Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on January 5, 2012 by Barer
by Zach Margulies (Year Program 2010-11): One of the central tenets of liberal Judaism is that we make informed choices. The Reform movement’s mantra of “Choice through Knowledge,” even if often ignored in the Reform movement itself, is still a significant thread that runs through the liberal Jewish world, and which I strongly believe in. Even Continue Reading »
Posted on January 3, 2012 by Eliyahu B.
Here is a dvar tzedek I wrote and gave to my Social Justice class today on our last day of class: Shalom classmates. I am here before you today to share with you my views on humanism and universalism, two topics which have been prominent in my way of thinking for many years, at Continue Reading »
Posted on December 20, 2011 by Derek Kwait
On Sunday the 11th, the Social Justice Track went on a tiyyul to South Tel-Aviv to explore the situation of refugees and migrant workers in Israel. Refugees in Israel are mostly asylum seekers fleeing persecution in their native Sudan, Darfur, and Eritrea. While walking through South Tel-Aviv, it is easy to forget you are still Continue Reading »
Posted on October 31, 2011 by Anton L. Gershteyn
PLEASE NOTE: If you are about to read this article, please listen to the two songs linked here: (First Song, Second Song) because a major part of this article is based upon your audio experience. As in many classic Jewish texts, much of the meaning is found in the footnotes (they are actually the most Continue Reading »
Posted on June 12, 2011 by Tamara Frankel
Dear Friends, I hope you are well, recovering from dairy-filled Shavuot meals and enjoying the beautiful weather of summer. Here in Jerusalem, summer has certainly arrived and we managed to make it through only ONE day of dairy meals on Shavuot. As some of you may know, this week was also the graduation of my Continue Reading »
Posted on May 25, 2011 by Avi Strausberg
i was scared to begin the book of vayikra. for that matter, others were scared for me. sefer vayikra, which primarily deals with laws surrounding ritual purity, sacrificial offerings, as well as other priestly business, is often written-off as that dry middle section of the Torah necessary to skim through in order to get back on Continue Reading »
Posted on May 17, 2011 by Avi Strausberg
in parshat behukkotai, God makes us an offer we can’t forget. on one hand, if we follow all of His Laws and observe all of His commandments, all will be right in the world. abounding peace, a land free of enemies, produce to our hearts’ content. however, if we spurn Him, if we disobey His Continue Reading »
Posted on April 15, 2011 by Joel D.
A great Rabbi once spoke of his relationship with the Jewish people and its Law. Of the People he spoke of love, but of Law he spoke of submission. This I found to be gravely unappetizing. For to speak of submission is to speak of burden, not of loving embrace. To recognize Jewish Law as Continue Reading »
Posted on March 30, 2011 by Zach
After my first month at Pardes, I started getting into the routine of classes, and developed a pretty good sense of how the rest of the year would look. They way we learn here is very different from the way we learn in college; in college, classes meet two or three times a week for an hour at Continue Reading »
Posted on February 23, 2011 by Aviva P.
by Michael Kleinman All things pray, like the plant growing toward the sun. So the human tries to grow his mind and heart back to his Source, who is Hashem, and what we are praying for is to know our Higher Self. We are praying with the desire to release our mental projection of our Continue Reading »
