These and Those

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

Tag Archives: Jewish Identity

Together in Our Wanderings

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Sean Ference

My dvar Torah from the Galil Shabbaton: In our parsha, we are given a vivid description of the Israelite’s journey through the wilderness, and what this vast undertaking entailed. Their journey would begin when the divine cloud would lift off the Mishkan; only then would the Israelite camp begin to move. How long Israel stayed Continue Reading »

A Letter to Iran…

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Joseph Shamash

One Wish Jerusalem was inspired by a video made by an Iranian filmmaker Ali Molavi. To see his video click here. This is the letter I sent him and his subsequent response after seeing our video:

Group 15, or why the Masa Israel Leadership worked out

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Avi Benson-Goldberg

[x-posted to bensongoldberg.com] A couple of weeks ago, I snuck out of Pardes, and instead of learning Torah, I learnt community organizing, best practices, and how to laugh again. It was fun, it was a refresher, and I made some amazing friends. Here’s what I took away from it: “Honestly, you were just a bunch Continue Reading »

[Student Profile] Emly Oren

Posted on March 28, 2013 by David Bogomolny

Emly Oren left Israel with her family at the age of four, but in many ways Israel never left her family. At school in Orange County, Emly was the only Israeli student; but her family continued to speak Hebrew at home, and they only watched Israeli television programs. The Orens would travel to Israel every Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Derekh Eretz by Kim Phillips

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 »

[Alumni Guest Post] Friends for a Lifetime by Sarah Levy

Posted on February 20, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Sarah Levy (Mechina ’07, PEP ’08-’10) shares a personal reflection about Pardes: A friend of mine once told me that she felt all of her friends fell into one of three categories: Friends for a reason (and once that reason no longer existed, neither did the friendship) Friends for a season (and once that time Continue Reading »

What’s in a (Jewish) name?

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Ma'ayan Dyer

From my blog: With the tenth of February just around the corner, it’s hard to believe that I’ve been in Israel for a month already. I have big plans for my time abroad, and while I’ve mostly been happily consumed with Jewish studies at Pardes, I feel like there’s still just so much for me Continue Reading »

[Student Profile] Ben Gurin & Sydni Adler

Posted on January 21, 2013 by David Bogomolny

Sydni Adler (Year ’13) and Ben Gurin (Year ’13) met during the Summer of ’10 in Washington DC, as participants on the Mechon Kaplan program of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. Together with their cohort, they took classes on Social Justice and Judaism, and each interned for an NGO; Sydni worked on campaign Continue Reading »

Swirl Swirl Desert Stop

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes

From my blog: (written two days ago) So, last night, I sat around a crackling fire with a group of religious people chanting incantations in ancient languages while passing around a hand-carved knife and letting the blood from our left pinkie fingers drip over the hot, scalding flames… Okay, that was an exaggeration. But I Continue Reading »

Some Initial Thoughts on Halakha

Posted on January 16, 2013 by David Bogomolny

One Aspect of Halakha that is Particularly Meaningful to Me “Anyone who identifies as Jewish today only need go back three or four generations to find observant Jews in their family. And from there an unbroken chain of Jewish living that goes back more than three thousand years. Not that everyone has always been observant. Continue Reading »