Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on July 27, 2021 by Jeff Hurok
This teaching was written by first time PLS participant Jeff Hurok. To learn more about the Pardes Learning Seminar program, which runs during the summer and winter, please visit www.pardes.org.il/seminar. I have wanted to attend a summer Pardes Learning Seminar for a few years. I don’t recall the first time I heard about Pardes, but Continue Reading »
Posted on July 12, 2021 by Cindy Scheinfeld
This teaching was written by first time PLS participant Cindy Scheinfeld. To learn more about the Pardes Learning Seminar program, which runs during the summer and winter, please visit www.pardes.org.il/seminar. Several months ago I became interested in studying Torah. It’s not something I have done before. I grew up in a secular home with limited Continue Reading »
Posted on August 1, 2019 by Rabbi Irv Elson
This blog piece was written by Rabbi Irv Elson, alumnus of the Pardes 2018 and 2019 Summer Programs. Many years ago, (did I say MANY”?) when I first arrived in New York to attend college, I was faced with the task of opening a bank account at a local bank. The choices were many. In Continue Reading »
Posted on August 19, 2018 by Steven Michael Grafton Philp
It’s worth taking a moment to consider the radical nature of the rabbinic project. When the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E., there was no guarantee that the Israelite people, their culture, or their way of life would survive. In response to this uncertainty, the rabbis offered a profound reformulation of religious thought and Continue Reading »
Posted on July 31, 2018 by Aviva Turner
“But why are we here? And why can’t we be kinder and more tolerant of each other, other Jews, but also non-Jews?” Those were the questions my favorite havruta (study partner) kept asking through our three weeks together. I can’t say I had any answers, but the opportunity to pose these questions and others like Continue Reading »
Posted on July 16, 2018 by Peggy Kaz
This blog was originally published on http://pegandsidsblog.blogspot.com/. I started school on Monday. We were introduced to the Pardes Institute about 4 years ago, and have attended many classes and lectures there. It’s a top notch academy with an exceptional roster of instructors. The course offerings were mind-boggling and it was difficult to choose which ones to Continue Reading »
Posted on May 11, 2017 by Rachel Dingman
I looked back on a blog post I wrote in 2014–my first summer here at Pardes. The blog post was titled “I’ve been saying watermelon a lot”. This phrase comes from an amazing Shabbat meal I had at Yaffa Epstein’s house. Everyone started singing and I looked around filled with confusion. Yaffa said “Sing along, Continue Reading »
Posted on August 14, 2016 by Pessy Baskin
This post was delivered at our farewell community lunch for the August 2016 summer students. As many of you already know, I came to Pardes to learn Torah in honor of the anniversary of my father’s passing. I want to thank all my chavrutot, who so graciously agreed to learn as an aliyah for his neshama. One 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 »
