Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on January 14, 2013 by Tadea Klein
The first time that I heard about contra dance, I was a sophomore in college and just taking the first baby steps towards having a social life with people my own age. It was described to me as a “really fun and really easy social dance, everyone should go.” I subsequently managed to find an Continue Reading »
Posted on January 2, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert
When I was applying for rabbinical school in 2011, I was inspired to write this poem: I’m on a lifelong quest for wholeness. Understanding, of course, that wholeness has broken edges, that every circle is a shard of light that every soul is a piece of God that every shadow is a trick of the Continue Reading »
Posted on December 27, 2012 by Jenna King Brill
I gave over this dvar at night seder this week: This week’s parasha is Vayechi, in which, among other things, Jacob dies and we see a scene of apparent reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers. At first, this seems to be an intimate moment in which everyone comes to understand each other, and by the Continue Reading »
Posted on December 26, 2012 by Avi Benson-Goldberg
(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) At Pardes, it is easy to look at our faculty and see inhumanly perfect beings. This is an unfair assessment. Don’t tell Rabbi Eliezer I said this, but sometimes kavod rabbeinu (respect for our teachers) can go too far in making it impossible to see something of ourselves in Continue Reading »
Posted on October 23, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
Sarah Mulhern (Year Program ’09, Fellows ’10) shares her dvar Torah for Parashat Lech Lecha with These&Those. This commentary is provided by special arrangement with American Jewish World Service. To learn more, visit www.ajws.org. Lech Lecha One of the things I find most inspiring about studying Torah is that the biblical characters are human. They Continue Reading »
Posted on June 4, 2012 by Deborah Galaski
Here’s a little bit about my article: “For the Sake of the Righteous:Divine Love and Human Responsibility in Bereshit Rabba” I first fell in love with midrash when I read a passage in Bereshit Rabba, describing the moment when God created the first human being. I was in my second year of graduate school, where Continue Reading »
Posted on March 28, 2012 by Jackie F.
I wrote this upon exploring the Israeli narrative with Perspectives Israel: I made aliyah 2.5 years ago. Someday (G-d willing) I will be a mom – a mom to sabras. It will be my turn to directly shape the next generation of Israel. What will I say when they ask about the Separation Barrier? What Continue Reading »
Posted on January 5, 2012 by Barer
by Zach Margulies (Year Program 2010-11): One of the central tenets of liberal Judaism is that we make informed choices. The Reform movement’s mantra of “Choice through Knowledge,” even if often ignored in the Reform movement itself, is still a significant thread that runs through the liberal Jewish world, and which I strongly believe in. Even Continue Reading »
Posted on December 26, 2010 by Coretta
In order to tell you the answer to the title question, I have to call on memories of that sage who is always going to be beyond all other sages no matter how much I study (at least in the sphere of how much she is influencing me); my mom. When visiting the Native American Continue Reading »
Posted on May 13, 2010 by Mosheh
Hebrew has traditionally been written without vowels, allowing us freedom to make connection between different words with the same constantans but different pronunciations. Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Hanina: “Scholars increase peace throughout the world” (and what is the scriptural proof of this?) for it is said in Isaiah: “All your children Continue Reading »
