Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on September 28, 2014 by Ariella Siegel
From my blog: 9/22/14 (Pictures below!) This past weekend was the first shabbaton, or retreat, of the year with school. It was a really nice way of getting to know people outside of the school environment (which can be intense). Looking at our very scheduled weekend, I was concerned I wouldn’t have enough time for Continue Reading »
Posted on September 13, 2014 by Suzanne Hutt
I haven’t always been obsessed with fire. In fact, when I was younger I used to be terrified of it, to the point where I would hide in the pantry closet when anyone in my family lit birthday candles. It’s a long story, but let’s just say it had to do with a Passover hametz-burning Continue Reading »
Posted on May 30, 2013 by Brian Blumenthal
“למען ציון לא אחשה ולמען ירושלם לא אשקוט עד יצא כנגה צדקה וישועתה כלפיד יבער” For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth like radiance, and her salvation like a burning torch. (Isaiah 62:1) This semester in Yaffa Epstein’s Bekiut Talmud Continue Reading »
Posted on May 7, 2013 by Avigayle Adler
In the Gemara, Shabbat is defined by the work that surrounds it and goes into preparing for it. We light the Sabbath candles to mark the beginning of Shabbat and light the Havdallah candle to mark its conclusion. Shabbat, therefore is book-ended, suspended in time between these two rituals of light. Interestingly enough, lighting a Continue Reading »
Posted on October 29, 2012 by David Bogomolny
I remember a late, late Shabbat night conversation several years ago on a street corner in Dupont Circle with a friend of mine. We were standing outside of a bar, as people walked by us, in and out, in and out, not heeding us in the slightest, just as we didn’t pay them any heed. We were 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 May 30, 2012 by Soffer
Originally posted on the Masa blog a couple weeks ago: By Jordan Soffer, Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies This past Shabbat Pardes had a tiyul and Shabbaton to the Galil. Prior to the tiyul, while briefly skimming the itinerary, I imagined that this Shabbaton would be the same as every Shabbaton I have been on since Continue Reading »
Posted on April 12, 2012 by David Bogomolny
Rob Murstein comes from a ‘very liturgical’ family; they attend Shabbat services every Friday evening, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon until havdalah. Rob’s father is a regular Torah reader at shul, his brother studied chazzanut with their cantor, and Rob himself read Torah at shul for the first time when he was six years old; and then again at Continue Reading »
Posted on March 28, 2012 by Jackie F.
I wrote this upon exploring the Israeli narrative with Perspectives Israel: I made aliyah 2.5 years ago. Someday (G-d willing) I will be a mom – a mom to sabras. It will be my turn to directly shape the next generation of Israel. What will I say when they ask about the Separation Barrier? What Continue Reading »
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Derek Kwait
Facinating article for discussion from Reform Judaism Magazine (for the record, I stumbled upon it via a positive review on an Orthodox site): http://reformjudaismmag.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=2854 Campus Life 201: Trying Out Frum by Emily Langowitz For the past week, my alarm has gone off every morning at seven—the click of the radio calling me to another day Continue Reading »
