Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on November 23, 2018 by Jason Gusdorf
Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Joseph’s enslavement. Reading the stories of Bereshit often makes me wonder what the Torah is trying to tell me about my older brother. Three paradigmatic stories in their own right, all emphasizing the volatile and jealous nature of the brotherly relationship. Cain murders Abel, all because a jealous God Continue Reading »
Posted on January 28, 2018 by Simon Montagu
Dvar Torah in memory of Gwen Montagu I’d like to thank Pardes for giving me the opportunity to give a Dvar Torah in memory of my mother Gwen Montagu, נעמי בת שרה, whose Yahrtzeit is this Thursday, the 9th of Shevat. As my second semester studying here begins, I want to share some of my Continue Reading »
Posted on December 15, 2016 by Seth Korelitz
Although we sometimes forget it, the Torah is not just a great religious text, it’s also a great literary text. For instance, the Torah often uses doubling — particularly of words or events — as a narrative technique. We’ll see probably the clearest example of this in the coming weeks, in the story of Joseph. Continue Reading »
Posted on December 8, 2016 by Elana Rothenberg
As part of a diverse community at Pardes, and an even greater multifaceted community within Israel at large, I am constantly intrigued at the different ways others, whom I might otherwise consider so similar to myself, view and interact with the world. At Pardes, coming together as one community each day to learn and exist Continue Reading »
Posted on November 15, 2016 by Adam Josephs
Gen. 18:16 The men set out from there and looked down toward Sodom, Avraham walking with them to see them off. וַיָקמו מִשָם הָאֲנָשִים, וַיַשְקפו עַל-פְנֵי סְדם; וְאַבְרהָם–הֹלְֵ עִמָם, לְשַלְחָם. and Gen. 21:14 Early next morning Avraham took some bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He placed them over her Continue Reading »
Posted on November 6, 2016 by Mira Niculescu
The silence after love: stretching space for all to be. A Kavannah for the month of Cheshvan Last Tuesday morning was the first day of Rosh chodesh Cheshvan 5777. All of us at Pardes, faculty and students, alumni and guests, were invited to a communal morning davening, to welcome in the new month all together. Continue Reading »
Posted on October 5, 2016 by Ori Bieder
On the morning of Rosh Hashanah, Rivka went into the bedroom to wake her son and tell him it was time to get ready to go to the synagogue, to which he replied in a dull voice, ‘I’m not going.’ ‘Why not?’ Rivka demanded. ‘l’ll give you two good reasons Mother,’ he said. ‘One, they Continue Reading »
Posted on September 22, 2016 by Mira Niculescu
In honor of fellow Pardes student Jonah potasznick for his bar mitzvah parasha. May he continue to be a men talking to other men, no matter where the mountains are! Ki tavo is one of the last parashiot of the last book of the chumash, Devarim. We are getting towards the end of the kernel Continue Reading »
Posted on July 20, 2016 by Dave Benger
I’ve found that every student at Pardes has a unique backstory, and layer upon layer of reasons for what brought them to this place at this time, each story more intriguing than the last. For me, this summer at Pardes could not have come at a better time. This past year brought some radical transformation Continue Reading »
Posted on March 8, 2016 by Melinda Jones
Every Friday is a rush in my family. Everyone runs backwards and forwards getting ready for Shabbat. In order to have a peaceful and relaxing Shabbat, it seems we need to have lots of stress and much too much shouting. So nothing makes the point of having a day of rest better than that moment when we light candles Continue Reading »
