These and Those

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

Tag Archives: stories and storytelling

A Dusky Holiness before Shabbat…

Posted on February 23, 2013 by Naomi Bilmes

From my blog, written before Shabbat: A Dusky Holiness before Shabbat… Stories from the week… …still on air from serendipity. It was on a Thursday, on which we presumably do organized chesed projects, but on one specific Thursday, I chose to simply organize myself: carrots, sweet potatoes, scallions, cumin, coriander, cumin, whirr whirr whirr in Continue Reading »

Azkara for Janet Robbin

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Andrea Wiese

One thing that is very real lately at Pardes is the Jewish life cycle; particularly, the end. Last week many students traveled to Alon Shvut to support Zvi Hirschfield at the funeral of his father. And just last night, many students and people from the community gathered in the Beit Midrash for an azkara or a type Continue Reading »

[PCJE Dvar Torah] Yitro/Reuel Midrash by Annie Matan Gilbert

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert

This week’s parsha, Yitro, mentions Moses’ father-in-law (known by seven names in Tanakh.)  In Yitro, he swoops in, Jean-Luc Picard style, to teach Moses how to delegate and manage his community more efficiently and then swoops out again. This midrash was written at Pardes in 2009-2010 and tells the story of their meeting and how their Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Focus on Rochel Czopnik

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

Rochel Joanna Czopnik (Year ’05, PEP ’07) shares the story of how she ended up back in Poland after graduating from the Pardes Educators Program (PEP): After graduating from PEP, I was scared and quite anxious about my first job. I moved to Baltimore and for the first time was to live in the US Continue Reading »

I Am That I Am

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Mary Brett Koplen

Originally posted on my CowBird: I AM THAT I AM. Julie is 52 and plays the dulcimer. She is a teacher and a doodler. She strikes a note. “Listen up, Israel,” the first note says to the next. Danielle is 20 and is Pro-Israel, Pro-Palestine, Pro-Peace. She tells me: “To get to the Holy Western Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Vistors to Our Hearts by James Jacobson-Maisels

Posted on November 26, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media

This dvar Torah was written by James Jacobson-Maisels (Pardes Kollel ’01-’03). Today, we know and love James as one of our amazing Pardes faculty, teaching classes such as ‘Self, Soul & Text’, and running our Pardes Spirituality Retreats! One of the great mitzvot, modeled in our recent parshiot by Avraham Avinu, is hakhnasat orchim, the Continue Reading »

[PCJE Dvar Torah] R. Julie Gordon – ‘A Tale of Two Sisters’

Posted on November 22, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media

ויצא If Leah were alive today, this is what I think she would tell us. “‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’1 Rahel and I are twins2 born five minutes apart. I am the older sister, and like any set of twins, we had our good days and we had Continue Reading »

Reading Tealeaves

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Mary Brett Koplen

Originally posted on CowBird: With Ohio in the past, I’ve counted every day I’ve been away. 37, 38, 39. Forty were the days that Noah didn’t drown. The years that Moses wandered. High above the water we float, the dry ocean heaving, bare feet pressing into ground solid but unknown. Nearness pending, but Moses never Continue Reading »

Creation of the Third Story (Mediation in the Chumash)

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Avigayle Adler

I drew this picture as part of a unit summary in Daniel Roth’s Chumash class; Mediation in the Chumash. We spent a couple of weeks learning through the Adam and Eve story including an exhaustive study of the meforshim (both modern and classic as well as many in-between). At the end of the unit (as Continue Reading »

Life Post-Chagim

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Eric Feldman

Originally posted on my blog: Hey, remember me? Sorry it’s been so long since I posted last, but things have been pretty busy here. I’m not exactly sure where I left off last, but I think it was somewhere around sukkot break (called one of the chagim aka festivals), so let me jump to that Continue Reading »