Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on October 4, 2012 by Stuart Matan Lithwick
This post is cross-posted from my Studymoon blog at https://thestudymoon.wordpress.com Hello! Shmatan here again. I want to start a new tradition that I actually started on my first day in Jerusalem… Drumroll please… The cat count! There are thousands and thousands of cats in Jerusalem! Why you might ask? Well, at some point in the Continue Reading »
Posted on October 2, 2012 by Lauren Schuchart
(Cross-posted from my blog) The morning before Yom Kippur began, I was on a mission to buy food for the “break fast” (specifically borekas and other assorted fattening pastries). The streets were pretty crowded as it seemed everyone had a last-minute mind like myself. I walked past a woman who was holding a bag full Continue Reading »
Posted on September 28, 2012 by Eric Feldman
cross-posted from my blog: Hey! It’s been a while since I posted last, so lets get right to it. The last 2 weeks were the two major holidays of the year, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and the last major holiday of the month, Sukkot, begins on Sunday night and lasts for a week. Sukkahs Continue Reading »
Posted on September 25, 2012 by AdAm Mayer
Divine Empathy Commitment and Repentance Recoronation
Posted on September 25, 2012 by Shanee Michaelson
In discussion with my chevrutah, we posited that the snake character of the narrative was rather puzzling. Why would a snake be in conversation with human beings? Moreover, why would a snake have such a pivotal role in גן עדן setting off a series of events and changing the course of humankind? We came to Continue Reading »
Posted on September 24, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
By Tyson Herberger (PEP ’08-’10) Everyone knows Jews fast on Yom Kippur, but why? The simple answer is “tradition”. The Torah (Vayikra 23:7) says to afflict our souls on Yom Kippur and the rabbis understand this affliction to be a number of prohibitions – including fasting. Fasting stirs up teshuva and brings us closer to Continue Reading »
Posted on September 19, 2012 by Derek Kwait
Shabbat shalom. My dvar hangs on the verses from the Parsha, “Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with those that stand here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day,” which means us, and “All Continue Reading »
Posted on September 19, 2012 by Eric Feldman
What would you do if you were greater than you are? In Judaism, hypothetical situations are occasionally used in order to put ourselvest in a certain mindset – for example, on Passover, we imagine what it would have been like to have been slaves in Egypt. And now, with these weeks of transformation upon us, Continue Reading »
Posted on September 18, 2012 by Laura Marder
In our busy daily lives we are programmed as adults to subdue some of our pure emotions in order to be socially acceptable. Sometimes if not addressed through meditation, prayer, alone time etc ..our pure self can be pushed so far below the surface that even we forget who it is we really are. On Continue Reading »
Posted on September 16, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
When we arrive at Nitzavim, we know we are coming to the end of the Five Books of Moses. Only a few parshiot remain: Vayelech, Ha’azinu and V’zot Habrachah. Each of these is like the tone of a closing bell that announces the end of our wanderings b’midbar and the beginning of a new journey Continue Reading »
