Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on January 23, 2020 by Joe Schiff
This blog post was written by Joe Schiff, a second year PEP student. The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting last academic year took eleven lives. I happened to be at Pardes during the attack last year. Among our cohort were multiple people who knew the synagogue, the area, and the victims intimately. When a person is killed, Continue Reading »
Posted on January 23, 2020 by Golda Gross
This blog post was written by Golda Gross a first semester student (Fall 2019) from France. Our last step in Auschwitz was Block 27: a room containing a non-exhaustive list of people who had set foot in this cursed place during the Holocaust. We flipped through the thousands of pages filled with names, and then Continue Reading »
Posted on January 20, 2020 by Lara Rodin
This blog post, written by Lara Rodin, a second year PEP student, was originally posted on January 19, 2020 on her personal blog. It has been reposted here with her permission. “They didn’t have time to think,” Dean Bernstein told us about the victims of Treblinka, Majdanek, Auschwitz, and the other death camps and memorial Continue Reading »
Posted on January 20, 2020 by Branden Charles Johnson
This blog post was written by Branden Johnson, a PEP student. Before learning about the Heritage Poland 2020/5780 trip, I had never wanted to go to Poland. I know many people who have been there, and most of them said it was cold, dark, and too sad. After returning from the trip, I can now Continue Reading »
Posted on January 16, 2020 by David Bernstein
A 17th c. Shul blown up by the Nazis on November 11, 1939. Pardes students turn it into a place for Jewish prayer again. The roof was built by the Lauder Foundation in the 1990’s.
Posted on January 16, 2020 by Elyssa Hurwitz
This blog post was written by Elyssa Hurwitz, 2019 PEEP student. Today I am 25 and a half. I know that that may seem insignificant, but it’s important to me. I was born on July 14, 1994, and I can’t remember being the kind of person who has liked being spoiled or the center of Continue Reading »
Posted on January 14, 2020 by Mimi Farb
This blog post was written by Mimi Farb, first year PEP student. My day began with morning minyan in the hotel conference room in Warsaw. We read the beginning of Sefer Shemoth from the tiny Sefer Torah we borrowed from the family of Adi Rubnista, that we carried against our chests later in the day Continue Reading »
Posted on March 31, 2015 by Louise Szczerb
For most young and involved Jews growing up in Israel, Europe or North America a trip to Poland is a formative part of their Jewish journey. In Israel they call it a ‘Tiyul Shorashim’, a trip designed to help you discover your roots. Although many of my mother’s mother’s family were part of the 98% Continue Reading »
Posted on March 31, 2015 by Bonnie Houghton
Pardes in Turkey, March 29th Sunday – With a warm gray sky contrasting the green rolling hills of Istanbul, this morning we headed bleary-eyed and smiling into our final day of this amazing experience. Having said or written tearful goodbyes to our home stay hosts, we returned to our home synagogue of Etz Ahayim to Continue Reading »
Posted on November 14, 2014 by Myra Meskin
וַיִּהְיוּ חַיֵּי שָׂרָה מֵאָה שָׁנָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וְשֶׁבַע שָׁנִים שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי שָׂרָה: וַתָּמָת שָׂרָה בְּקִרְיַת אַרְבַּע הִוא חֶבְרוֹן בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן וַיָּבֹא אַבְרָהָם לִסְפֹּד לְשָׂרָה וְלִבְכֹּתָהּ: And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years; [these were] the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kiriath arba, Continue Reading »
