These and Those

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

Tag Archives: Operation Pillar of Defense

Why I am Making Aliyah

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Liviah Landau

April 15th, 2013 It’s Erev Yom HaAtzma’ut and just a few days ago I had my first meeting with Nefesh b’Nefesh, an agency that works for North American Jews intending on immigrating to Israel. My application is in, and a few more papers are needed, but the decision has been made. I am making Aliyah Continue Reading »

My Ayeka Journey

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

Among the many blessings I have experienced this year is the Ayeka course facilitated by David Bogomolny.  I share here some of my favourite take-aways from the course (handily preserved in my writing exercises and reflections.) This module was about bringing God back to the conversation.  I felt like it gave me a place to 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 »

“Aftermath”

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Abayiss

I sit on a hill, overlooking Gaza Strip, so near yet so far. It seems almost peaceful. No planes in the air, no fires, no pillars of smoke. Just the sound of vehicles on the highway below. If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was looking at another Israeli town. You’d think there was Continue Reading »

Sderot, USA

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Derek Kwait

On the Sunday of Chanukah, I went with the Social Justice class to Sderot. You really can’t appreciate what it’s like there until you experience it for yourself. For those who have only heard of Gaza, Sderot is a small working-class city in southern Israel in view of Gaza made up of mostly immigrants. For Continue Reading »

[Student Profile] Mike Backman

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Derek Kwait

When it came to picking out a college and a major, Mike knew he wanted to work with numbers and that he wanted to do something practical. So he searched and weighed the available data: He looked into economics but found it boring. He looked into physics, but thought it just wasn’t for him, then Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Fire over T’Fillah

Posted on December 14, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media

Daniel Shibley (Year ’11, Fellows ’12) started a new blog! Here’s one of his posts, from Dec. 11: Although we are now a few weeks removed from the tense days of war that came to define the month of November, the exact moment of the first siren has remained with me, a quasi-trauma, a frozen Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Why Can’t We Be Friends?

Posted on December 10, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media

It’s kinda funny for us to think of Megan Dyer (Spring ’12) as an alum because she’s coming back to Pardes in January… Nonetheless, here is another “alumni” guest post from Megan! We’re looking forward to her continued blogging when she returns home to Jerusalem! A couple of weeks ago, I posted in this very Continue Reading »

Struggle is a Shared Value

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Kayla Higgins

(Cross-posted from Interfaith Youth Core) I had just taken my first bite of lunch when I suddenly saw everyone around me stand up and head for the front door. I hadn’t even heard the siren. I put my sandwich down and joined my fellow classmates filing into the bomb shelter, where we gathered for ten Continue Reading »

Talent Show!

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Avi Benson-Goldberg

Before there was an operation that was almost a war that kept me on the edge of my seat as much as it sat in the back of my mind, we went on a tiyyul. Tiyyul is a sort of quintessentially Israeli thing. It’s not a field trip. It’s a journey somewhere, but it’s short, Continue Reading »