Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on April 20, 2012 by Barer
This week’s double parsha is some of the densest and hardest-to-apply material in the Torah, in dealing with seemingly endless details of various bodily ailments and skin maladies. In trying to find a window into some of the meaning that these chapters might hold for us today, I think it might be helpful to consider Continue Reading »
Posted on November 6, 2011 by The Director of Digital Media
Guest Post: Dvar Torah by Pardes Alumnus Rabbi Peter Stein The Torah is a book that explores what it means to be human. The Book of Genesis, especially, presents story after story that delves into the pain and joy and messiness of the human condition. In this week’s parshah, we read about Sarai, our ancestor, and Continue Reading »
Posted on June 30, 2011 by Avi Strausberg
this parsha is one that sits heavy with death. for one thing, early on, we get the description of what to do when one comes in contact with a dead body. and then, as if the Torah was simply giving us the procedure in order to prepare us for what’s to come, we learn of Continue Reading »
Posted on May 22, 2011 by Jean
When Job’s three friends heard about all these calamities that had befallen him, each came from his home…. They met together to go and console and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance… they broke into loud weeping; each one tore his robe and threw dust into the air onto his head. They Continue Reading »
Posted on May 15, 2011 by Tamara Frankel
Dear Friends, This past Monday I visited Mount Herzl in Jerusalem with my classmates to commemorate Yom Hazikaron, Israel Remembrance Day. We visited the graves of young soldiers who had fallen recently and those of heroic figures like Hannah Senesh. Many questions raced through my mind as we walked among the graves: Where am I Continue Reading »
Posted on April 15, 2011 by Barer
Rashi, in his first comment on the parsha (16:1), asks the perennial question: Why, after two parshiyot talking about the details of ritual impurity, does the text remind us so clearly that Aaron has recently lost his two eldest sons? Rashi quotes the book Torat Kohanim (The Book of Priests, 16:3), the main collection of Continue Reading »
Posted on April 11, 2011 by Avi Strausberg
i would’ve wanted more. two parshiot later after the death of aharon’s sons, parshat achrei mot, picks up at the moment following their deaths. back in parshat shimini, where we actually learn of the boys’ all-too-close encounter with foreign fire, God speaks directly to aharon in a rare moment of personal revelation. okay, at least Continue Reading »
Posted on February 23, 2011 by Avi Strausberg
when i first read this week’s parsha, in which the תרומה (gifts offered to God) and the building of the משכן (tabernacle) is detailed, i experienced a sense of de-ja-vue in their descriptions. i thought, i’ve literally just read all of these same words about how the skilled should offer their services, these vessels will Continue Reading »
Posted on October 27, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
we learn of three deaths in this week’s parsha, whose very title, חיי שרה, contains the word life. the first death, is that of sarah, for whose death, avraham wails and cries, seemingly alone in his grief. in constrast, after avraham’s own death, just pages later, he breathes his last breath, dies, and is Continue Reading »
