These and Those

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

Archive: June 2012

My davar from PEP graduation

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Daniel Weinreb

By Daniel Weinreb, PEP ’12 “It’s so appropriate that we are in this week’s parsha…” Really?  I’m skeptical.  In fact, when I hear that phrase in a d’var Torah I fluff up the shoulder next to me and hit the snooze button.  Why?  Because I anticipate I am about to get a contrived connection between Continue Reading »

[PEP Student] Developments in Talmud Study

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Daniel Weinreb

“Kids these days. They don’t learn like before. They have all the information at their fingertips. Confronted with a problem, they need only to glance over to a different page and lo and behold their questions are answered. Learning used to be a social process, with emphasis on learning from someone else, or better yet, Continue Reading »

[PEP Student] The Narcissistic Use of Technology In Life, and In the Classroom

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Daniel Weinreb

Cell phones seem narcissistic to me. When I’m on public transportation and another traveler subjects me to the inanities of cell-phone conversation, my blood pressure raises a few millimeters in a Sphygmomanometer. I think I’m more sensitive than most people but I don’t think I’m off the charts. The larger issue is that technologies seem Continue Reading »

[PEP Student] Witch’s Brew

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Daniel Weinreb

I am a student at Pardes. I’m learning like everyone else, reveling in my progress or in a boxing match with Jastrow trying to translate an Aramaic verb that long ago dropped every letter in its shoresh except vav.. I also am in the Educator Program which means that sometimes I step outside my student Continue Reading »

Shrine of the Book – Postcard Commentary #6

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Daniel Weinreb

5. The entryway symbolizes the transition from the mundane to the sacred Entrances are a big part of life in Israel as much as liminal states that a person moves through from one part of his life to another. The liminality begins when you duck your head to board the El Al plane unless you happen to Continue Reading »

Shrine of the Book – Postcard Commentary #5

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Daniel Weinreb

4. The entrance to the Shrine’s underground level, similar to entrances to ancient sanctuaries. It’s not only the confluence (conflation, overlap and confusion) of ritual and secular life that makes life in Jerusalem out of the ordinary. Another aspect of life in Israel in general (b’gadol as Israelis say) are the layers of history piled one Continue Reading »

Shrine of the Book – Postcard Commentary #4

Posted on July 5, 2011 by Daniel Weinreb

3. The stairs connecting the upper plaza to the shrine’s entrance resemble those in a mikveh excavated at Qumran. Ritual life in Jerusalem is like nothing I have experienced elsewhere. The mikveh on the front of this card is only one part of life here that is enveloped in symbolic acts. The food in Jerusalem Continue Reading »

Shrine of the Book – Postcard Commentary #3

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Daniel Weinreb

2. The fountain on the Shrine’s dome – a symbol of purity and life. Without question, the living standard is lower here. “Ahhh,” you say, “who sets the standards and what, or whom – do those standards serve?” A very good question! I could say the standard by which Israel would be ranked lower serves the interest of Continue Reading »

Shrine of the Book – Postcard Commentary #2

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Daniel Weinreb

1: General view of the Shrine of the Book – the white dome representing the Sons of Light, the black wall representing the Sons of Dark. One of the interesting aspects of Israel has been, and continues to be, the ineducable element of tragedy and conflict here, meaning the Shoah and the tension of ongoing Continue Reading »

Shrine of the Book – Postcard Commentary #1

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Daniel Weinreb

The week I arrived here, I knew I would have to make a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Book (Heykhal HaSefer). To me, it is more moving than is the Kotel, and more inspiring. After all, what other nation has a shrine to a book in the heart of its capitol? Of course, libraries Continue Reading »