These and Those

Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem

Tag Archives: Jerusalem

Taking a Year Off On

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Tamy Jacobs

Imagine sitting in the shade on a Saturday morning. There’s a bit of a breeze. We just finished davvening (praying) and had a snack. It’s our final Pardes Shabbaton. We are in Tavor Alon at a retreat center. Everyone is relaxed and happy. We’ve broken into small groups to reflect back on the past year. Continue Reading »

End of the Year Reflection 5779

Posted on May 28, 2019 by Alex Griffel

Over the last few weeks, a palpable depression seems to have set in the 3rd floor of 29 Pierre Koenig. Maybe depression is too strong of a word; melancholy might be better. Perhaps that’s just me, but everyone I talk to about it concurs that things have felt different.   The year is ending, and Continue Reading »

Walking Around Jerusalem

Posted on February 3, 2019 by Shoshana Raun

Walking around Jerusalem, I always look for small details. I love the wide views of the city walls, seeing the Old City from the tayelet, and sunsets over the western hills from the Pardes Beit Midrash. Yet I focus on many small details. A red flower popping out from a white picket fence on General Continue Reading »

Pardes Executive Learning Seminars. . . ‘truly a part of paradise’

Posted on October 9, 2018 by David Greenspoon

“What is Pardes’s Executive Learning Seminar? For me it is a chance to engage in serious study with amazing learners and teachers, concerned with an application of Jewish wisdom to our larger world, in a setting dedicated with a radical commitment to real pluralism. For me, Pardes is not just The Orchard. It is Gan Continue Reading »

The Week That Was

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Peggy Kaz

This blog was originally published on http://pegandsidsblog.blogspot.com/. I started school on Monday. We were introduced to the Pardes Institute about 4 years ago, and have attended many classes and lectures there. It’s a top notch academy with an exceptional roster of instructors. The course offerings were mind-boggling and it was difficult to choose which ones to Continue Reading »

Walking Away From Sinai

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Chavah Troyka

When you read the Torah, it’s impossible to miss the drama of the beginning of the revelation at Sinai. But it’s easy to read right past the end without even realizing what’s just happened. In Bamidbar 10:10, G-d is simply giving another mitzvah to the Jewish people. Then suddenly, in Bamidbar 10:11, without any explanation Continue Reading »

The Five Gifts of Learning I Gave Myself

Posted on February 23, 2017 by Linda Adler Hurwitz

by Linda Adler Hurwitz, Baltimore, MD In July 2016, I took five days out of my life to go back to school. I took an intensive dive back into Jewish texts, at Pardes’s Executive Learning Seminar, in anticipation of beginning an important communal leadership role. I felt the need to prepare myself both mentally and Continue Reading »

Scribe Life

Posted on August 11, 2016 by Erika Davis

This was originally posted on the author’s blog, Black, Gay and Jewish: A gay black woman’s discovery of her Jewish self. I’m not sure if it’s purposeful, but after two weeks of study it’s nice to see ways in which the classes that I’m taking overlap with one another. Scribal Arts, a sort of elective, Continue Reading »

At the Kotel

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Lucas Espinosa Menendez

I don’t need for now to go and see the other side of the wall. Not of this wall that we hold sacred, both as a holy place and as a memorial, that is full of grass, bushes and roots sprouting freely, where birds nest and sing. I am talking about that “other wall,” the Continue Reading »

Jerusalem Pride: Reflections

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Rachel Bikofsky

I was marching with friends, caught up in the music and dancing, and awed by the displays of courage and strength that surged around me. Suddenly, police officers started running by us, and we heard sirens as the crowd hurried to get out of the road so an ambulance could drive through. Within seconds, everyone Continue Reading »