Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on September 15, 2014 by Ariella Siegel
Studying in chevruta (paired learning) in the beit midrash (study room), I see something that makes me so happy, calms any qualms I had about my current place in the world and provides me all the confirmation I need that I am in the right place. What is this wondrous sight, you may be asking. Continue Reading »
Posted on September 11, 2014 by Binyamin Cohen
Night Seder Chevrutas Binyamin Cohen and David Wallach join together to reflect on this week’s parshah, Ki Tavo. דְּבָרִים כו:ב, ה ב “וְלָקַחְתָּ מֵרֵאשִׁית כָּל-פְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר תָּבִיא מֵאַרְצְךָ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ–וְשַׂמְתָּ בַטֶּנֶא; וְהָלַכְתָּ, אֶל-הַמָּקוֹם, אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, לְשַׁכֵּן שְׁמוֹ שָׁם… ה וְעָנִיתָ וְאָמַרְתָּ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי, וַיֵּרֶד מִצְרַיְמָה, Continue Reading »
Posted on September 9, 2014 by Sarah Marx
For a place so much associated with desert and stone and sun, Jerusalem is full of blue. My morning walk to school is painted blue, in both broad and slender strokes: the giant turquoise sky, or the thin stripes of the Israeli flag, or the joyful cerulean paint on someone’s shutters or garden fence. Even Continue Reading »
Posted on April 28, 2014 by Rory Sullivan
It took me eight years to get back to Pardes. During a Birthright trip my freshman year of college, we sat in the Beit Midrash, the great big room filled with tables of four chairs each and books lining every wall. We studied a text that I don’t remember. What I do remember is liking Continue Reading »
Posted on March 3, 2014 by Eileen Gamzuletova
Once I finally arrived home, after twenty seven hours travelling time, my mother asked me, “What was the best thing you gained out of your time at Pardes?” to which I answered, “A sense of belonging.” Upon completing my formal education in a Modern Orthodox and Zionist school, Mount Scopus College, and commencing life in Continue Reading »
Posted on January 26, 2014 by Naomi Bilmes
From my blog: I have been living in Israel for 10 months, and everyone knows what happens after 10 months in a foreign country: you go broke and finally start paying attention to the foreign country’s politics. In addition to that, your parents come to visit! It had been five months since I had physically Continue Reading »
Posted on September 17, 2013 by Stefanie Groner
I shared these parting words at Community Lunch today at Pardes: In three weeks, I will start my first-ever, grown-up, real-life job as a consultant. From my understanding, a consultant comes in as an outsider to a space, gets to know the ins and outs and upside-downs of that place, and develops creative and effective Continue Reading »
Posted on August 15, 2013 by Talia Kern
Here is the poem I read at the closing lunch for the ’13 summer program: We started Pardes on the eighth of July Little did we know, that time would fly At our opening circle, there are so many names “Come hear about the classes,” Alex exclaims. Nechama, Tzvi, Yaffa, Reuven, who should we choose? Continue Reading »
Posted on June 7, 2013 by Aileen Heinberg
I presented this dvar torah at the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators commencement ceremony on Wednesday: Almost two whole years ago, as we were first settling in at Pardes, a classmate looked around the room at our PEP cohort and said, “Wow, we are a group of very different personalities.” And it’s true; we all Continue Reading »
Posted on May 27, 2013 by Derek Kwait
At the end of last year, I gave the world “The Kwait“ the necessarily abridged First Edition of The Practical Dictionary of the Pardes Lexicon. Now, as my Pardes experience comes to a close, I present this still necessarily abridged Second Edition, to be known as “The Kwait Shayni.” This edition, like its predecessor, is Continue Reading »