These and Those

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

Tag Archives: Shabbat

shabbos medicine

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Eva Neuhaus

i am convinced that judaism contains within it all of the spiritual technology we need to heal the wounds we have experienced in the history of our people. i notice the survival patterning in my body–my inability to stop running and striving and lurching forward for fear that i will die–how hard it is for Continue Reading »

Singsongy Services

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Stefanie Groner

From my blog: On just under eight hours of sleep, I was somewhat alive, alert, awake, enthusiastic for meeting Alisa to go to Yakar in the morning. The mechitzah minyan was recommended to her by a friend was liberal, easy-to-follow, and singsongy. We got a little lost heading into Katamon, the area neighboring mine, and Continue Reading »

The Value of a “Safe Space” Sticker

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Ben Schneider

From: my blog Living in a new place surrounded by new people has given me a new appreciation of how great it is to move past the “coming out” stage with Jewish communities. Coming out with subtlety, in individual conversations, is exhausting, and when I’m around large groups of people who don’t know I’m gay Continue Reading »

Culture Shock

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Aliza Geller

I don’t mean that I got home and things were different, they were but I’l get to that a little later. This summer I am working at Emma Kaufmann Camp, in Morgantown West Virginia. This is the camp affiliated with the JCC of Pittsburgh, and I have two second cousins who attended. Blue Ridge Mountains? Continue Reading »

Thirty Days of Tzitzit

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Andrea Wiese

From my blog: The sunset this evening brought an end to my thirty days of wearing tzitzit. Like any Jewish ritual/mitzvah that I have taken on, I started out by “trying it out.” So I thought this was a good approach to wearing tzitzit also. Thirty days, why not? They say that is how long Continue Reading »

To Feel – To Know

Posted on June 2, 2013 by David Bogomolny

Here is the reflection I shared at Community Lunch last week- One of the many things that I tell people when discussing Pardes is that I wanted to study here before I ever knew that Pardes existed. As a college student I started wearing a kippah publicly before I had any idea what halakha was Continue Reading »

in a nutshell…

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Heather Kantrowitz

From my blog: They say to really experience Israel, you have to be here for 3 things: war (unfortunately), elections, and snow… I got all of those in this past year, and so much more! A visit from Obama (Jerusalem basically shut down for 3 days!), praying with Women of the Wall, and so many Continue Reading »

Shining Bright

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Brian Blumenthal

“למען ציון לא אחשה ולמען ירושלם לא אשקוט עד יצא כנגה צדקה וישועתה כלפיד יבער” For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth like radiance, and her salvation like a burning torch. (Isaiah 62:1) This semester in Yaffa Epstein’s Bekiut Talmud Continue Reading »

Free Advice for Future Pardesniks

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Yisrael Ben Avraham

I’ll be a Pardes alum in the next couple weeks and possibly a second year student. I thought I’d write a list of random things for new and returning students to make their lives in Israel easier and enjoyable. These are in no particular order, but I cannot emphasis enough how much Ulpan Morasha chews Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Peter Avniel Salzman of Blessed Memory

Posted on May 24, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Alicia Jo Rabins (Year ’99, Fellows ’00) wrote the following in memory of her friend Peter Avniel Salzman z”l A few weeks ago, when the current Pardes students asked me to write something for this blog, I planned to write about how the two years I studied there changed my life. How I was, at Continue Reading »