Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on December 31, 2011 by Derek Kwait
(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) Menorah at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue This was actually my second Chanuka in Israel, I was here on Birthright in December 2008. So the menorahs on the streetlights, the Chabad menorahs in every public square, the impossibly delicious-looking sufganiyot* everywhere, and the total lack of anything Continue Reading »
Posted on November 18, 2011 by Leah Stern
Hello fellow Pardesians and world, I am thrilled to be starting my first blog post on these and those. I am so excited to be sharing my thoughts with you!! I have decided that each week, I am going to talk about a different person or people that live in Jerusalem and how they make Continue Reading »
Posted on July 10, 2011 by Mary Brett Koplen
Mary Brett Koplen, Pardes Summer learner, shares her Rosh Chodesh experience with Women of the Wall. For more of Mary Brett’s writing or to see her original post, visit her website: Where the Gnome Goes (A Traveling Blog). At 6:15am, I am showered and partially coffeed. I stand on a Jerusalem street corner with my Continue Reading »
Posted on June 30, 2011 by Tamara Frankel
Dear Friends, This week, I write to you for the last time sitting in my kitchen in Jerusalem. Or at least this particular kitchen in Jerusalem! Two years of blissful study and personal growth are finally coming to a close, as this is my last Shabbat in Jerusalem for some time. I know that I Continue Reading »
Posted on December 19, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
oops! I forgot to post this last week! this week’s parsha, ויחי, “he lived,” opens and closes with death. yaakov, recently uprooted from his home and supplanted to egypt, makes his son yosef swear that he will bury him in the burial place of his fathers. even after yosef agrees without protest, yaakov insists yosef Continue Reading »
Posted on December 9, 2010 by Avi Strausberg
okay, this is a two-thought, two-haiku parsha. finally, finally, the dramatic reunion we’ve all been waiting for since joseph’s brothers sold him off to a caravan of ishmaelites many years back. joseph plays his part well: he sends out all the servants, he confesses his concealed identity, and he loudly weeps so that all may Continue Reading »
Posted on November 2, 2010 by Eryn
2:24 בראשית ’על–כן, יעזב–איש, את–אביו, ואת–אמו; ודבק באשתו, והיו לבשר אחד’ “For this reason a man will leave his father and his mother and he will cling to his wife and they will be for one flesh.” How does one acquire a friend? Two boys may enjoy playing sports together. The basketball court becomes their sacred place. With each dribble they speak out Continue Reading »
Posted on November 24, 2009 by Naomi Adland
Two weeks ago, my grandfather passed away. He had been ill for a long time, and it was not a sudden death, but it has been nonetheless a difficult experience. At his funeral, my uncle shared a story about my grandfather that has become something of a mantra for me in the last few weeks: Continue Reading »
