Tag Archives: Truth / truths

Love and a Pigeon

Posted on by
1 
From my blog:

Ten Characteristics of a Good Pigeon Handler:

  1. The pigeon handler is moderate in his disposition. A reckless pigeon handler frightens the pigeons.
  2. The pigeon handler is loyal and responsible and carries out his tasks in an orderly and punctual fashion.
  3. 0The pigeon handler is kindhearted and cares for each and every pigeon.
  4. The pigeon handler is patient and devoted.
  5. The pigeon handler is tidy and attentive to cleanliness.
  6. The pigeon handler is strong-willed and maintains discipline over the pigeons.
  7. The pigeon handler is sensitive in observing and discerning the character and condition of each and every pigeon.
  8. The pigeon handler is industrious. There is always work to be done in the pigeon loft.
  9. The pigeon handler is considerate of others. Continue reading →
Share

[Alumni Guest Post] The REAL Passover Story by Amber Ikeman

Posted on by
Reply 
Amber Ikeman (Year '12) reflects upon how we can relate to
Passover if we don't believe in the story of the Haggadah:

hseI often find myself questioning (shocker!) whether the stories in the Torah actually happened. Don’t you? I mean, it’s a really nice idea to think that thousands of years ago, maybe before humankind was as terribly corrupted as it is now, the miracles in the bible were true. They’re great stories. But if they really happened, where has God been for the last 3,000 years? Did he just get lazy or run out of ideas?

So, Passover is less than a week away, and in my attempt to gain some spiritual value from the holiday rather than mindlessly eating Hillel sandwiches for eight days, I have been thinking about Continue reading →

Share

[Alumni Guest Post] My Pardes Experience by Eric Brief

Posted on by
2 
Eric Brief (Yr. 2008-09)
sent us the following reflection of his year at Pardes
to post on These&Those!

Check out his blog to see his beautiful art
and weekly divrei Torah!
Eric Brief - Self Portrait

Eric Brief – Self Portrait

If I remember anything about my experience at Pardes it is that I got more than I could have ever imagined. I’m not exactly sure why I decided to go as I look back to when I booked my ticket to Israel just two weeks before Rosh Hashanah in 2008. I had just finished college a few months earlier and right before I went to the Burning Man Festival in Nevada I chose that Pardes was the plan for the next year.

I was a pretty skeptical when I arrived. I had a hard time believing that all these people were uprooting their normal lives to come to Israel and actually study Torah – you know – for real. I kind of felt like a spy – like I didn’t truly belong there. A product of Upper West Side NYC Jewish day school, early on in life I secretly decided that nobody truly cared about learning outside of school – except the future rabbis. At Pardes I found teachers that were extremely passionate about their work, lives, and Judaism in general. The students seemed to catch on to this and Continue reading →

Share

I found my heart calling to the Jerusalem stone

Posted on by
Reply 
From my blog (10/30/13):

I shall follow the truths i do know to find direction to the big questions that I do not know the answers to.

So here I am, Heneni, I have Been living in Jerusalem for 4 months now. The last month and a half, I have hoped to put those questions on pause, to dive into Torah learning.

But I have found my heart calling to the Jerusalem Stone.

I could not deny it anymore, a love affair of 2,000 years is calling my name

“walk my streets

Breath my clean crisp air

Find the beautiful flowers

Narrow alleyways

And there my lover, you will find yourself”

So that is where I will be, Continue reading →

Share

Does Joseph really forgive his brothers?

Posted on by
Reply 
I gave over this dvar at night seder this week:
461072_10151311236033826_459458304_o (2)

Night seder dvar

This week’s parasha is Vayechi, in which, among other things, Jacob dies and we see a scene of apparent reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers. At first, this seems to be an intimate moment in which everyone comes to understand each other, and by the end Joseph seems to be saying to his brothers: “Relax, it’s ok. We can move on. I’ll forgive you.” Though this seems like a fair pshat reading, I’d like to offer an alternative.

One question that is not clearly answered in the text is, does Joseph really forgive his brothers? Leading up to this speech of his, they ask him twice to forgive (pesha) them. Yet nowhere in Joseph’s answer does he say “I forgive you.” Rather, the scene ends like this:

[Joseph]: “Have no fear! Am I a substitute for God? Besides, although you intended me harm, God intended it for good, so as to bring about the present result—the survival of many people. And so, fear not. I will sustain you and your children.” Thus he reassured them, speaking kindly to them (vay-daber al libam).
– JPS translation (1999)

It is this last phrase, more directly translated as “and he spoke on their hearts,” that I will explore in this drash. Continue reading →

Share

My holy tongue

Posted on by
Reply

The Earth Harp is my Jerusalem

Walking around Jerusalem by myself fumbling my tongue into the shapes of an ancient language taught me how to live in the modern age.  [cross-posted from my blog]

I’ve had a hard time telling this. Explaining why I left the United States in the beginning of this spring–just as I started to make headway (are temp agencies headway?). I have been unemployed (semi-employed) from the moment I graduated to now. But there’s a difference between being unemployed while in school and being straight unemployed.

I came to Israel in March to hide out. In order to wipe clean the slate I’d somehow dirtied irreparably in only 9 months. I could have at least had a baby. I came to Israel because I knew the language, I thought, and I had found an opportunity to make art. I had an opportunity to write poetry. I was to work hard, day in and day out, and at the end, in September, I was to come home to America, ready to apply to graduate schools with a portfolio I had slaved over.

Instead, Continue reading →

Share

[Alumni Guest Post] Vistors to Our Hearts by James Jacobson-Maisels

Posted on by
Reply

This dvar Torah was written by James Jacobson-Maisels (Pardes Kollel ’01-’03). Today, we know and love James as one of our amazing Pardes faculty, teaching classes such as ‘Self, Soul & Text’, and running our Pardes Spirituality Retreats!

One of the great mitzvot, modeled in our recent parshiot by Avraham Avinu, is hakhnasat orchim, the welcoming of guests. There is a story told of Reb Eliezer, the father of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism:

It is said that he used to post a guard at the entrance to his town to welcome any strangers who passed through. One time he was tested by being sent a peculiar and uncouth guest. This guest not only acted in a most impolite manner such as putting his shoes on the table, eating with his hands, and being generally rude and coarse, but had the audacity to arrive to town and to this very religious man’s house after Shabbat had come in and to leave before Shabbat was over (despite the religious prohibition of travelling on Shabbat). Continue reading →

Share

[Alumni Guest Post] Benny Levy — Thanksgiving Appreciation

Posted on by
Reply

Benny Levy (PEP ’07-’09) originally wrote this dvar Torah for the Pardes Educators Alumni Support Project:

We celebrated Simchat Torah not long ago. One of the customs of the holiday is to call all children under Bnai Mitzvah age to the Torah in order to include them in the happiness of ending the cycle of the Torah. This year, as I had done in the past, I stood under the tallit (though this year I stood with the newest addition to my family: my daughter born two months prior). Standing there, so close to the Torah, in the presence of other members of the community, and with my daughter in my arms, I started reflecting over the past year. As I stood thinking about how grateful I was for changes in my life over this past year, I suddenly heard my name announced for the honor of Chatan Torah, along with Continue reading →

Share

The Soul of Jerusalem: A View of Multiple Truths

Posted on by
3 
Crossposted from my blog:

Wherever you stand,
be the soul of that place.
~ Rumi

But what does it mean to be the soul of a place like Jerusalem? A place where so many people feel most closely connected to their own inner strength and beliefs, and yet stand in direct conflict with one another?

One of the very first lessons I learned in my program of text study at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies was as follows:

When learning Gemara**, there are always at least two truths, and they directly contradict each other.

 
** Gemara = a body of text of rabbinic debate that accompanies the oral torah/bible and serves as an important source for Jewish law
Instead of the western learning ideal of gaining knowledge in search of a single right answer, Jewish learning involves argument; it involves debate. There are various differing opinions and stances and interpretations, and yet simultaneously there exists an intense oneness of belief and faith. It is perhaps one of the most beautiful aspects of Jewish religion and spirituality, and in my opinion a part that is so often overlooked and underrepresented.
Robert Safian proposes that understanding the duality of opposing truths is necessary for entrepreneurs and business leaders to be successful in today’s economic climate. In his article “Secrets of the Flux Leader,” Safian brings to the table Margaret Wheatley’s argument: that we can no longer rely on singularly directed pathways of reasoning rooted in the 17th century ideas of Sir Isaac Newton,

“We now know that cause and effect is not a given in the natural world. Creation comes not from stasis but from Continue reading →

Share

Post-Modernity’s Footnote to Modernity

Posted on by
Reply

I just had the immense privilege of watching Footnote (הערת שוליים) with some fellow Pardesniks followed by a discussion with faculty who have intimate personal knowledge of the culture being described in the film.  First, I highly recommend watching the trailer and, if you are even remotely interested, watching the movie before reading what I have to say (in other words: spoiler alert).

Continue reading →

Share