Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on March 26, 2012 by David Bogomolny
I committed myself to davening 3x per day with the beginning of the Pardes school year, and I’ve been pretty good about davening consistently since then. My commitment to myself was not simply to daven 3x per day – it was also to create a meaningful davening experience for myself, and I’m happy to say Continue Reading »
Posted on March 19, 2012 by Derek Kwait
I have been slowly making my way through Heschel’s God in Search of Man since I boarded the bus from Pittsburgh to New York en route to Pardes and Jerusalem last August. It’s going so slowly because, as usually happens when I read Heschel’s writing, it’s hard to read quickly when every sentence blows your Continue Reading »
Posted on March 14, 2012 by Heligman
Last December I attended the first of a series of Meditation Retreats in Hannaton (co-led by Pardes faculty member James Jacobson-Maisels). It’s been about 2 months now since experiencing the awakened state of being that defines “Retreat”. I call it an awakened state because the sensitivity you develop during these retreats can be described in Continue Reading »
Posted on March 14, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
We were browsing through the MASA Israel Blog, and found… At the end of last year (2010-11), alum Carla Farson wrote this: In the spring of 2010 I received a Masa grant to study in the Year Program at Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. By the grace of Masa, I was given the Continue Reading »
Posted on March 8, 2012 by Leah Stern
Most people have never even heard the word shtender. They think I am making up a pretend word, though to my knowledge it is Yiddish. I said it recently to an Israeli friend and the closest word I could use to explain it was the word מעמד, which means a stand, but that isn’t even Continue Reading »
Posted on March 2, 2012 by Barer
This week’s parsha deals exclusively with the intricacies involved in creating the garments to be worn by the priests, specifically the Kohen Gadol, the High Priest. Most of the traditional commentators are nearly silent for much of the parsha, which is not extremely surprising, as many of them saw their aim as being elucidating the Continue Reading »
Posted on February 21, 2012 by David Bogomolny
Dear G-d, I’m going to write to You now to review our shared experience of the last hour. I preceded my hitbodidut discussion with a quiet meditation in the yard by my apartment. I meditated for twenty five minutes or so, and I was very pleased to find that my alarm signaled the end of Continue Reading »
Posted on January 22, 2012 by Leah Stern
Hi Pardesians and World, On Friday morning at 4:30 AM, I arrived back from Poland with my fellow Pardesians. Though we are happy to be back in Israel and are looking forward to the coming semester, we continue to process and ask questions about our experience in Poland. The first experience I would like to Continue Reading »
Posted on January 19, 2012 by Jackie F.
I wrote the below after our tour with Beit Orot. ”Traveling endlessly To see To know To understand Feeling farther from facts Forever dizzy holding multiple narratives presented as truths Forever frustrated without solutions at hand Forever hopeless of finding a win-win Standing on Har HaZatim Sounds of Muslim Call to Prayer Sounds of Christian 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 »
