Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on April 6, 2012 by Derek Kwait
Long story short, I was accepted to be a Pardes Fellow next year, charged to be a leader in the community and run the blog while getting paid a generous stipend. Of course this is what I wanted to do, but the question keeping me up at night was whether or not it is what Continue Reading »
Posted on November 5, 2011 by Derek Kwait
(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) It’s finally hoodie weather here in Jerusalem. It had been getting progressively cooler each day for the past two weeks–at first, it was just cold at night, but this week, for the first time, I needed to wear a hoodie any time I went outside, even in Continue Reading »
Posted on February 14, 2011 by Shibley
My apologies for the long delay between posts. I was privileged to be visited by my parents followed by a battle with the flu, which has become in the inspiration for this post. While I was sick with the flu, I was fortunate enough to receive get well wishes from a number of teachers and Continue Reading »
Posted on December 13, 2010 by Shibley
Last Thursday evening, we returned to the normal weekday arrangement of t’fillot. Friday we resumed saying tahanun (putting down of the head). Remember, since the beginning of Hannukah, we did not say tahanun, and we inserted into the amidah a passage about the holidy of which we were in the midst. Additionally, we encountered rosh Continue Reading »
Posted on December 8, 2010 by Shibley
from my blog: Throughout the ongoing week of Hannukah, we insert into each recitation of the Amidah a special passage that references and recalls the festival which we are currently celebrating. We commonly think of Hannukah as a holiday about a simple jug of oil that miraculously lasted for eight times longer than expected. We Continue Reading »
Posted on November 24, 2010 by Shibley
Memorization is a powerful tool. Usually we associate memorization with preparation for tests. I want to associate it with prayer. For now, I am going to leave aside the potential halakhic problems that may arise from memorizing prayer, which is fair game for a later post, and instead share my own memorization journey. Last year, Continue Reading »
Posted on November 17, 2010 by Shibley
Transitional moments within davening are generally opportunities to keep the t’fillot at hand moving along without delays that would cause a lapse in concentration or disrupt the atmosphere of holiness. As an aside, halacha takes into consideration this fact, and prohibits the burdening of the congregation. I learned last year at Yeshivat Hadar, that sometimes Continue Reading »
Posted on December 13, 2009 by Brenna
Experiencing prayer is one of my favorite things in Israel and Jerusalem in particular. This whole country is a place of prayer. Where else but Israel, would one hear in the beginning of the show “Survivor” one of the secular contestants sing “Modeh Ani” (a prayer praising G-d for returning to life in the morning)? Continue Reading »
