These and Those

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

Tag Archives: Shoah / The Holocaust

Interview with Réka Eszter Bodó

Posted on December 29, 2011 by The Director of Digital Media

One of this year’s Pardes Fellows is studying at Pardes for her first time this year – last year she was studying at the Conservative Yeshiva. Réka Eszter Bodó is one of Pardes’ international students; she’s from Hungary, and These&Those (Th&Th) thought it would be interesting to interview her to learn a bit about her Continue Reading »

Mikketz, Chanukah, the Holocaust, and Dreams: a D’var Torah from 2009

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Derek Kwait

At my shul back home, Young People’s Synagogue, members take turns giving the d’var Torah each Saturday morning. This is one I gave for Parashat Mikketz/Shabbat Chanukah on December 19, 2009 about the parsha, Chanukah, and the Holocaust. For what it’s worth, these themes repeated themselves again this year when we began learning about the Continue Reading »

A Window Into An Other’s Life

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Barer

I recently overheard, and then jumped into, a conversation in the halls of Pardes (a truly wonderful place) about whether the experience of suffering placed an extra burden on the sufferers to better act to prevent further suffering.  In practical parlance, the common argument goes: ‘Jews suffered immeasurably during the Holocaust (and throughout their history) Continue Reading »

Shrine of the Book – Postcard Commentary #2

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Daniel Weinreb

1: General view of the Shrine of the Book – the white dome representing the Sons of Light, the black wall representing the Sons of Dark. One of the interesting aspects of Israel has been, and continues to be, the ineducable element of tragedy and conflict here, meaning the Shoah and the tension of ongoing Continue Reading »

[Student Profile] Merissa Nathan Gerson

Posted on June 1, 2011 by David Bogomolny

“… now I better understand what I was looking for… I didn’t know what to ask for – I didn’t know what it looked like – I didn’t realize I could trust Judaism, but at Pardes I’ve realized that everything I was looking for exists in Jewish texts.” As a young woman growing up in Washington, DC, Merissa was heavily involved in race dialogues, and later came Continue Reading »

Student-Selected Poems

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Aviva P.

In addition to some poems (1, 2) that we wrote after our ’10-’11 Pardes Poland trip, we also selected some poetry to share during our group’s commemorative ceremonies in Poland. We shared these with the rest of Pardes on Yom HaShoah. Then They Came for Me, Martin Niemöller Dead Men Don’t Praise God, Jacob Glatstein The Trees are Continue Reading »

Poland Trip ’10-’11 Pics

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Aviva P.

Pardes trips to Poland are run in partnership with Heritage Seminars. The Claims Conference has provided trip scholarships for qualifying Pardes participants, as well as subsidies for program components directed at Jewish educators.   

[PEP Student] Kiddush Hashem (Sanctific​ation of God’s Name) Today

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Tamara Frankel

Dear Friends, I feel very privileged to write to you today after my first week back at Pardes. On numerous occasions this week, I have been reminded of the incredible blessing to learn Torah full time, from such dedicated and wise teachers and classmates, and of course, in my beloved Jerusalem. And yet, this week Continue Reading »

[Take 5] Aviva Perlman: Hineni, I am Here

Posted on February 18, 2011 by Joel D.

See the full poem here.

[Student Profile] Natalie Mittelman

Posted on February 18, 2011 by David Bogomolny

Natalie (above, right) and her sister Sharyn (above, left) from Melbourne, Australia arrived at Pardes in September, knowing they would only be able to join us for one semester. Natalie (Nat) informed These&Those that the Australian summer holiday is in December and January, and the academic year runs from February through November. This explains her plans to return home next week to continue her professional studies. Continue Reading »