Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on January 13, 2013 by David Bogomolny
Tamar (Fall ’12) had only planned to remain at Pardes for the Elul Program, but ended up staying for the entire Fall semester – much to her own surprise! Having grown up in the Golders Green Synagogue community, Tamar became a leader of her local Bnei Akiva youth group, taking on the role of madricha at the age Continue Reading »
Posted on January 7, 2013 by Laurie Franklin
From my blog: It’s been a long, dry spell in this blog, its onset corresponding somewhat ironically with the start of Jerusalem’s rainy season. The rainy season began with a clap of thunder and a few minutes of soft rain. I heard the thunder and didn’t quite believe it. Ran out to the merpeset (balcony) Continue Reading »
Posted on October 21, 2012 by Leah Kahn
When I read Relics for the Present, I am quickly enamored with the ancient wisdom of our tradition. Levi Cooper intricately and intelligently interlaces the p’shat of the text together with the interpretations of a variety of commentators, which results in meaningful interpretations that the Talmidei Chachamim may have actually wished to convey to future Continue Reading »
Posted on September 3, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media
by Pardes Summer Program 2012 Alumn Jason Kravitz L’takken olam b’malkhut shaddai. Three times a day in our repetition of the Aleinu, we are reminded of the need and responsibility to repair the world. Each of us has our own special memories of the lives we have touched. Six years ago, I was granted one Continue Reading »
Posted on August 24, 2012 by Derek Kwait
Derek Kwait never spent longer than five consecutive weeks outside of his native Pittsburgh area prior to fulfilling his dream of studying at Pardes last year. After attending one year of film school at Point Park University in 2007-8, he transferred to the University of Pittsburgh in fall 2008. He graduated in 2011 with a Continue Reading »
Posted on August 3, 2012 by Vicki Raun
Pardes Summer Program students Annabelle Jaffe, almost 91, and Jacqueline Cohen, almost 19, are decades apart in age and live in different parts of the globe. But they both brought to Pardes lifelong involvement with their local Jewish communities and will leave Pardes with renewed commitments to Jewish life in their hometowns. Annabelle Jaffe is Continue Reading »
Posted on March 20, 2012 by Daniel Weinreb
“Kids these days. They don’t learn like before. They have all the information at their fingertips. Confronted with a problem, they need only to glance over to a different page and lo and behold their questions are answered. Learning used to be a social process, with emphasis on learning from someone else, or better yet, Continue Reading »
Posted on February 21, 2012 by David Bogomolny
“I’m very adamant about a pluralistic model of Jewish practice.” -Stu Jacobs In 5th grade, a teacher inspired Stu Jacobs to explore and gradually start keeping more mitzvot, and throughout his youth the young man strived to connect to and practice a new mitzvah every single year. His teacher had said that ‘he didn’t have Continue Reading »
Posted on February 9, 2012 by Daniel Weinreb
I am a student at Pardes. I’m learning like everyone else, reveling in my progress or in a boxing match with Jastrow trying to translate an Aramaic verb that long ago dropped every letter in its shoresh except vav.. I also am in the Educator Program which means that sometimes I step outside my student Continue Reading »
Posted on February 4, 2012 by Derek Kwait
(X-posted from my home blog, Yinzer in Yerushalayim) I decided to challenge myself this semester, to fully take advantage of my time here by trying new Jewish things and getting outside my comfort zones. Since every subject of Torah has its own special jargon, world view, sources, legends, authorities, inside jokes, the result has been Continue Reading »
