These and Those

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

Tag Archives: meaning

The Land of my Foremother

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Leah Stern

Hello Pardesians and World, For the first time in over a decade, Pardes took a tiyyul to the city of Hevron. It was a visit filled with mixed emotions. We examined Hevron from many different angles in order to assess the situation that is in Hevron today. While there are many things I could discuss, Continue Reading »

Hello, To Whom am I Praying?

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Soffer

Posted at Darkeynu just before Shabbat: One of my favorite parts of camp is the Learner’s Minyan every Shabbat morning. In addition to the special community that we build, it also affords us a zman kavua (set time) to really struggle with fundamental questions about prayer. This summer, each week we discussed a different question Continue Reading »

Rabbi Julie’s Theology Presentation

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Barer

This is PEP student Rabbi Julie Gordon‘s presentation on her theological views presented today in Zvi’s Critical Issues in Modern Jewish Thought class, responding to the following questions: Where does the Torah come from?  What is God’s role, if any?  And how do you deal with the challenges of biblical criticism? What authority does the Continue Reading »

The Kotel

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Laura H.

My relationship with the Kotel is in constant flux. To be honest, I struggle with connecting to the Kotel a lot, and have done so ever since I first came to Israel when I was 13 years old. Despite this struggle, every time I come to Israel, I make a point of visiting the Kotel. Continue Reading »

Sacred Time

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Barer

Judaism, one could argue, is obsessed with marking time as sacred, normal, or anywhere in between.  At this time which Judaism demarcates as particularly sacred — we are in the middle of the Aseret Ye’mei Teshuva, the Ten Days of Repentance — it is hard not to be caught up in the spiritual fervour that Continue Reading »

האזינו, ha’azinu

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Avi Strausberg

the language of parshat ha’azinu seems to be in a poetic world of its own, amidst the torah verses that surround it.  a prophetic moshe, nearing the end of both his journey and his life, spews forth a mixture of his own words with God’s in another rage against the people’s disobedience. according to moshe, Continue Reading »

[PEP Student] Fluidity and Dynamism

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Tamara Frankel

Dear Friends, This week I read the parsha ‘cover to cover’ and am stumped. There is a lot to talk about in the parsha: the status of women in Jewish (biblical) law, a gruesome (and vengeful) battle against idolators and the decision of two tribes to settle outside the Land of Israel. But somehow as Continue Reading »