2013 by David Bogomolny
Emly Oren left Israel with her family at the age of four, but in many ways Israel never left her family. At school in Orange County, Emly was the only Israeli student; but her family continued to speak Hebrew at home, and they only watched Israeli television programs. The Orens would travel to Israel every Continue Reading »
Posted on March 27, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes
From my blog: “So I was walking down the sidewalk one day, and a bus hit me in the head.” Such are the stories you hear at a lunch table in Israel. But we’ll come back to that. In more recent news, I just finished celebrating my first day of Pesach in Israel. And let Continue Reading »
Posted on March 25, 2013 by Andrea Wiese
From my blog: I am in the US and today with my mom and my great great aunt Eki, we made (homemade) gefilta fish! I always have a hesitation when coming home because I have become more observant over the past four years in Israel, but today, I felt very Jewish and really proud of Continue Reading »
Posted on March 19, 2013 by David Bogomolny
“I assume that you’d consider yourself a ḥozer beteshuva, right?” As somebody who was raised by parents who self-identify as traditional, ḥiloni Jews, and chose himself to live a life committed to and guided by halakha, I’ve come to expect some form of this question from people in conversations about Jewish faith and practice. But this term Continue Reading »
Posted on March 3, 2013 by David Bogomolny
I often find myself reflecting upon something that my father shared with me about his early impressions of Israel after he made Aliyah from Moscow in ’74. He told me about his being a security guard on Mt. Scopus before the Hebrew U. campus had been fully constructed, and gazing from his post across the Continue Reading »
Posted on March 1, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Ben Barer (Fall ’11, Fellows ’12) shares his thoughts on MK Ruth Calderon’s inaugural Knesset speech: I had never watched an inaugural Knesset (Israeli Parliament) speech before Dr. Calderon’s (Hebrew; English). However, I, and many in the Jewish world, watched new MK Ruth Calderon’s speech with interest. A member of the rising Yesh Atid (There Continue Reading »
