Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on February 20, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Sarah Levy (Mechina ’07, PEP ’08-’10) shares a personal reflection about Pardes: A friend of mine once told me that she felt all of her friends fell into one of three categories: Friends for a reason (and once that reason no longer existed, neither did the friendship) Friends for a season (and once that time Continue Reading »
Posted on February 18, 2013 by Michael Sassoon
I shared these words with the Pardes community at Community Lunch last week before my (temporary!) departure: My experience here in Israel and at Pardes has been breathtaking. I feel the following verse playing itself out here for me in terms of things I’ve done, places and people I’ve seen, delicacies I’ve tasted: אנכי ה` Continue Reading »
Posted on February 17, 2013 by David Bogomolny
On Saturday, I returned to the Kotel to daven at the minyan that I’d happened upon the previous Shabbat. Once again, the group was friendly, and one of the participants noted that I had arrived on time, which he encouraged me to do again. On my way through the Old City to minyan, I found myself Continue Reading »
Posted on February 12, 2013 by David Bogomolny
Over the course of the past several years, I’ve come to learn that it’s not entirely clear whether praying in a minyan is halakhically required or not. Granted, most sources agree that praying in a minyan is at least encouraged & laudable… but ultimately, my halakhic obligation is to pray the correct services (morning, afternoon, evening) at the correct times. Outside of Continue Reading »
Posted on February 11, 2013 by Andrea Wiese
From my blog: We went to the Kotel (Western Wall) to pray this morning for Rosh Hodesh Adar. It started last night organizing taxis for everyone from Pardes who wanted to go. This morning, I woke up at 5:30…I made the decision to wrap my arm tefillin and wear my coat over it. I wrapped Continue Reading »
Posted on January 12, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
By Mira B. Shore (Summer ’09, ’10; Year ’12) As a self-identified progressive, liberal, secular Jew growing up at Jewish Day School, I spent a lot of my time and energy speaking about why prayer and G-d were NOT a part of my life. I actively ran from prayer. Once I had my bat-mitzvah, there Continue Reading »
Posted on January 6, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Zionism has become a touchy subject for many people in today’s post-modern culture, but here’s a beautiful, articulate piece that describes Pardes alum Alissa Thomas’ (Spring ’11) personal relationship to the concept of Zionism and the modern state of Israel: From alum Alissa Thomas’ Sh’ma Blog: As expected, everyone is thinking, talking, and praying about Continue Reading »
Posted on December 26, 2012 by Avi Benson-Goldberg
(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) At Pardes, it is easy to look at our faculty and see inhumanly perfect beings. This is an unfair assessment. Don’t tell Rabbi Eliezer I said this, but sometimes kavod rabbeinu (respect for our teachers) can go too far in making it impossible to see something of ourselves in Continue Reading »
Posted on December 24, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
Daniel Shibley (Fellows ’12) writes about his recent Motza”Sh musings: Moments after the departure of Shabbat this week, I walked slowly, even delicately, in the direction of my yeshiva dorm almost as if I did not want to make any noise that would shatter the lingering quiet of Shabbat. Having just said ma’ariv (evening service), I knew Continue Reading »
Posted on December 17, 2012 by Shira Bee
Originally posted on my blog:
