Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on November 10, 2014 by Eva Neuhaus
From my blog: i just came through a month of feeling totally disoriented by judaism and wondering what the hell i’m doing in rabbinical school. here’s what i learned: 1. sometimes what’s called for is to follow the feelings of disorientation all the way down the rabbit hole. there have been times recently where i Continue Reading »
Posted on June 6, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
By RRC student Kate Cook (hourly ’12-’13), for the siyum of Michael Hattin’s Sefer Shmuel class. In our reading of Shmuel we got the p’shat of Characters, plot or a literary theme. Intertextuality we’ve had quite a lot of But not the centrality of the kelim. For instance the spear: Plishtim cornered the market With Continue Reading »
Posted on May 8, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert
From my blog: This piece was an assignment for the Hartman Rabbinical Students Seminar. We were asked to choose one poem or song that we studied and one other piece of text that we studied, share a line or a paragraph from each and a reflection on it. Ever the overachiever, I ended up weaving Continue Reading »
Posted on January 2, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert
When I was applying for rabbinical school in 2011, I was inspired to write this poem: I’m on a lifelong quest for wholeness. Understanding, of course, that wholeness has broken edges, that every circle is a shard of light that every soul is a piece of God that every shadow is a trick of the Continue Reading »
Posted on May 21, 2012 by Barer
Kyle was raised in Berkeley, CA to a father who had rejected his Jesuit upbringing and faith altogether, but remained knowledgeable through his work as a publisher of religious books, and a Jewish mother who did not have a strong traditional upbringing. While Judaism as such did not play a positive, central role in her Continue Reading »
Posted on July 2, 2011 by David Bogomolny
Over the course of many consecutive summers as a camper at JCA Shalom in Malibu, Louis learned about Judaism “without realizing” it. He first attended camp as a fifth grader, and returned year after year until the summer after his first year of college (as a camp counselor). “I did USY for six years, and went to Hebrew school through 10th grade, but Continue Reading »
Posted on April 9, 2011 by The Director of Digital Media
Here is a photo that student Scott Roland* took of his Talmud teacher Rabbi Zvi Hirshfield putting tefilin on his son for the first time… It was a beautiful moment: *Scott is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College. He is studying in Israel this year.
Posted on April 5, 2011 by David Bogomolny
On his 40th birthday, during a silent Shambhala meditation retreat on a mountain in Vermont, Jonathan (’09-’10, Fellows ’10-’11) asked himself, “what do I really want to do?” And the answer came to him, “I want to study Torah in Israel.” Soon thereafter, Jonathan applied to Pardes, and received the nicest e-mail from Dr. Meesh Hammer-Kossoy that he had ever received Continue Reading »
Posted on March 22, 2011 by The Director of Digital Media
Happening RIGHT NOW: Panel of rabbinical students currently studying at Pardes. From Right to Left: Louis Sachs, Conservative, American Jewish University Daniel Shibley, Modern Orthodox, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Scott Roland, Post-Denominational, Hebrew College Ruhi Rubenstein, Reconstructionist, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Stefan Tiwy, Reform, Hebrew Union College Heena Reiter, Renewal, ALEPH
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 »