These and Those

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

Tag Archives: Kabbalat Shabbat

Jerusalem Diaries #8….Study, study, and more study!

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Ariella Siegel

From my blog: September already! Time flies when you’re being Jewy, I suppose. What a whirlwind! And I’m exhausted! Last we left off, it was orientation and more orientation and lots more orientation and then shabbat. The contrast between doing, doing, doing and then not doing at all (except actually doing, because Shabbos is a Continue Reading »

Shabbat: New Experiences and Emotions

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Jessica Baverman

From my blog: Since I’ve been keeping Shabbat, I have had some that are absolutely fabulous and some that aren’t as much. It depends on whom I’m with, mainly. This past Shabbat was so amazing; I can only attempt to explain it. On Friday night, Emet and I went to a Reform shul. I haven’t Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] A Holy Stranger with Open Arms

Posted on May 1, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Alissa Thomas (Spring ’11) blogs about relating to Jewish Converts, inspired by her own father: There is nothing like seeing my father dressed head to toe in all white. His soul hearkens to the time of the Kabbalistic rabbis who, draped in white clothing, would sing Kabbalat Shabbat in the fields. I imagine my father in his Shabbat white Continue Reading »

7-Day Silent Meditation Retreat

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Eric Feldman

From my blog: Imagine spending seven days without your phone, television, or computer. Okay, now add on the incentive of no listening to music, reading, or writing. And now try doing that without speaking or communicating at all. Not just verbal communication; you can’t even look at anyone else. Oh, and one final, small thing Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Tzfat Shabbat

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

From Daniel Shibley’s (Fellows ’12) blog: Tzfat (Photo credit: tunnelarmr) The mystical city of Tzfat, in which I spent Shabbat with my parents, is renowned on numerous levels. Rich in history, Tzfat is one of the holy cities of Judaism. Atop the mountain, blasted by a stiff wind, sits a crusader fortress which lies in Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Fire over T’Fillah

Posted on December 14, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media

Daniel Shibley (Year ’11, Fellows ’12) started a new blog! Here’s one of his posts, from Dec. 11: Although we are now a few weeks removed from the tense days of war that came to define the month of November, the exact moment of the first siren has remained with me, a quasi-trauma, a frozen Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Lecha Dodi – Man in the Mirror (Pitch Perfect feat. Cup Game Kabbalah)

Posted on November 19, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media

Who would have thunk it – a perfect mashup of Michael Jackson and Lecha Dodi! At the Weber School in Atlanta, pop culture expert Joey Heyman (PEP ’08-’10) and director of student life/creative guru Ori Salzberg have teamed up with Joey’s students to create an amazing mosaic of the first two chapters of Bereishit, classical Continue Reading »

My Spiritual High at Zorba

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Laura Marder

Do you ever feel like there is a cage around you? Like you can carry it around but sometimes it gets heavy and tires you down. Perhaps it restrains you from moving in a comfortable way or running to what you really desire. I hadn’t really thought of myself in a cage at all before Continue Reading »

Radical amazement on Pardes’ end-of-year Shabbaton

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Soffer

Originally posted on the Masa blog a couple weeks ago: By Jordan Soffer, Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies This past Shabbat Pardes had a tiyul and Shabbaton to the Galil. Prior to the tiyul, while briefly skimming the itinerary, I imagined that this Shabbaton would be the same as every Shabbaton I have been on since Continue Reading »

[Student Profile] Kyle Lebell

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Barer

Kyle was raised in Berkeley, CA to a father who had rejected his Jesuit upbringing and faith altogether, but remained knowledgeable through his work as a publisher of religious books, and a Jewish mother who did not have a strong traditional upbringing.  While Judaism as such did not play a positive, central role in her Continue Reading »