Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on February 22, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
Posted on February 20, 2012 by R. Murstein
Last weekend, I spent a lovely Shabbat in the holy city of Hevron. What a place! The four Pardesniks that went were a tour de force of “peace and conflict.” Personally, I made it my duty to wear a huge smile and say hello to every person I happened across, be they Jew, Arab or Continue Reading »
Posted on February 19, 2012 by Derek Kwait
(Mostly X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) * For Tuesday’s group lecture, Robby Berman, head of the Halakhic Organ Donor Society came to give a riveting, inspiring, infuriating talk. I’ll sum it up in brief: There is no valid Jewish (or non-Jewish) reason to not save lives by being an organ donor. If Continue Reading »
Posted on February 18, 2012 by Naomi Zaslow
Three hassids are walking in a park, taking about the glory of their Rebbes. The first hassid shakes his head sagely – “My Rebbe is so great,” he says. “Last week were walking in the neighborhood and came across a house burning. Oy! What a shame! But my Rebbe was unperturbed. He spread his hands Continue Reading »
Posted on February 14, 2012 by Andrea Wiese
Posted on February 10, 2012 by Derek Kwait
As I was browsing through my hard drive yesterday I rediscovered this dramatic monologue I wrote for my Playwriting class in college. Here it is with slight emendations, I hope you enjoy it. (I apologize for the weird spacing, I don’t know why it’s like that, it’s not intentional.) (A rabbi’s office. The wall is Continue Reading »
Posted on February 9, 2012 by Daniel Weinreb
I am a student at Pardes. I’m learning like everyone else, reveling in my progress or in a boxing match with Jastrow trying to translate an Aramaic verb that long ago dropped every letter in its shoresh except vav.. I also am in the Educator Program which means that sometimes I step outside my student Continue Reading »
Posted on February 4, 2012 by Derek Kwait
(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) I decided to challenge myself this semester, to fully take advantage of my time here by trying new Jewish things and getting outside my comfort zones. Since every subject of Torah has its own special jargon, world view, sources, legends, authorities, inside jokes, the result has been Continue Reading »
Posted on January 30, 2012 by Naomi Zaslow
Tonight, my Night Seder chevruta – the amazingly talented Daniel Shibley – and I finished all 13 chapters of Ketubot in Mishna Masechet Nashim. To celebrate, we both gave short dvar’s, and had a small siyum (party). When Shibley initially asked me to give a dvar on what we had learned over the last few Continue Reading »
Posted on January 16, 2012 by Naomi Zaslow