These and Those

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

Tag Archives: life in Israel

Taking a Year Off On

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Tamy Jacobs

Imagine sitting in the shade on a Saturday morning. There’s a bit of a breeze. We just finished davvening (praying) and had a snack. It’s our final Pardes Shabbaton. We are in Tavor Alon at a retreat center. Everyone is relaxed and happy. We’ve broken into small groups to reflect back on the past year. Continue Reading »

Falling behind and bursting bubbles

Posted on May 22, 2017 by Miriam Lorie

This blog was originally published on Miriammuses.com This is a post about the feeling of falling behind in life. But I should also acknowledge falling behind with this blog. I’m going to blame Pesach (Passover), as any Jewish homemaker or Jewish educator probably would. Here’s a bit of a description. Scroll down for the actual Continue Reading »

At the Kotel

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Lucas Espinosa Menendez

I don’t need for now to go and see the other side of the wall. Not of this wall that we hold sacred, both as a holy place and as a memorial, that is full of grass, bushes and roots sprouting freely, where birds nest and sing. I am talking about that “other wall,” the Continue Reading »

Coming Out Jewish

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Ma'ayan Dyer

This blog was originally posted on the author’s personal blog, Lost in Jerusalem. In the eternal words of every human being since the beginning of spoken language, life is not fair. It never has been and never will be. Not that we will ever shut up about it. Perhaps I should back-up a bit and Continue Reading »

Two Yerushalmi Poems

Posted on June 23, 2016 by Sarah Marx

This blogpost was originally published on the author’s personal blog, Ramblin’ Maidel. Inspired by Jerusalem, as always, and its characters, and its millennia of liturgical music. The Electrician’s Psalm Unhemmed Creator, spinner of the world, Today beneath Your power lines a man Crouched down, his battered palms burnished like leather, His skin limp with the Continue Reading »

Yom Iyun shel Chesed 2016: Adopt a Savta

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Nathaniel Jhirad

For my volunteering project at Pardes, I participate in the Adopt-a-Savta program. This means, that for several hours a week, I visit my adopted Israeli Savta (grandmother). A few weeks ago, Savta celebrated her 90th birthday. To paraphrase Savta, it was really others who wanted to celebrate her birthday. The celebrations included a few small Continue Reading »

They Didn’t Win

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Celeste Aronoff

(This post was originally published by Celeste Aronoff in the Kansis City Jewish Chronicle http://kcjc.com/index.php/opinion/3496-they-didn-t-win). I want to tell you about the land I call home now. I made aliyah in August of this year, becoming an official Israeli, an actual citizen (though I won’t have an Israeli passport for some time still). I want Continue Reading »

Finding Our Voice in Times of Conflict

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Rachel Cohn

I wrote the following reflection after returning from my second trip with Encounter, an organization that brings Jewish leaders to meet with and hear from Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The goal of these trips is not to find political solutions or to dispute each other’s narratives, but rather to encounter voices Continue Reading »

My Visit to an Arab Girls’ School in East Jerusalem

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Nathaniel Jhirad

This week, I had the opportunity to visit a Palestinian girls’ school in an East Jerusalem neighbourhood with a group of foreign visitors. We entered the school gates aware that there were cultural norms to be observed, such as modest dress and refraining from taking pictures within the school premises. As we walked towards the Continue Reading »

And the Drums Beat

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Elisha Ancselovits

And the drums beat in the thickening heat as we contemplate knives and count down our lives   In the city of gold with traditions so old We eye with suspicion each other’s munition   And the Other is foreign as I am an alien Yes we share the same dream but not the same Continue Reading »