Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on January 16, 2012 by Aliza B.
I think it was during high school that Rabbi Gabi Meyer came to Boulder, and spoke about his work creating peace in Israel. I remember being enthralled. He is an incredible being. I remember that at the shul, there were Hebrew speakers and Spanish speakers and English speakers and he was going back and forth Continue Reading »
Posted on January 10, 2012 by Shibley
T’fillah is obviously made up of seemingly countless words. Words that we can learn to say repeatedly, by memory, mumble through, or strike from our t’fillot. Lately, I have wondered about what small changes to the words would do to our experience of prayer. To that end, I have been experimenting with Nusach Sfard instead Continue Reading »
Posted on December 7, 2011 by Aliza B.
When you watch the news and learn that something terrible has happened, it is easy to gauge the disaster by how many people were killed. You can classify it even more by which people were affected. Were they children or elderly? Poor or rich? Humanitarians or average joes? In the back of your mind lurks Continue Reading »
Posted on November 16, 2011 by Nikki Fig
I recently had the pleasure of joining Rabbis for Human Rights on an olive harvest in the Shomron Valley. I didn’t attend the trip to make a political statement, but simply saw my presence as an opportunity to help a farmer make an honest living. Anyone who knows me knows that rustling through olive trees Continue Reading »
Posted on November 11, 2011 by Derek Kwait
(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) This was a dark week in Israel. As it happens, the anniversaries of both Yitzhak Rabin‘s assassination and Kristallnacht fall this week, and at Pardes, we had presentations on both. Tuesday, during Group Lecture, two of our rabbis discussed the impact the assassination had on them. Rabin’s Continue Reading »
Posted on November 3, 2011 by Suzi
Interesting experience a couple weeks ago. As some of you know, I’m exploring Jerusalem’s various shuls and traditions. Carlebach, Sephardic, traditional, Modern Orthodox, egalitarian so far. Since I’m in a city with a minyan on every corner, why not! A friend had told me that Kol Haneshama, a Reform kehillah, was holding Simchat Torah services Continue Reading »
Posted on October 30, 2011 by Suzi
Here’s something I wrote on my first day in Israel, standing at the Kotel, my hand pressed against the stones and clutching my steno pad. I couldn’t seem to let go of the ancient wall. I thought I’d publish this on These&Those, and challenge y’all to share your own first impressions of the country. On Sunday, June Continue Reading »
Posted on October 3, 2011 by Suzi
I wrote these impressions in early September (more than a month ago) after arriving in Israel… The end of a very long journey, and a long but very exciting day. I arrived in Israel this morning, via a 12-hour stopover in London (I’ll write about that later, when I wake up). Found my apartment, just Continue Reading »
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Naomi Zaslow
For the last two weeks I’ve been adjusting to my new life in Jerusalem. After two years in Korea (South, not North) I’m suffering from culture shock of the radical sort. Take for example: Hummus instead of Kimchi with every meal- Hebrew and Arabic replace Korean and Konglish- Sticky sweet wine with no Soju in Continue Reading »
Posted on May 19, 2011 by The Director of Digital Media
A Testimonial by Avigail Hurvitz-Prinz About a month ago my Talmud class did an exercise where we shared our reasons for studying Gemora. Everyone had their own reasons, and my list came up to a total of 21 reasons as wide ranging as “intellectual challenge” and “to have a sense of the Rabbinic world” or Continue Reading »
