Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on February 22, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Please enjoy this Dvar Torah by Mordechai Rackover (PEP ’03)! Mordechai Rackover is a Pardes Alum, a member of the PEP 3rd Cohort. He currently lives in Providence, RI with his wife Nechama Lea and their four kids. He is the associate university chaplain for the Jewish community of Brown University and the Rabbi of Continue Reading »
Posted on February 22, 2013 by Aliza Geller
This weekend, Parashat Tetzaveh, Shabbat Zachor is my Bat Mitzvah portion. When I was 12 years old, I wrote a dvar Torah about the maftir and haftarah. The reason this made sense, is that Shabbat Zachor is one of four Shabbatot where the maftir aliyah is from a different place in the Torah. In this Continue Reading »
Posted on February 14, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Starting Tuesday, my fellow Pardes Educators will enter a variety of Jewish day school classrooms across the US as part of their student teaching experience. With an eye toward this opportunity, here are a few lessons/ideas from this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Terumah, regarding pedagogy: The parsha opens with an appeal for donations of the Continue Reading »
Posted on February 11, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Rosh Chodesh Adar is almost over, but Purim is coming soon! A Provocative Purim Poem by Sara Brandes (Year ’01, Fellows ’02, Elul ’05) ENJOY! Rabbi Sara Brandes lives in Los Angeles, CA, with her husband Hyim, and two children, Michal (5) and Gavi (2). She is West Coast Regional Director at Moving Traditions, and Continue Reading »
Posted on February 10, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Peter Stein (Kollel ’09-’11) writes about Parshat Mishpatim: In this week’s Torah portion, Mishpatim, we find a series of laws dealing with how to respond to the blessings God gives us. מלאתך ודמעך לא תאחר בכור בניך תתן־לי כן־תעשה לשרך לצאנך שבעת ימים יהיה עם־אמו ביום השמיני תתנו־לי “You shall not put off the skimming of Continue Reading »
Posted on February 8, 2013 by Derek Kwait
The University of Pittsburgh’s Chabad House, run by two of my heroes, R. Shmuel and Sara Weinstein, is one of my favorite places on earth and one that has had an inestimable impact on my identity as a Jew. Once, when in late January 2011 they took a very rare Shabbat away, we students decided Continue Reading »
Posted on February 7, 2013 by Leah Kahn
In last week’s Parsha, Yitro, we left B’nei Yisrael at Mt. Sinai, having just received the Ten Commandments directly from the mouth of God. Most would agree that they are reasonable commandments, which aim to help this newly freed people maintain order and positive values as a newly minted nation. Switching gears immediately from the Continue Reading »
Posted on January 31, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert
This week’s parsha, Yitro, mentions Moses’ father-in-law (known by seven names in Tanakh.) In Yitro, he swoops in, Jean-Luc Picard style, to teach Moses how to delegate and manage his community more efficiently and then swoops out again. This midrash was written at Pardes in 2009-2010 and tells the story of their meeting and how their Continue Reading »
Posted on January 23, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
From Lauren Henderson’s (Summer ’09, Year ’10) blog: The d’var torah (more or less) that I gave at Sunday night’s Encounter Leadership Seminar: When I first got to Israel in the fall and started to get acquainted with the current stagnant political situation (for both domestic and foreign issues), I started to actually hope that Continue Reading »
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 »
