Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on January 20, 2013 by Jeff Amshalem
An abridged version of a teaching from R. Kalonymus Kalpan Halevi Epstein, the Maor vaShamesh. וַתִּקַּח מִרְיָם הַנְּבִיאָה אֲחוֹת אַהֲרֹן אֶת הַתֹּף בְּיָדָהּ וַתֵּצֶאןָ כָל הַנָּשִׁים אַחֲרֶיהָ בְּתֻפִּים וּבִמְחֹלֹת: וַתַּעַן לָהֶם מִרְיָם שִׁירוּ לַי־הֹוָ־ה כִּי גָאֹה גָּאָה סוּס וְרֹכְבוֹ רָמָה בַיָּם Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, Continue Reading »
Posted on January 3, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
This week, Rabbi James Jacobson-Maisels discusses Parashat Shemot in “Fear of Sin, Mindfulness, and a Softened Heart.” james shemot Shabbat Shalom!
Posted on November 26, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
This dvar Torah was written by James Jacobson-Maisels (Pardes Kollel ’01-’03). Today, we know and love James as one of our amazing Pardes faculty, teaching classes such as ‘Self, Soul & Text’, and running our Pardes Spirituality Retreats! One of the great mitzvot, modeled in our recent parshiot by Avraham Avinu, is hakhnasat orchim, the Continue Reading »
Posted on October 25, 2012 by Jeff Amshalem
The Hasidic master R. Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl, also known by the title of his book Meor Einayim, has this to say on our parsha, Lech lecha: Rashi comments that God tells Avram that the command to go forth is “for your own good.” This is difficult to understand, since God calls Avram “my lover” because he served Continue Reading »
Posted on October 11, 2012 by Lauren Schuchart
This past Sunday night was Simchat Torah. I spent the evening in the Pardes beit midrash, dancing and singing, along with many of you. The energy in the room was palpable, and filled me up with a feeling of pure joy. I experienced a particularly moving moment when the singing shifted to “Am Yisrael Chai: Continue Reading »
Posted on October 10, 2012 by Heather Kantrowitz
Originally posted on Sept. 19: Hello friends and family!! I’ve finally started school, and it’s been keeping me so busy I haven’t had time to update my blog. So, here’s the past two weeks in a nutshell: 1)SO MUCH LEARNING 2)SO MANY NEW FRIENDS! School: It’s been a combination of challenging and rewarding so far. Continue Reading »
Posted on September 28, 2012 by Eric Feldman
cross-posted from my blog: Hey! It’s been a while since I posted last, so lets get right to it. The last 2 weeks were the two major holidays of the year, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and the last major holiday of the month, Sukkot, begins on Sunday night and lasts for a week. Sukkahs Continue Reading »
Posted on May 19, 2012 by Derek Kwait
(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) One of the unadvertised perks of Pardes is that after studying holy texts in their original in the Beit Midrash for a whole year, no matter how advanced your Hebrew level, you come away with a black-belt in using dictionaries. Yet I have noticed that for all Continue Reading »
Posted on April 22, 2012 by Laura H.
There is a great deal of contrast in the types of graves we are seeing in Poland. Today, we went to Belsec, where even in the mid-1990s, there were still bones visible on the earth. The memorial there is cut into the shallow hill of the camps – into the mass grave. We spoke about Continue Reading »
Posted on March 13, 2012 by David Bogomolny
I spent last Shabbat at Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach’s moshav near the city of Modi’in, where my grandparents and other close family members live. This Shabbaton was particularly convenient for me because it allowed me to visit my family without worrying about rushing back to J’lem for Shabbat (especially during the winter). It was also quite Continue Reading »
