These and Those

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

Archive: January 2022

Student Reflection: Bracha Lieberman—Pardes Learning Seminar Winter 2021

Posted on January 26, 2022 by Bracha Lieberman

This post was written by PLS participant Bracha Lieberman. To learn more about the Pardes Learning Seminar program, which runs during the summer and winter, please visit www.pardes.org.il/seminar. I grew up Modern Orthodox and studied in Orthodox schools through high school. My mother had wanted me to learn about the Jewish people, Jewish values, the Continue Reading »

Rabbinic Israel Seminar 2021 – Galil Tiyul Reflection

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Claire Abramovitz

Claire Abramovitz is a second-year Fellow and Talmudic Literature Fellow at the Pardes Institute for Jewish studies. When she’s not steeping herself in Torah, she is most likely working on a play, poem, story, painting, a batch of fresh pasta dough, and of course many, many soups. I sit in the water and I wait Continue Reading »

Reflections on the Rabbinic Seminar: Enjoying Torah Best in the Marketplace

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Audrey Honig

This was written by Pardes year student Audrey Honig (Summer ’20, Year ’21-’22). Audrey graduated from Kalamazoo College in 2021, where she studied Religion and English. Audrey is passionate about Jewish summer camp, playing the flute, and reading. On one of my favorite stops during the tiyul, we squished together to overlook an ancient market Continue Reading »

A Torah Scholar Who Has Forgotten All His Torah

Posted on February 9, 2021 by Lexie Botzum

Rabbah was called the uprooter of mountains, while Rav Yosef was called Sinai; Rabbah for his sharp and discerning pilpul, Rav Yosef for the unbelievable expansiveness of his Torah knowledge. Which is preferable as a rosh yeshiva, the gemara on Horayot 14a asks? Sinai. But Rav Yosef deferred to his colleague. We’re told of Rav Continue Reading »

Stories of Courage and Resilience – Chazak ve’ Ematz

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Alan Imar

Written by Alan Imar, ’20-’21 year student. Alan is a junior in the Joint Program between Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary, majoring in History and Talmud & Rabbinics. This year, he is serving on the Hillel International Student Cabinet. During the summer, Alan calls Camp Ramah in Wisconsin home. He was recently chosen Continue Reading »

Modern Israel Seminar Tiyul Reflection

Posted on February 13, 2020 by Amanda Avnery

 This blog post was written by Amanda Avnery (Year program ’20) The generation that drank the routine of exile and subjugation more than any generation before it…the generation that its entire existence is to be a bridge from the destruction and exile to a life of freedom and independence…” (Katznelson, Davar Newspaper, 1934). This quote Continue Reading »

From the 2-State Solution to Yaakov’s Dream

Posted on March 4, 2019 by Yonatan Rahmani

The Oslo Accords presented an opportunity for the Jewish State that was never fully actualized. The generation of Israeli teens that witnessed the country split among deep rifts in 1993 and 1994 was also the generation that shed tears in 1995. This generation, I learned, is known as the Candle Generation. They witnessed the First Continue Reading »

Modern Israel Seminar Student Reflection

Posted on February 25, 2019 by Danielle Plung

I love living in Jerusalem, surrounded by my fellow Pardesnikim, all of whom—in addition to being generally lovely people—share my deep commitment to spending our days in the Beit Midrash, translating texts and debating over the latest tractate of Mishna or Talmud, who love to discuss the weekly Torah portion even as they munch on Continue Reading »

Modern Israel Seminar

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Alana Dakin

120 years after Theodore Herzl stepped foot in Eretz Israel for the first time, a group of yeshiva students makes its way slowly through the countryside just outside of Zikhron Ya’akov, one of the first Zionist settlements established in the land of Israel. Our boots are heavy with mud formed after an early spring rain Continue Reading »

Thanks for The Marilyn and Sigi z”l Ziering Omer Program 2018/5778

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Mark S. Cohen

I am taking this opportunity to extend to the entire Pardes faculty and staff my appreciation for the great experience that I had during this past month participating in the Pardes Community Education Omer Program. Especially working full-time “in the States”, the timing worked out perfectly, enabling me to learn in the mornings, and then Continue Reading »