Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on January 23, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Ben Barer (Fellows ’12) wrote a Torah reflection about Power and Responsibility yesterday, in light of the Israeli elections: While Spider-Man seems capable of handling the (great) power he is given, oftentimes we seem to fail most when power is in our hands. On this day, when democratic elections for the 19th Knesset of the Continue Reading »
Posted on January 13, 2013 by Shanee Michaelson
This is a poem inspired by what I’ve been learning in Daniel Roth’s Chumash / Mediation class. I read it on our last day of class this semester. Abraham’s Family (a prose poem) Isaac have I loved for he has filled my days with laughter and through him God heard my cry giving me a Continue Reading »
Posted on January 11, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Alum Daniel Shibley (Fellows ’12) is on a roll! Check out this dvar Torah for Parshat Va’era: Well documented in Facebook photos and through the news outlets are the rain and snow that have fallen throughout the State of Israel over the last several days. While Jerusalem has not seen snow like this in nearly Continue Reading »
Posted on December 30, 2012 by David Bogomolny
This week we are starting the sefer (book) of Shemot (Exodus), which literally means ‘names’. The weekly parasha is also called Shemot. I mention this because the first name that comes to my mind when I read this parasha is ‘Isra Yaghoubi’ (Year ’08-’09, Fellows ’09-’10). She was my first Chumash havruta, and she left me 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 14, 2012 by Adam L Masser
A classic example in the spirit of channukah–Shammai and Hillel on how to light a menorah. Shammai takes a literal reading, deduces logically that the miracle provided for 8 days of oil and so tells us to start with 8 flames and reduce each night. Hillel holds the opposite–start with 1 light and add a Continue Reading »
Posted on November 30, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
While this week’s parsha, VaYishlach, includes some of our tradition’s high-points (Jacob struggles with an angel and prevails! Jacob’s name is changed to Israel and he is blessed with land and progeny!) as well as some of its low-points (the rape of Dinah; Reuben sleeping with his father’s handmaid, Bilhah), my favorite verse in VaYishlach Continue Reading »
Posted on November 13, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
Chumash Class Narrative Summary: Noah v. Ham An integral part of R. Daniel Roth’s חוּמָשׁ class (this year’s first installment of the Peace and Conflict track) is the summaries that students are asked to create at the end of a unit. Rabbi Roth gives free creative reign to his students to use whatever methods speak Continue Reading »
Posted on October 31, 2012 by Avigayle Adler
I drew this picture as part of a unit summary in Daniel Roth’s Chumash class; Mediation in the Chumash. We spent a couple of weeks learning through the Adam and Eve story including an exhaustive study of the meforshim (both modern and classic as well as many in-between). At the end of the unit (as Continue Reading »
Posted on October 25, 2012 by Jeff Amshalem
The Hasidic master R. Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl, also known by the title of his book Meor Einayim, has this to say on our parsha, Lech lecha: Rashi comments that God tells Avram that the command to go forth is “for your own good.” This is difficult to understand, since God calls Avram “my lover” because he served Continue Reading »
