Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on August 4, 2014 by Alanna Kleinman
I cried during services last Shabbat. I cried out of frustration and fear. I cried because the Rabbi told the sanctuary that liberal voices speaking out against Israel were anti-Semitic and hateful. I cried because I was told to shut up, that there’s only one way to support a land I had come to call Continue Reading »
Posted on May 23, 2014 by Alanna Kleinman
I’m leaving Israel today. I hurry to catch my plane, held up before security for sentimental reasons. Rushed goodbyes and confusion. I enter the plane with a crowd full of men in black jackets, fur hats, and peyos. I walk inside to find the aisles crowded full of these men, pushing and shoving, frantically fitting Continue Reading »
Posted on September 20, 2013 by David Bogomolny
When Jessica Baverman recently wrote about her developing relationship to the Kotel, I was reminded of some of my thoughts about and feelings towards it. I remember reading Avi Spodek’s post last spring, appreciating his struggle, and agreeing with him that “the incidents at the Kotel these past few months have dominated the atmosphere” at Continue Reading »
Posted on August 30, 2013 by Jessica Baverman
From my blog: Yesterday morning, I went to the Kotel for the first time since May. The last time I went, I had the realization that the current system of gender segregated prayer disallows for people with gender-variance to pray comfortably on either side. This time, I wanted to go to Robinson’s Arch, which is Continue Reading »
Posted on April 14, 2013 by Tadea Klein
There is a little girl in a photograph A fair-haired, sweet-faced thing Her arms wrapped around the neck of a man with dark, calm eyes and the inquisitive sniffing nose of a true Jew I know that this girl in her red shirt and black velvet dress, whose earliest memory is the sound of shouting, Continue Reading »
Posted on April 11, 2013 by Ma'ayan Dyer
From my blog: Monday was my second Yom HaShoah in Israel. I was standing in the middle of the partition in the road on Rivkah and Pierre Koenig to get a good view of the people stopping their cars and getting out to pay their respects to the dead when the wail of the memorial Continue Reading »
Posted on April 5, 2013 by Ma'ayan Dyer
From my blog: With only a little over two months left in my second round of adventures in Jerusalem, I’ve been disappointed in myself for not keeping up my reading and writing habits as a part of my day to day life. I have been clinging to the romantic notion that living in the Holy Continue Reading »
Posted on April 2, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert
Among the many blessings I have experienced this year is the Ayeka course facilitated by David Bogomolny. I share here some of my favourite take-aways from the course (handily preserved in my writing exercises and reflections.) This module was about bringing God back to the conversation. I felt like it gave me a place to Continue Reading »
Posted on March 6, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes
From my blog: I am presently having an odd experience of disconnect. The premise is this: Bad things keep happening to me. In the grand scheme of life, they are not terrible things: no death, no serious illness, no natural disasters. But sometimes the little things seem even more powerful, especially in a world of Continue Reading »
Posted on September 30, 2012 by Naomi Zaslow
When I was first applying to Pardes, (two years ago!) it took me a while to come to terms with the fact that we have no campus. Pardes is located above a Mazda dealership, on the border of the Talpiyot Industrial Zone. In my dreams, I had imagined studying gemara in some leafy quad and Continue Reading »
