Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on February 3, 2012 by Barer
In this week’s parsha the Israelites truly become free, as they finally and unmistakably escape from the Egyptians, singing jubilantly after seeing the Egyptians drown in the Red Sea. Immediately after the Song of the Sea, we are introduced to one of the motifs of the time in the midbar (while traditionally translated desert, there Continue Reading »
Posted on February 1, 2012 by Heligman
“Halacha deals with the law; agada (intention) with the meaning of the law. Halacha deals with subject that can be expressed literally; agada introduces us to a realm which lies beyond the range of expression… Halacha, by necessity, deals with the laws in the abstract, regardless of the totality of the person. It is agada Continue Reading »
Posted on January 31, 2012 by Barer
[Cross posted from my blog] Last week at Pardes marked the end of a four-part lecture series given by professor James Kugel, one of the preeminent scholars of the Bible alive today. He painted an extremely interesting picture in answering the question that titled the lectures: Has Modern Biblical Scholarship Killed the Bible? The lectures Continue Reading »
Posted on January 30, 2012 by Naomi Zaslow
Tonight, my Night Seder chevruta – the amazingly talented Daniel Shibley – and I finished all 13 chapters of Ketubot in Mishna Masechet Nashim. To celebrate, we both gave short dvar’s, and had a small siyum (party). When Shibley initially asked me to give a dvar on what we had learned over the last few Continue Reading »
Posted on January 30, 2012 by Heligman
Hi Friends, Please donate and help bring new and inspiring music and prayer to those who need it. The Nava Tehila community in Jerusalem has been a 2nd home to me in Israel, but more than that they have been an inspiration and have shown me that it is possible to bring true love and Continue Reading »
Posted on January 30, 2012 by Andrea Wiese
Tovah Leah, my teacher for Personalizing Prayer, and Relationships class, cites Rav Kook nearly everyday! I finally realized that I loved almost every quote that she brought from him. So last week I bought a book that compiles Rav Kook’s thoughts on the Parshiot, the weekly Torah portions. Abraham Isaac Kook (1865–1935) was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the Continue Reading »
Posted on January 30, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
by Ruhi Sophia Motzkin Rubenstein I had been studying at the Pardes Institute for a few months last year when I heard a presentation by Dyonna Ginsburg, then director of a small amuta called Bema’aglei Tzedek . She described the situation of the working poor, and particularly contract workers in Israel, the gap between the Continue Reading »
Posted on January 30, 2012 by Suzi
By Suzi Brozman If you read Leah Stern’s recent blog entry on Pardes’ catering manager David S. Berman, you’ve got an idea how eloquent a speaker he is. Anyone entering Pardes is immediately aware of the aromas of delicious things-to-come emanating from David’s kitchen (more on that later). The Pardes kitchen is a one-man show. Continue Reading »
Posted on January 29, 2012 by David Bogomolny
“What influenced me the most was how my parents acted toward others. Both of them were my role models. Both were black sheep… I like black sheep :)” After escaping from Hungary during the Holocaust, Carolina’s grandparents didn’t affiliate themselves with the Jewish community of Venezuela, and raised their children without much Jewish tradition… so it came as Continue Reading »
Posted on January 27, 2012 by Derek Kwait
(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) Despite popular belief, the Creation narrative in the Bible does not depict creatio ex nihilo, a creation of something out of nothing, or יש מאין (yeish mayain), as we say in Hebrew. In fact, as even the most cursory glance at Genesis 1 will tell you, before Continue Reading »
