These and Those

Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem

Tag Archives: Fellows Program

“Are you crazy?” They ask.

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Alana Bandos

All summer long (not the Kid Rock song), my peers, my parents’ peers, my aunt and uncle, my bosses and their neighbors, the random lady painting my nails, my SCUBA instructor, the guy from Verizon selling me a new phone, and just about everyone else has been asking me this one question: “Are you crazy?” Continue Reading »

On the Other Side of the… Wait, There’s no Mechitza!

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Naomi Bilmes

From my blog: One of my close friends recently told me that I will forever be in her heart as her “mechitza-going-skirt-wearing-early-morning partner in crime Judaism.” This epigraph described our year at Pardes perfectly: we were two of the three women who regularly attended mechitza minyan; we wore skirts on a daily basis (and even Continue Reading »

Making Shabbat Happen

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Alana Bandos

When I first arrived at Pardes, one of my biggest fears would be that I would never be able to get Shabbat plans together every week. I do have plenty of family in Israel that I could always fall back on, but they all live outside of Jerusalem. I was hoping to have some “in” Continue Reading »

Continually opting in to Orthodoxy

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez

From my blog, Redefining Rebbetzin: There has been a lot of talk online over the past few months about Orthodox Feminism – ranging from how it is not possible, to how oppressed we are, to why we stay Orthodox. The posts on the latter topic seem to come mostly from women who grew up within Continue Reading »

It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Aliza Geller

There is a good chance that I won’t be returning to Pardes after Passover. So, during community lunch yesterday, I said a few words, an option given to anyone who wants to reflect on their experience at Pardes. Here is what I said: Roughly two hours ago I walked into the Beit Midrash to return Continue Reading »

The Oven of Retelling

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Naomi Bilmes

From my blog: What is the purpose of a story? To be re-written, of course! Below, I have composed a re-telling of one of the most famous stories in Jewish tradition. It is originally found in the Babylonian Talmud (Tractate Bava Metzia, page 59), and I recently learned it from a new angle with one Continue Reading »

10 FAQS ABOUT BEING GAY AT PARDES

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Avi Benson-Goldberg

1. WAIT, YOU’RE GAY? I WOULD NEVER HAVE GUESSED! Probably I don’t get this as much as I feel like I do, but hey, we are all humans and so sometimes I go to work in my normal pants and sometimes I go to work in my garish neon-rainbow-flag leather tuchus-less chaps! This is really Continue Reading »

Carving out Freedom

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Naomi Bilmes

From my blog: וְהַ֨לֻּחֹ֔ת מַֽעֲשֵׂ֥ה אֱלֹהִ֖ים הֵ֑מָּה וְהַמִּכְתָּ֗ב מִכְתַּ֤ב אֱלֹהִים֙ ה֔וּא חָר֖וּת עַל־הַלֻּחֹֽת “And the tablets were a work of God; the writing was the writing of God; it was carved on the tablets.” (Exodus 32:16) Moses has smashed the first set of tablets. He has pleaded with God to spare the Jewish people or Continue Reading »

The Parents Come to Town

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 »

Pardes *is* my family

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez

As I progress in my pregnancy and it becomes so visibly obvious people become more and more free with their questions, and one of the most common ones I get goes something like this: Person: Are you going to have the baby here or go back to America? Me: Here! 🙂 Person: Is your family Continue Reading »