These and Those

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

Tag Archives: beginnings

The Place We Pray For

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Mary Brett Koplen

A post from my Cowbird in honor of the new semester: Early on the third day, the sun comes over the houses to the east of us. I open my eyes, kick sticky blankets to the floor. How was last night so cold? The glass on my window is hot when I touch it. My Continue Reading »

Swirl Swirl Desert Stop

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes

From my blog: (written two days ago) So, last night, I sat around a crackling fire with a group of religious people chanting incantations in ancient languages while passing around a hand-carved knife and letting the blood from our left pinkie fingers drip over the hot, scalding flames… Okay, that was an exaggeration. But I Continue Reading »

[PCJE Dvar Torah] Laura Marder – Parshat Bo

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Laura Marder

In Parshat Bo we are given the first Mitzvah from G-d. The mitzvah of being aware and sanctifying time with Rosh Chodesh. “This month shall be to you the head of the months; to you it shall be the first of the months of the year”. Bo 11:2   While reading BO I tried to Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Sara Brandes: Newness

Posted on January 1, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Sara Brandes (Year ’01, Fellows ’02, Elul ’05) wrote this blog post for New Years 2013… Enjoy! It takes the body seven to ten years to regenerate. Skin cells, heart cells, brain cells – almost all are are replaced over the course of a ten year period – which means, there literally is no part Continue Reading »

questions and answers

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Shoshana Rosen

Originally posted on my blog on Oct. 30, 2012: What am I even doing in Israel? What am I doing next year? What brings me joy? Meaning? At some point, you have to stop running away from these questions. The answer will not come without giving it space to be nurtured. Today was the first Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] D’var Torah: Bereishit

Posted on October 15, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media

Naomi Adland (Yr. Prog. ’09-’10, & former Ass’t Dir. of Recruitment) postedthis: This is the d’var torah I gave last Friday night at Shir HaMa’alot, a minyan here in Brooklyn. If you’ve read other things I’ve written, you might think that some of this sounds familiar – and you would be right, because I completely, unashamedly Continue Reading »

Love Your Limits

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Shira Bee

Originally posted on my blog: And I’m in Jerusalem. Life is different here. As someone said beautifully in the opening circle of my program, Pardes, I think “I breathe differently here.”  The pure age of the structures around me, the intensely spiritual aura that seems to ebb and flow throughout the city during the times Continue Reading »

Blogging in 5773

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Cara Abrams-Simonton

Originally posted on Oct. 1: Two months since I last wrote. It is now 5773 and I am hoping to blog more regularly. Call it a Jewish new year’s resolution! The Jewish New Year ראש השנה Rosh HaShanah was on September 17 followed by the Day of Atonement יום כיפור Yom Kippur on September 26. Continue Reading »

A Month of Firsts!

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Stuart Matan Lithwick

(Cross-posted from my blog) Hello world! This is the first post of my first ever blog on my first studymoon with the first person in my life, Annie. This first month has gone by so incredibly fast, and so much has happened, I hope I can capture at least some of it here. Jerusalem is Continue Reading »

Who says art projects are for kids?!

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Laura Marder

In our busy daily lives we are programmed as adults to subdue some of our pure emotions in order to be socially acceptable. Sometimes if not addressed through meditation, prayer, alone time etc ..our pure self can be pushed so far below the surface that even we forget who it is we really are. On Continue Reading »