These and Those

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

Tag Archives: High Holidays

On Teshuvah

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Eva Neuhaus

My friend Adam Mayer posed a question that stuck with me through the Days of Awe: What is the most effective way to do teshuvah? How can we forgive ourselves and others completely? Here are some of my reflections: 1. The fact that we’ve done bad things doesn’t make us bad people. Examining our shortcomings Continue Reading »

Let’s Relate

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes

From my blog: This week was my first full week of class at Pardes, leaving me with less of some things and more of others. More: Learning. Torah. Prayer. Introductions. Re-acquaintances. Texts. Less: Free Time. Energy. Mental Focus. If you haven’t heard from me recently, I’m truly sorry about that. Adjusting to my new schedule will hopefully Continue Reading »

[PCJE Dvar Torah] On Yom Kippur, the shul is full.

Posted on September 11, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

On Yom Kippur, the shul is full. The normally sparse rows are packed, white plastic pool chairs spill out and crowd the aisles. Why do people come. The people that never come, why do they come now, on this day. As a child, I wasn’t even sure why I came. No holiday made me question Continue Reading »

Forgiving Myself on this Yom Kippur

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Jessica Baverman

From my blog: Here it is. Yom Kippur 2013/5774. This year’s High Holidays sprung upon me somewhat quickly. This is a tough Yom Kippur. It’s been 10 years since my Aunt Rhona died on Yom Kippur in 2003. How has it been so long? This year, I think I have also been very hard on Continue Reading »

Singsongy Services

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Stefanie Groner

From my blog: On just under eight hours of sleep, I was somewhat alive, alert, awake, enthusiastic for meeting Alisa to go to Yakar in the morning. The mechitzah minyan was recommended to her by a friend was liberal, easy-to-follow, and singsongy. We got a little lost heading into Katamon, the area neighboring mine, and Continue Reading »

I’ll Try to be Brief

Posted on September 4, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

From my blog today: Hello there! First blog post as a 22 year old – Sheheichanu moment? I have so many things that I want to say and just don’t think that it is going to be possible right now. I started classes at Pardes this week and have been inspired from the first moment. Continue Reading »

What I Learned in School Today

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Stefanie Groner

From my blog: I had more class hours today than I attended in an average week of college. This post is a ‘typical day’ post, but you might notice this is not a ‘typical’ school in any way. Here’s what I studied: 8:30-11:15 am: In our intro to Mishneh class (early biblical commentary), we studied Continue Reading »

[Living with Judaism] Season 2, Rosh Hashanah: A new year!

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Elana Shilling

The Value of a “Safe Space” Sticker

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Ben Schneider

From: my blog Living in a new place surrounded by new people has given me a new appreciation of how great it is to move past the “coming out” stage with Jewish communities. Coming out with subtlety, in individual conversations, is exhausting, and when I’m around large groups of people who don’t know I’m gay Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Our Charge to Give

Posted on August 15, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Becca Bubis (PEP 2009-11) is starting her third year of teaching in the upper school at Tarbut v’Torah, in Orange County, CA. Twelve years ago I shuddered at the thought of standing on the bimah and delivering an address on Parashat Ki Tavo to two hundred and fifty people about a topic with which they Continue Reading »