Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on February 24, 2014 by Ma'ayan Dyer
From Ma’ayan Dyer’s (Spring ’12, Spring ’13) blog: Even before the completion of my conversion three years ago, keeping kosher seemed relatively simple and came surprisingly easy. Sure, the BLT was my favorite sandwich once upon a time, and the spectrum of the many delicious treyf Italian meats were a goyish treat that I wouldn’t Continue Reading »
Posted on December 28, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
From my blog: A few weeks ago, an actress came to Pardes to do a kind of skit, stereotyping Four Faces of Israel, or four different people that one will inevitably encounter in Israel. She portrayed the narratives of a Haredi woman, a settler, a kibbutznik and an Arab woman. Somehow, every experience that I have, Continue Reading »
Posted on December 28, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
From my blog: A few weeks ago, an actress came to Pardes to do a kind of skit, stereotyping Four Faces of Israel, or four different people that one will inevitably encounter in Israel. She portrayed the narratives of a Haredi woman, a settler, a kibbutznik and an Arab woman. Somehow, every experience that I have, Continue Reading »
Posted on December 18, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
From my blog: I find it fascinating how quickly our lives can change, often times without us even realizing it. On top of that, how quickly we can change the lives of others, of future generations, surely without them realizing it. It’s a rainy day outside, so you take the bus to work instead of Continue Reading »
Posted on November 17, 2013 by Ben Schneider
This past week, I had the privilege of being a member of the Masa delegation to the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly. The JFNA is the largest Jewish charity, and I believe the largest charity of its kind in the world, and its primary purpose is to raise money and distribute it in Continue Reading »
Posted on January 16, 2013 by David Bogomolny
One Aspect of Halakha that is Particularly Meaningful to Me “Anyone who identifies as Jewish today only need go back three or four generations to find observant Jews in their family. And from there an unbroken chain of Jewish living that goes back more than three thousand years. Not that everyone has always been observant. Continue Reading »
Posted on November 8, 2012 by Derek Kwait
“Oh, so you’ve been here [almost a year/two years]! So are you planning on making aliyah?,” they say, bearing their teeth and gently lifting their eyebrows in anticipation of the upcoming hearty “Mazel tov!” they’re sure to owe me. “No.” “Oh,” this is less an expression than the sound a face makes as it falls. Continue Reading »
Posted on October 17, 2012 by David Bogomolny
Bruce Shaffer was raised in an assimilation-bent household in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Northwest Detroit, fairly typical of what he saw around him. His curiosity for Jewish learning and Jewish text was seeded at his Hebrew school. There was no core of professional Jewish faculty – Bruce’s teachers were mostly Yiddish-speaking European refugees, and Continue Reading »
Posted on February 10, 2012 by Derek Kwait
As I was browsing through my hard drive yesterday I rediscovered this dramatic monologue I wrote for my Playwriting class in college. Here it is with slight emendations, I hope you enjoy it. (I apologize for the weird spacing, I don’t know why it’s like that, it’s not intentional.) (A rabbi’s office. The wall is Continue Reading »
Posted on December 29, 2011 by The Director of Digital Media
One of this year’s Pardes Fellows is studying at Pardes for her first time this year – last year she was studying at the Conservative Yeshiva. Réka Eszter Bodó is one of Pardes’ international students; she’s from Hungary, and These&Those (Th&Th) thought it would be interesting to interview her to learn a bit about her Continue Reading »
