Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on May 19, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
In Memorium: Michael Rosenak z”l – Rabbi Daniel Landes The loss of Mike Rosenak is of particular significance to the world of Jewish education, and certainly to Pardes. Mike was an early leader of Pardes and saw and promoted its promise. From my vantage point, he was interested in two large ideas. The first was Continue Reading »
Posted on May 17, 2013 by Tani Cohen-Fraade
In Rabbi Meir Schewiger’s Parashat ha-Shavuah (weekly Torah Portion) class, while learning Sefer Shemot (Book of Exodus), we spoke about the desert as a place where one goes to prepare for Torah study. When B’nei Yisrael (Children of Israel) leave Egypt, they flee through the desert and are on the run until they get to Yam Suf (Red Continue Reading »
Posted on April 29, 2013 by Stu Jacobs
Yesterday was a special day at Pardes. Not because Meir was roaming the halls with a mass of students, singing at the top of his lungs, although that was part of it. Not because there was dancing in the beit midrash, although that was part of it as well. The occurrences above, while special, have Continue Reading »
Posted on April 28, 2013 by Ilan Weismark
From my blog: Should our students be allowed to study Torah on an iPad? Does it change the Kedusha of the text? For thousands of years Jewish tradition was rooted in the oral passing of history. In the first and second century when Yehuda HaNassi compiled the Mishna, he changed the future of Jewish education. Continue Reading »
Posted on April 26, 2013 by Aliza Geller
Devar Torah Workshop, Parashat Emor Over the past couple of weeks, students in their first year of the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators have been participating in a Devar Torah workshop with DLK (Rabbi David Levin-Kruss). This is the Devar Torah I wrote to be presented at the workshop yesterday, for Parashat Emor. Please keep Continue Reading »
Posted on April 18, 2013 by Avi Spodek
Over these past few weeks I have been reading Steven R. Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People as part of my coursework in Jewish educational leadership. Covey’s message and delivery are inspiring, and I highly recommend to this book to anyone and everyone. Its main premise is that leaders are most effective when Continue Reading »
Posted on April 17, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Lisa Narodick Colton (Year ’99-’00) reflects upon theimpact of a recent trip to Israel with her son. I was 21 years old when I first came to Israel. A summer in Tzvat begged more questions than it answered, and I returned for 15 months in Jerusalem (including Pardes) to fill in the openings. This Pesach Continue Reading »
Posted on April 5, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Whitney Fisch (Year 2008-09) shares a personal challenge of hers, regarding the role of women in Judaism: Whitney Fisch grew up within the Reform movement in Marietta, GA. She started her career in Jewish communal work at the University of Georgia Hillel as the Jewish Student Life Coordinator, which led her to other positions in Continue Reading »
Posted on April 4, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
It is usually considered good practice to connect one’s Dvar Torah about the Parshah to some current event or to an upcoming holiday. As such, I want to find some segue between this week’s Torah portion – Parshat Shemini – and Yom HaShoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day, which will be commemorated in Israel next Monday. Continue Reading »
Posted on March 20, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Kim Phillips (Summer ’06) is a marketing professional, artist, writer and teacher in Nashville, Tennessee. One Shabbat morning, the rabbi entered Torah study and, instead of launching into the text, looked intensely around the circle of people gathered there. “I want to know how you feel about Israel,” she said. “However you feel is fine, Continue Reading »
