Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on February 27, 2018 by Alex Ronay
Hope Enough Took a trip down south— Not so far, but far enough. Tzion drove the bus— Not so fast, but fast enough. Saw a monument to the fighting farmers— Not so true, but true enough. Walked through farmland, wildflowers— Not so wild, but wild enough. Slept in a Kibbutz, played “Potato Pirates”— Not so Continue Reading »
Posted on June 4, 2017 by Celeste Aronoff
This article was originally published in The Times of Israel. I planned to go to Israel for two months. I ended up staying for three years. Because Israel can do that to you so easily. She flirts with you a little, seduces you a little, and before you know it, you’re in love with Israel Continue Reading »
Posted on February 22, 2017 by Scarlet Michaelson
This blog was originally published in The Jewish Journal. I raised my cup of wine as the rabbi recited Kiddush in a space that was filled with young adults. My plan had been to stay in Jerusalem for five months, but this was my sixth. The city had compelled me to stay. The sounds of Continue Reading »
Posted on February 19, 2017 by Rachel Dingman
“Oh God, make it last forever…” Hannah Senesh writes as she sits on the shore line of Caesara and I can’t help but feel those words in the depth of my soul. I’ve felt this many times on our tiyulim…when we see the beautiful landscape of the Arava; when we are literally able to touch Continue Reading »
Posted on August 11, 2016 by Erika Davis
This was originally posted on the author’s blog, Black, Gay and Jewish: A gay black woman’s discovery of her Jewish self. I’m not sure if it’s purposeful, but after two weeks of study it’s nice to see ways in which the classes that I’m taking overlap with one another. Scribal Arts, a sort of elective, Continue Reading »
Posted on August 10, 2016 by Lucas Espinosa Menendez
I don’t need for now to go and see the other side of the wall. Not of this wall that we hold sacred, both as a holy place and as a memorial, that is full of grass, bushes and roots sprouting freely, where birds nest and sing. I am talking about that “other wall,” the Continue Reading »
Posted on August 1, 2016 by Miriam BenSander
Imagine my family – a Jewish family, a respected family in FSU Moscow in 1983 … When I was an adolescent my parents decided to return to our Jewish roots and begin to observe traditions again – in a time when that was dangerous. They studied for themselves and tried to teach us, their children – Continue Reading »
Posted on July 28, 2016 by Rachel Bikofsky
I was marching with friends, caught up in the music and dancing, and awed by the displays of courage and strength that surged around me. Suddenly, police officers started running by us, and we heard sirens as the crowd hurried to get out of the road so an ambulance could drive through. Within seconds, everyone Continue Reading »
Posted on June 23, 2016 by Sarah Marx
This blogpost was originally published on the author’s personal blog, Ramblin’ Maidel. Inspired by Jerusalem, as always, and its characters, and its millennia of liturgical music. The Electrician’s Psalm Unhemmed Creator, spinner of the world, Today beneath Your power lines a man Crouched down, his battered palms burnished like leather, His skin limp with the Continue Reading »
Posted on March 16, 2016 by Celeste Aronoff
This blog has been cross-posted from the blogs on The Times of Israel. The hardest part about making aliyah so far (and I know it can get a lot harder) is that I’m used to being a really, really competent adult. And suddenly, I’m not. All the cultural competency I’ve amassed, all the nuances and subtleties Continue Reading »
