These and Those

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

Tag Archives: meditation

WxW 30/30 #1: From Start to Finish

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

From my blog: Thanks to The Velveteen Rabbi for alerting me that http://wordxwordfestival.com/ is having a 30 poems in 30 days contest.  (I don’t think there are prizes but they do publish poems on their website, if you submit them.)  I have subscribed to http://3030poetry.com/ for the daily prompts and have begun!  I can’t guarantee I will write a poem a Continue Reading »

Or Halev Meditation Retreat with James Jacobson-Maisels – Incredible experience!

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Stuart Matan Lithwick

Hello! I spent the entirety of last week doing very little but learning so much! Annie and I went on the week-long Jewish meditation retreat, taught by Rabbi James Jacobson-Maisels (think Self, Soul, and Text), and Rabbi Jeff Roth, at Kibbutz Hannaton. Over the entire week, we could not talk to anyone except for participating Continue Reading »

7-Day Silent Meditation Retreat

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Eric Feldman

From my blog: Imagine spending seven days without your phone, television, or computer. Okay, now add on the incentive of no listening to music, reading, or writing. And now try doing that without speaking or communicating at all. Not just verbal communication; you can’t even look at anyone else. Oh, and one final, small thing Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] On Pardes and Faith

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Aaron Voldman

I miss Pardes so much. As I shared with my classmates and teachers before departing, it was a dream to learn in Israel and my experience at Pardes turned out so much better than I ever anticipated! I feel very grateful to my classmates for sharing your insights in class, and for in havruta study Continue Reading »

Song of Clarity

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Eric Feldman

From my blog: In this weeks parsha, Beshalach, one of the most famous events in all of the Tanakh occurs when God splits the Red Sea through the staff of Moses, allowing the Israelites to finally escape the centuries-long enslavement in Egypt and become a free people. The result of their freedom is that the Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Ayeka: The Cherry on my Spiritual Journey’s Cake

Posted on January 12, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

By Mira B. Shore (Summer ’09, ’10; Year ’12) As a self-identified progressive, liberal, secular Jew growing up at Jewish Day School, I spent a lot of my time and energy speaking about why prayer and G-d were NOT a part of my life. I actively ran from prayer. Once I had my bat-mitzvah, there Continue Reading »

Prayer for Comfort

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

Thanks to Joseph Shamash for leading an inspiring Creative Shacharit this morning! We spent time practicing the Desire meditation from James Jacobson-Maisels’ Self, Soul and Text class, then were given paper and pens and markers to express what came up for us in the form of a drawing or a prayer, etc. Here is what Continue Reading »

A Dvar Torah I wrote for my Synagogue:

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Laura Marder

Shabbat Shalom Pardes. I wanted to share a portion of my Dvar torah that I am giving to my Shul tonight… Shabbat Shalom,   Last week as my facebook followers know I was standing on a mountain over the dead sea welcoming the Sabbath at a meditation retreat. If I close my eyes I can Continue Reading »

The trees are alive with the sound of silence

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Shoshana Rosen

By Shoshana Rosen How do I even begin to put into words, an experience that in its essence has no words? Just recently coming back from a silent meditation shabbaton, up north at Kibbutz Hannaton I realize only how much it impacted me by the stark reality of coming back home. Like many have said Continue Reading »

Eating Meditation

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Annie Matan Gilbert

This was post for my Self, Soul and Text class about a practice of eating with awareness and intention (kavannah) Eating slowly with intention to feel every juicy tingle & salty crumb to scrape it across my tongue & lick drops & specks from my lips suck bite down exploding tart pomegranate seeds red, sweet-sour Continue Reading »