Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on November 18, 2014 by David Derin
Those of you who know me well are aware of the fact that I do not like to talk about things related to politics. I personally feel that when people talk about politics it frequently leads to disagreement, yelling, and hurt feelings. At the end of the day, my opinions are my opinions and I Continue Reading »
Posted on November 14, 2014 by Myra Meskin
וַיִּהְיוּ חַיֵּי שָׂרָה מֵאָה שָׁנָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וְשֶׁבַע שָׁנִים שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי שָׂרָה: וַתָּמָת שָׂרָה בְּקִרְיַת אַרְבַּע הִוא חֶבְרוֹן בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן וַיָּבֹא אַבְרָהָם לִסְפֹּד לְשָׂרָה וְלִבְכֹּתָהּ: And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years; [these were] the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kiriath arba, Continue Reading »
Posted on November 11, 2014 by Alana Bandos
Today at Pardes, we had a faculty panel about the conflict and two related day trips- one to Hevron and the other a tour of 3 vastly different cities (a Charedi village, secular Kibbutz, and Arab-Israeli village). On the panel sat Meir Schweiger, Rahel Berkovits, Tovah Leah Nachmani, and Daniel Roth, four incredible teachers from Continue Reading »
Posted on November 10, 2014 by Eva Neuhaus
From my blog: i just came through a month of feeling totally disoriented by judaism and wondering what the hell i’m doing in rabbinical school. here’s what i learned: 1. sometimes what’s called for is to follow the feelings of disorientation all the way down the rabbit hole. there have been times recently where i Continue Reading »
Posted on November 9, 2014 by Geo Poor
Four Men stood before the Watchers the angels placed by God to observe and record the deeds the facts of all that walk this Earth
Posted on November 8, 2014 by Sarah Marx
At Thursday’s Pardes open mic, I shared a version of the story (midrash? heresy?) below. Tonight, I wasn’t sure whether or not it would be appropriate to post it on the blog — after all, I can hear fireworks and gunshots in the distance, and I feel as though I should be writing about that Continue Reading »
Posted on November 8, 2014 by Binyamin Cohen
Night Seder Chevrutas Binyamin Cohen and David Wallach join together to reflect on this week’s parshah. בְּרֵאשִׁית י”ח:י”ז וַיהוָה, אָמָר: הַמְכַסֶּה אֲנִי מֵאַבְרָהָם, אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה ‘God said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am going to do?”’ (Gen. 18:17) This week’s parshah is packed with stories of the lives of Abraham and Sarah. Continue Reading »
Posted on November 6, 2014 by Mollie Feldman
Writing this blog post comes directly on the heels of a Pardes tiyul to Hebron. This was my first visit to Hebron, although far from my first difficult confrontation with or conversation about the current political situation in Israel. The soul searching, questioning, despair, and hope that inevitably follows this sort of trip (and – Continue Reading »
Posted on November 4, 2014 by Celeste Aronoff
I came to Pardes this year because I needed to be in Jerusalem. I was supposed to start rabbinical school in the spring, but I decided to come to Jerusalem instead for the summer to study Hebrew and deepen my Jewish experience and identity before then embarking on my rabbinical journey in August. But a Continue Reading »
Posted on November 4, 2014 by Michael Sager
Originally posted on my blog at Times of Israel. Today at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem, where I am a student, we heard speakers about Hebron, the occupation, and the IDF. One of these was Shai Davidovich, educational director of the group Breaking the Silence. I asked him a question. Not very well. I tried to explain my problem. Continue Reading »
