These and Those

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

Tag Archives: opportunities

[Alumni Guest Post] Into This Breach – by Rabbi Joshua Ratner

Posted on April 6, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

R. Joshua Ratner (Pardes Year ’98-’99) is the rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in Cheshire, CT. Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in May 2012, Rabbi Ratner was a Joseph Neubauer Fellow and also earned a Master’s Degree in Midrash and a Certificate in Pastoral Care. He also worked as an attorney for five years Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Educating my Jewish Daughter by Whitney Fisch

Posted on April 5, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Whitney Fisch (Year 2008-09) shares a personal challenge of hers, regarding the role of women in Judaism: Whitney Fisch grew up within the Reform movement in Marietta, GA. She started her career in Jewish communal work at the University of Georgia Hillel as the Jewish Student Life Coordinator, which led her to other positions in Continue Reading »

[PCJE Dvar Torah] Parshat Terumah – A Guide to Classroom Teaching by Avi Spodek

Posted on February 14, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Starting Tuesday, my fellow Pardes Educators will enter a variety of Jewish day school classrooms across the US as part of their student teaching experience. With an eye toward this opportunity, here are a few lessons/ideas from this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Terumah, regarding pedagogy: The parsha opens with an appeal for donations of the Continue Reading »

[PCJE Dvar Torah] Laura Marder – Parshat Bo

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Laura Marder

In Parshat Bo we are given the first Mitzvah from G-d. The mitzvah of being aware and sanctifying time with Rosh Chodesh. “This month shall be to you the head of the months; to you it shall be the first of the months of the year”. Bo 11:2   While reading BO I tried to Continue Reading »

Catching Up

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Laurie Franklin

From my blog: It’s been a long, dry spell in this blog, its onset corresponding somewhat ironically with the start of Jerusalem’s rainy season. The rainy season began with a clap of thunder and a few minutes of soft rain. I heard the thunder and didn’t quite believe it. Ran out to the merpeset (balcony) Continue Reading »

Kavuah T’filah

Posted on December 5, 2012 by David Bogomolny

Fixed prayer is a salient element of halakha (Jewish law). Jews committed to halakha pray 3x every day (morning, afternoon, evening), and for many it is challenging to find meaning in the mandated, daily recitation of standardized liturgy. A couple of years ago, I took a class that explored various spiritual practices in Hasidic and Continue Reading »

Dvar Torah from the Shabbaton

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Derek Kwait

Shabbat shalom. My dvar hangs on the verses from the Parsha, “Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with those that stand here with us this day before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day,” which means us, and “All Continue Reading »

My Dvar Torah from the Shabbaton

Posted on September 16, 2012 by Shanee Michaelson

“Atem Nitzavim Hayom Kulchem.” You stand this day, all of you. All of us are standing together today in Jerusalem. From small towns, larger cities, from North America and from Europe. Having grown up in different Jewish denominations, or unaffiliated, whether Ashkenazic or Sephardic, Reform or Orthodox,We have come here together, to this unique country Continue Reading »

My Dvar Torah from PEP Graduation Ceremony

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Joanne Loiben

By Joanne Loiben, PEP ’12 Writer’s block. How can I sum up these past 3 years into a neat little 3 minute Dvar Torah? The memories, the moments, the worlds that once existed on this 3rd floor hidden paradise. The teachers, the knowledge, the learning, the constant flow of engaging conversations. Who I was 3 Continue Reading »

[Alumni Post] Meaningful Discovery

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 »