Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on January 14, 2016 by Binyamin Cohen
We got off our minibus at the top of the ridge, sparse trees all around us. We began to follow the road up to the peak, and as we do we begin to see signs of the reason we’re here: trenches, tunnels, foxholes. Gallipoli became much more real at the top of the hill: from Continue Reading »
Posted on September 29, 2014 by Binyamin Cohen
Night Seder Chevrutas Binyamin Cohen and David Wallach join together to reflect on this week’s parshah. דְּבָרִים לב:א “הַאֲזִינוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם, וַאֲדַבֵּרָה; וְתִשְׁמַע הָאָרֶץ, אִמְרֵי-פִי.” “Listen heaven, and I will speak! Earth, hear the words of my mouth.” Ha’azinu is an interesting parsha, both in structure and in language. The parsha is presented in the Torah Continue Reading »
Posted on June 30, 2014 by Leah Lesch
From my blog: I’m dedicating this post to my father, Dr. Michael Lesch. He would be 75 years old today. On the various occasions when I lived in Jerusalem, he never missed an opportunity to visit me. And I think he would have greatly enjoyed the lectures, discussion and learning at Pardes today. I was Continue Reading »
Posted on May 21, 2014 by Suzanne Singer
I wrote this to Swarthmore’s Hillel in hopes that it would engage them in responding to me. I have heard nothing. I expect that some Pardes students may be interested and want to challenge/ agree/ expand my thoughts. In Support of Hillel “Guidelines” Why Swarthmore’s Hillel Should Not Become “Open” On December 8, 2013, Swarthmore’s Continue Reading »
Posted on May 4, 2014 by Sarah Pollack
From my blog on Thursday: It was about three weeks ago that my mom was flying to visit me in Israel. Another blog about that to follow, hopefully soon. She flew from Miami to Tel Aviv, through Rome. She highly recommends this flight because you get to Rome in the morning, have breakfast, fly to Continue Reading »
Posted on February 28, 2014 by Benjamin Friedman
“Without a profound simplification the world around us would be an infinite, undefined tangle that would defy our ability to orient ourselves and decide upon our actions…. We are compelled to reduce the knowable to a schema.” -Primo Levi The above quotation by Holocaust survivor Primo Levi says something profound yet simple about human nature Continue Reading »
Posted on February 22, 2014 by Carolyn Gerecht
This year, studying in the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators’ Program for Experiential Jewish Education (PEEP) and Yeshiva University’s Certificate in Experiential Jewish Education, I’ve been fortunate to have had many, many opportunities to answer the question, “What exactly is Experiential Jewish Education?” Typically, I respond in a couple of short sentences. “Most people think Continue Reading »
Posted on January 21, 2014 by David Bogomolny
oh no. My plane on the runway at Ben Gurion International Airport, I’d just realized that I’d forgotten my tefilin (phylacteries) in Jerusalem. calm down. you’ll deal with this. think about it — lots of people in the group will have their tefilin with them… My internal voice of reason was reassuring, but I felt Continue Reading »
Posted on December 18, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
From my blog: I find it fascinating how quickly our lives can change, often times without us even realizing it. On top of that, how quickly we can change the lives of others, of future generations, surely without them realizing it. It’s a rainy day outside, so you take the bus to work instead of Continue Reading »
Posted on December 2, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
From my blog: A video produced by The Sderot Media Center. If you watched the video, you will see that it has been edited and the events don’t occur exactly in that sequence. However, from what I heard today, the experience is not so far from the scene depicted in the video. Today, as a Continue Reading »