Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on April 12, 2012 by David Bogomolny
Rob Murstein comes from a ‘very liturgical’ family; they attend Shabbat services every Friday evening, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon until havdalah. Rob’s father is a regular Torah reader at shul, his brother studied chazzanut with their cantor, and Rob himself read Torah at shul for the first time when he was six years old; and then again at Continue Reading »
Posted on March 30, 2012 by Barer
This week’s parsha continues to detail the different sacrifices, this time focusing on who can and cannot eat them. The second half of the parsha (ch. 8) moves from commandment to narrative (or sorts) as the text describes the actual anointing of Aharon and his sons as active priests. While the text is repetitive and Continue Reading »
Posted on February 25, 2012 by Derek Kwait
(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) There is a Jewish saying that when the month of Adar enters, joy increases, and another that when Adar comes, the world stands on its head. Officially, Rosh Chodesh Adar was Thursday, but the preceding week gave it a running start. The first day of Women Continue Reading »
Posted on February 16, 2012 by Aliza B.
Today I had the most wonderful pleasure–I got to read from the Torah in the Egalitarian Minyan at Pardes. It happened almost by accident. As the gabbait for the minyan, I neglected to ask people to read earlier in the week. Last night, when I realized my mistake, I decided to just learn it myself. Continue Reading »
Posted on January 8, 2012 by David Bogomolny
Shaul Janes grew up in Elizabeth, NJ around the corner from a synagogue that his family did not attend. They were culturally Jewish, but their lives were nearly void of Judaism. As a young man, Shaul fell in love with cooking – he would think about cooking all the time – it became his creative outlet – it was all he wanted to Continue Reading »
Posted on December 1, 2011 by Naomi Zaslow
Posted on November 11, 2011 by Derek Kwait
(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) This was a dark week in Israel. As it happens, the anniversaries of both Yitzhak Rabin‘s assassination and Kristallnacht fall this week, and at Pardes, we had presentations on both. Tuesday, during Group Lecture, two of our rabbis discussed the impact the assassination had on them. Rabin’s Continue Reading »
Posted on September 16, 2011 by David Bogomolny
“All of my grandparents were holocaust survivors, and they all grew up in traditional Jewish families in Hungary… I want to be a part of the tradition that they grew up with… and at Pardes, I can begin to reclaim it.” Amy arranged her arrival to Israel to overlap with the final weeks of her Continue Reading »
Posted on January 23, 2011 by Tamara Frankel
Dear Friends, I hope you are well. This past week has been quite a busy one and at times, a difficult one for me. My cousin’s father, Eli Bellaiche z”l, passed away last week after a trying battle with cancer. He was an incredibly sweet and loving husband, father and grandfather and although we didn’t Continue Reading »
Posted on November 7, 2010 by Tamara Frankel
Dear Friends, Last week I went on a day trip exploring East Jerusalem, specifically the Mount of Olives, Silwan (neighbouring the City of David), Sheikh Jarrah, Damascus Gate and the Old City. The objective of the trip was to explore a side of Jerusalem many of us don’t often see or interact with, and therefore, Continue Reading »
