Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on May 30, 2014 by Carolyn Gerecht
Sitting in the Beit Midrash earlier this week, I casually flipped open a Tanakh to begin jotting down some thoughts for this blog post. What’s Parshat Naso all about, anyway? I opened up Bemidbar to find out. And then I realized I was about to write a Dvar Torah about the longest parsha ever. No, Continue Reading »
Posted on May 21, 2014 by Hannah Joy
From my blog: (I know, I know. I haven’t blogged in months. And my year here will be over in less than three weeks. Unreal.) This past Shabbat was the final Pardes shabbaton. Here are some thoughts I shared at the tisch Friday night. Parshat Bechukotai deals with blessings and curses. It opens with the Continue Reading »
Posted on May 18, 2014 by Andrea Wiese
My dvar Torah from the Final 2013-14 Shabbaton: In Leviticus 26:42 (ויקרא כו:מב): וְזָכַרְתִּי, אֶת-בְּרִיתִי יַעֲקוֹב; וְאַף אֶת-בְּרִיתִי יִצְחָק וְאַף אֶת-בְּרִיתִי אַבְרָהָם I will remember the brit of Yakov, even the brit of Yitzchak, and even the brit of Avraham. What I want to focus on here is that the text doesn’t just say Avot… it Continue Reading »
Posted on May 15, 2014 by Laura Marder
What do we have to do in order to get the beautiful blessings that are promised to us in this week’s parsha? Blessings that really take care of us – our whole selves, emotionally and physically. Blessings that have blossoming effects on our shared land and bring food and joy to our tables. It seems Continue Reading »
Posted on May 7, 2014 by Dita Ribner Cooper
It is no great secret that to be present in Israel during the week of Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut is one of the most emotional, saddening, joyous, and challenging experiences a Jew can have in the present day. In a span of 48 hours, the Jewish people collectively descend into a state of national Continue Reading »
Posted on May 1, 2014 by Elana Shilling
The omer is my least favourite time of year. Partly because of how all the clean-cut men in the world suddenly become scraggly and foreign looking and also partly because of the mournful tone of the month. Mostly however, the omer is a terrible time of year for me because of the sheer amount of Continue Reading »
Posted on April 24, 2014 by Ariel Eliach Forman
This week’s Parsha, Parshat Kedoshim uses the literary device of an “inclusio”. It starts and ends with the same line. דַּבֵּר אֶל-כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם–קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ: כִּי קָדוֹשׁ, אֲנִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם. and ends with: וִהְיִיתֶם לִי קְדֹשִׁים, כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי יְהוָה; In the middle, the parsha talks about all the ways and laws Continue Reading »
Posted on April 13, 2014 by Naomi Zaslow
Over the last week, I and most of my fellow PEPers, have been traveling around the States, doing model lessons for schools in hopes of gainful employment. One of my favorite model lessons that I’ve done focused on the Passover Seder and the way that we tell our story of leaving Egypt year after year. Continue Reading »
Posted on April 8, 2014 by Eli Freedman
On Passover night, we ask many questions. Here is one you may have never asked: why did the Egyptians want to subjugate the Israelites into slavery in the first place? What can we learn about ourselves by connecting Torah, the history of its interpretation, and Jewish conflict resolution theory? Welcome to the Pardes Center for Continue Reading »
Posted on April 3, 2014 by Josh Pernick
“I’m not totally sure what the appropriate response is” was all that I could come up with in the moment. How could I effectively convey my feelings towards my friend, who had just informed me that she was going to be moving halfway across the country? While moving to new cities has become a way Continue Reading »
