These and Those

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

Archive: October 2013

Hebron: Chayei Sarah Dvar Torah

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Ben Schneider

Based on a Dvar Torah I delivered this Friday night. I was surprised that I was able to connect with prayer at the Cave of Machpelah. By the time we reached the cave on Tuesday, we had been in Hebron for about five hours. We had toured the city, met with the spokesman of the Continue Reading »

Questions

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Hannah Joy

From my blog: A Day in the Life My days here have been filled with questions. Questions posed to and by teachers, classmates, guest speakers, and ourselves. Questions about minute details, major moral issues, and everything in between. Questions that we can easily answer right away and questions that we fiercely debate. Questions that create Continue Reading »

Three Women of Jerusalem

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes

(Read it on my blog) A Haredi, a kibbutznik, and a Muslim walk into a bar. (beat) Mashiach comes!! Well, I don’t know what would actually happen; I never actually saw the three of them in the same room at the same time. And now for some context: This Tuesday, I went on a tiyul with Continue Reading »

[PCJE Dvar Torah] What Would Avraham Say About the Pew Survey?

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Josh Pernick

Yes, that Avraham. The Jewish world has been afire in recent weeks with responses to the new Pew survey on American Jewish life which shows an increasing rate of secularism, intermarriage and the like within the Jewish community. In one of the more inflammatory responses, Gabriel Roth of Slate.com advises American Jews to “embrace your Continue Reading »

Hebron: Blessing the Bad

Posted on October 23, 2013 by Ben Schneider

It was difficult to go to pray this morning after visiting Hebron yesterday. I’ll write more later about our meeting with the spokesman of the Hebron Jewish community, but suffice to say that I questioned him enough to wonder how we are part of the same people and praying to the same God for assistance. Continue Reading »

[PCJE Dvar Torah] Did Abraham Fail his Test?

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Anna Pomson

Oh God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son” Abe says, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on” God say, “No.” Abe say, “What?” God say, “You can do what you want Abe, but The next time you see me comin’ you better run” Well Abe says, “Where do you want this killin’ done?” God Continue Reading »

[Guest Post] Jewish Studies, a Poem by Abraham Leibson

Posted on October 17, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Early in 2013 my wife Sharon and I visited Israel for the first time. We rented an apartment in Jerusalem (Rehavia), and used it as a base to explore as much as we could in one month. I had prepared a long list of objectives and almost all of the objectives were achieved. One of Continue Reading »

Social Justice Track|Dvrei Tzedek

Posted on October 15, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

From my blog: You can’t really know me at this point and not know that I spent a summer in Uganda working for the American Jewish World Service or AJWS. If that’s the case, we should talk some more! AJWS is a non-profit organization supported mostly by American Jewry that works to realize human rights and Continue Reading »

The Day my Little Brother Moved to Israel

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes

(From my blog): The Day my Little Brother Moved to Israel …was last Tuesday.  Since then, I have been asked a certain two questions more times than I can count: How do your parents feel about all three of you being in Israel? (it’s true – the Theological Threesome of Eli, Naomi and Uri Bilmes Continue Reading »

[Living with Judaism] Season 2, An open letter to a friend

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Elana Shilling