These and Those

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

Tag Archives: appreciation / gratitude

2012 PEP Graduation Dvar Torah

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Rabbi Julie Gordon

By Rabbi Julie Gordon, PEP ’12 Soon we will leave the security of Pardes’ Beit Midrash where if we had a question or wanted to study a text, there was always a teacher or a student interested in helping, guiding and learning with us. We all know there is so much more to learn. When Continue Reading »

My Dvar Torah at PEP graduation

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Sam Blumberg

By Sam Blumberg, PEP ’12 Over the last three years at Pardes, I have learned a ton. I’ve learned Torah, Talmud, Mishna, pedagogy, philosophy– all things that I knew little about before my time in the Pardes Educators Program. But I didn’t come here to learn. I came here to teach. In the thirteenth chapter Continue Reading »

My PEP Graduation Dvar Torah

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Esther DuBow

By Esther DuBow, PEP ’12 Daniel Weinreb, you are truly a scholar and a gentleman and having you as a colleague these past two years has been wonderful. I want that “sugya” you wrote for closing lunch. In return, I’ll give you a copy of our spiel, (PAUSE) assuming there are some left that weren’t Continue Reading »

My Dvar Torah from PEP Graduation Ceremony

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Joanne Loiben

By Joanne Loiben, PEP ’12 Writer’s block. How can I sum up these past 3 years into a neat little 3 minute Dvar Torah? The memories, the moments, the worlds that once existed on this 3rd floor hidden paradise. The teachers, the knowledge, the learning, the constant flow of engaging conversations. Who I was 3 Continue Reading »

[Student Profile] Tamar Landau

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Barer

Tamar views her Jewish journey as a work in progress, or, as Zvi Hirschfield suggests, that of a Gemara sugiyah.  As a child growing up in Los Angeles, she went to Hebrew school three days a week and was ‘that kid’ who loved it.  Perhaps Jewish education’s emphasis on modern Hebrew at the time made Continue Reading »

My Ayeka experience at Pardes

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Adrienne Silver

My experience with Ayeka has been a transformative one. Ayeka’s safe, open environment allowed me to explore areas of my religious life that I would not have otherwise explored. It forced me to grapple with issues that I have decidedly ignored in the past. For the first time, I felt encouraged to read texts subjectively Continue Reading »

Dear my beautiful hair models of Pardes,

Posted on June 2, 2012 by Laura Marder

I want to thank you for making me your official hairdresser this year. The salons in the area were all confused where their Pardes clients had gone! It has been an honor and great experience cutting all of your hair. I did not come into my studies at Pardes thinking that it would be a Continue Reading »

Radical amazement on Pardes’ end-of-year Shabbaton

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Soffer

Originally posted on the Masa blog a couple weeks ago: By Jordan Soffer, Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies This past Shabbat Pardes had a tiyul and Shabbaton to the Galil. Prior to the tiyul, while briefly skimming the itinerary, I imagined that this Shabbaton would be the same as every Shabbaton I have been on since Continue Reading »

Lost in the Rhythm

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Andrew Lustig

Originally posted on the Masa Blog:   I came to Israel – to the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies – 10 months ago, so that I could study and become familiar with Jewish text. I wanted very much to live a ‘Jewish life.’ I just didn’t know what that entailed or meant.   Judaism, for Continue Reading »

Brainwashing

Posted on May 28, 2012 by Nikki Fig

As many in the Pardes community know, my year at Pardes has been decidedly unique. I originally only intended to stay through Elul, but every month I decided I would stay “for one more month.” My unwillingness to leave led my family and friends in America to conclude that I must be being “brainwashed”. This Continue Reading »