Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on October 1, 2014 by Geo Poor
Dear Men, Staring through the eyes of 50% of the Y-chromosome-holders in the Egalitarian Minyan, I wonder a question that I have never before thought but have heard from the other gender: “Where are all the guys?” Why is it that while the Mechizta Minyan has some 12 men and 2 women, the Egalitarian Minyan Continue Reading »
Posted on September 17, 2014 by Geo Poor
Parshat Nitzavim starts with the children of Israel nitzavim – standing – before God and community, ready to enter into covenant, a covenant with rights and responsibilities, in order to become established as a people. At first glance, this seemed to me like a perfectly logical entrance to a covenant, but then it occurred to Continue Reading »
Posted on September 9, 2014 by Sarah Marx
For a place so much associated with desert and stone and sun, Jerusalem is full of blue. My morning walk to school is painted blue, in both broad and slender strokes: the giant turquoise sky, or the thin stripes of the Israeli flag, or the joyful cerulean paint on someone’s shutters or garden fence. Even Continue Reading »
Posted on September 7, 2014 by Ariella Siegel
From my blog: September already! Time flies when you’re being Jewy, I suppose. What a whirlwind! And I’m exhausted! Last we left off, it was orientation and more orientation and lots more orientation and then shabbat. The contrast between doing, doing, doing and then not doing at all (except actually doing, because Shabbos is a Continue Reading »
Posted on August 5, 2014 by Naomi Bilmes
From my blog: Scene: Campers and counselors are sitting on a grassy knoll partaking in Wednesday night barbecue. (R is an 8-year-old female camper.) R: Why do you always wear skirts? Counselor: Uhhhhh…… Because I’m religious. Because I’m Jewish. Because I’m a woman. Because of modesty. R: What’s that? Counselor: Tzniut. Umm… it means that Continue Reading »
Posted on May 1, 2014 by Elana Shilling
The omer is my least favourite time of year. Partly because of how all the clean-cut men in the world suddenly become scraggly and foreign looking and also partly because of the mournful tone of the month. Mostly however, the omer is a terrible time of year for me because of the sheer amount of Continue Reading »
Posted on April 9, 2014 by Carolyn Gerecht
A few weeks ago, an email came across my inbox (and probably yours, too) from David Levin-Kruss. “Ask me about this great opportunity to do Shabbat in Beer Sheva,” read the subject line. “City of Abraham, City of Opportunity.” I read it and figured, “Yeah, why not?” I had never been to Beer Sheva before, Continue Reading »
Posted on April 2, 2014 by Ilana Arje-Goldenthal
When I received my acceptance letter from Tel Aviv University (TAU) Law School to do a semester of exchange, I was surprised that the semester only began on February 16th. I calculated the time between completing the fall semester in Toronto and beginning the winter semester at TAU, and realized that I would have over Continue Reading »
Posted on March 4, 2014 by Arlene Harel
by Arlene Harel (Year ’85), staff member since ’03 Most people think that on Purim we get dressed up in costumes. But it’s really not that way. All year long we wear masks. On Rosh Hodesh Adar, the Pardes “staff ladies” decided to take off their masks, and become “real”. What you are seeing here Continue Reading »
Posted on January 23, 2014 by Emet Ozar
From our blog: How many times have I been asked “ben o bat?” (boy or girl) in Israel? How many times have I been stopped trying to enter the women’s side of the Kotel? Maybe I should explain first off that I’m genderqueer. I have a female body, but don’t identify with femininity at all. Continue Reading »
