These and Those

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

Tag Archives: Rabbi David Levin-Kruss

Week 13: Something New and Different

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Derek Kwait

(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) Americans living in Israel typically celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday night for Shabbat dinner, as the old joke goes, there is second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora. Since the tiyyul made celebrating on Thursday impossible for most of us, my friend Michael (pronounced מיכאל, “Mee-kha-el”) treated Continue Reading »

Men’s Rosh Hodesh Mustache Event at Pardes!!!

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Andrea Wiese

Description ATTENTION MEN (& THE WOMEN THAT LOVE THEM):Men’s Rosh Chodesh Learning Event in honor of *MovemberSUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2011 6:30pm-8:30pm–Learning Sessions 8:30pm-9:30pm–Whiskey and Bourbon Tisch Admission is free, suggested 20 shekel donation* Gentlemen, gentlemen, our time has arrived. Come to Pardes for an evening of learning focused on all topics male. Come hear experts Continue Reading »

the Shalit Debate

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Suzi

On Monday, October 24, Pardes students and staff were treated to a brilliant intellectual exercise as Pardes Dean Dr. David Bernstein and Pardes teacher Rabbi David Levin-Kruss debated the recent events which brought hostage Gilad Shalit home to Israel in exchange for over 1,000 incarcerated Palestinian prisoners. The twist?  Neither man knew which side of Continue Reading »

Where is my Mind(1), What is my Soul?

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 »

A Week of Fullness, Friends and Fun

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Eliyahu B.

Cross-posted from the Peaceable Pilgrim: Shalom friends! It is the beginning of a new week here in Jerusalem, and the past one was filled with SO MUCH AWESOMENESS that I just have to share with you. Classes started up again full-swing on Sunday, and even though I was somewhat dreading getting back to a normal Continue Reading »

Week 6: Exploring

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Derek Kwait

(X-posted from my home blog Yinzer in Yerushalayim) There is nothing like Yom Kippur in Israel. During a community guest lecture about 2 weeks ago, Jeremy Benstein, director of the Heschel Center gave us a chart showing Israeli energy usage hour-by-hour during Yom Kippur, it virtually flat-lines For 25 hours, the entire country shuts down. Continue Reading »

Promises, Promises

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Aviva P.

Prior to coming to Israel, my mother tried made me promise her three things: I won’t date an Israeli I won’t move to Israel/want to make aliyah I won’t become orthodox While somehow I believed that there was no reason for my mom to be concerned (1) Israelis are difficult, 2) I liked living in Continue Reading »

[Student Profile] Katie Greenberg

Posted on March 22, 2011 by David Bogomolny

This profile is in honor of Katie Greenberg‘s upcoming wedding to Matan Glazer on March 31st. From all of us at Pardes, we wish Katie and Matan… 🙂 מזל טוב ובהצלחה 🙂     Katie (Summer ’06 & ’07, Year ’09-’10, Fellows ’10-’11) and Matan met at Kibbutz Ketura while Katie was on the Young Judea Year Course, Continue Reading »

[Student Profile] Kara & David "Bookie" Bookbinder

Posted on November 25, 2010 by David Bogomolny

Although they both hail from Los Angeles, Kara and David only met in college at UC Santa Barbara. As a child, Kara attended Christian Science church every week with her mother, but she became skeptical about religion as a teenager, and came to identify herself as culturally Jewish. David was raised in the Conservative Jewish movement, Continue Reading »

The Best of David Levin-Kruss

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Jean

The beginning Mishna class at Pardes is called Foundations of Judaism, which sounded, to me, suspiciously like Judaism for Dummies. However, not once has the instructor patronized us with statements such as “Pesach is when we eat matzah” or “Chanukah commemorates the miracle of the oil.” The instructor has asked us more interesting questions: If Continue Reading »