Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on April 23, 2013 by Melissa Scholten-Gutierrez
Presented at Night Seder on April 22: We decided it would be an interesting experience and test of our marriage to learn together, so for the past few months we’ve been having what we fondly call “Mishna Mondays” here at Pardes night seder. We started at the beginning with Brachot, which as you can imagine Continue Reading »
Posted on April 23, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Chanan Kessler (Year 1985-86) shares the following reflection with us in his mother’s memory. Chanan is a NYC school teacher, and lives in The Bronx. During the year that I recited the Kaddish after the death of my beloved mother, Hinda Yael bat Yosef v’Chaya, may her memory always be with us, I asked myself Continue Reading »
Posted on April 23, 2013 by Tadea Klein
What did you see when you went willingly before the King, Batsheva? Did you see a melekh in his glory, A broad-shouldered warrior with a light in his eyes and a song in his mouth Or a sorrowing, grief-stricken brother, body covered in scars and empty in his heart, Rage covered only half-way by desire? Continue Reading »
Posted on April 23, 2013 by Avi Benson-Goldberg
From my blog: The thing is, the apparatus of “traditional prayer” are sort of kinky. The thing is, we’re ten men tying ourselves up in leather straps too early in the morning. And we’re enshrouded in these huge sheets, and some people cover their heads and faces and it’s very anonymous even when I know Continue Reading »
Posted on April 21, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
These Are Moments Written by Andrew Lustig (Year ’11-’12) these are moments. of clarity and insight. of sitting and talking and laughing and learning. dancing in circles. not afraid. moments that are made by songs and psalms and stories of what we are and deciding what we can be. these are moments. rarely where you Continue Reading »
Posted on April 21, 2013 by Tadea Klein
We have built Temples of our bodies, dear Built them in sweat and groaning In the saliva that collects in your mouth when pushed too hard The dryness in your throat when pushed too far The burn of muscles over-used And the shaking relief when we fall, exhausted, in sprawled heaps of splayed-out limbs Only Continue Reading »
Posted on April 18, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
Andrew Lustig (Year ’11-’12) wrote this poem about Pardes, and a bunch of us have cameos in this video! Please share this widely! 🙂
Posted on April 14, 2013 by Tadea Klein
There is a little girl in a photograph A fair-haired, sweet-faced thing Her arms wrapped around the neck of a man with dark, calm eyes and the inquisitive sniffing nose of a true Jew I know that this girl in her red shirt and black velvet dress, whose earliest memory is the sound of shouting, Continue Reading »
Posted on April 8, 2013 by Laurie Franklin
I am the desert sand: Hot sand of mid-day, Cold sand of clear night. Feet press into me, And speak a language I understand. I feel the joy of dancing, the resolute march of armies, The fluttering of small children at play. Always, always footprints press Then blow away. Each grain of my sand seeds Continue Reading »
Posted on April 7, 2013 by Tadea Klein
Talk to me, talk to me Talk to me! Fill me up with your stories, play me your life Pour it into a tea-cup and let me drink deep I, once content in my aloneness Find myself craving the contact Of an arm across my shoulder A knee resting against my own Take interest in Continue Reading »
