Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
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 18, 2012 by Aliza Geller
Originally posted on my blog: I need to start by saying that I love Israel, I am a zionist and I also believe in egalitarian Judaism. I am still able to love Israel, even though there are a number of problems related to how much sway the religious right has with the Government of Israel Continue Reading »
Posted on December 14, 2012 by Andrea Wiese
Originally posted on my blog: I recently learned about Women of the Wall and their struggle for equality at the Kotel, the Western Wall, the most significant religious site for Jews. Every Rosh Chodesh they go to the Kotel to pray together in a minyan (technically, a group of 10 Jewish men, but for them, Continue Reading »
Posted on November 30, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
While this week’s parsha, VaYishlach, includes some of our tradition’s high-points (Jacob struggles with an angel and prevails! Jacob’s name is changed to Israel and he is blessed with land and progeny!) as well as some of its low-points (the rape of Dinah; Reuben sleeping with his father’s handmaid, Bilhah), my favorite verse in VaYishlach Continue Reading »
Posted on November 3, 2012 by Andrea Wiese
Last night, I had 30 women studying at Pardes over to my house for Shabbat. I was really worried about inviting so many people, but I just couldn’t only invite some, as I really love every woman at Pardes and really wanted to have a beautiful experience in my home. Seeing that it was going Continue Reading »
Posted on October 23, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
Sarah Mulhern (Year Program ’09, Fellows ’10) shares her dvar Torah for Parashat Lech Lecha with These&Those. This commentary is provided by special arrangement with American Jewish World Service. To learn more, visit www.ajws.org. Lech Lecha One of the things I find most inspiring about studying Torah is that the biblical characters are human. They Continue Reading »
Posted on October 20, 2012 by Mary Brett Koplen
Originally posted on CowBird. Har Nof, Jerusalem: a village of the black-hatted and side-locked sort of faithful, and these are the people we pass this Saturday evening. We walk through the middle of the street, knowing there will be no cars, that the stores will all be closed. I turn to my brother-in-law, his black Continue Reading »
Posted on October 6, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
This is worth a read. We’d be totally remiss not to mention that Dustin Gutierrez’s (Year Program ’12-’13) wife Melissa is an avid blogger in the Jewish Blogosphere! She writes from the perspective of a modern-minded, traditional Jewish woman. It’s a really great blog 🙂
Posted on August 26, 2012 by Derek Kwait
This week was my last back at my shul Young People’s Synagogue, which last year, raised around $7,000 to send me to Pardes for a year. Yesterday, I delivered this speech to let them know how their investment turned out. So, how have you all been? For those who don’t know, from September through the Continue Reading »
Posted on May 7, 2012 by Derek Kwait
(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) I came to Israel wanting to learn Torah, and I have. Thank God, I’ve learned tons of Torah here and am privileged to learn more each day. But now that it’s May and I’m entering into the home stretch of my first year in Israel, I’ve gotten Continue Reading »
