Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on December 5, 2011 by David Bogomolny
Michael (pronounced Mee-kha-el) originally hails from Portland, Oregon, where he was the only person in the whole city who had shoulder-length payos (sidecurls), and he was often mistaken for a girl until the age of eight or nine because many people did not know what payos were. His parents, two Reform rabbis, had followed a Chassidic Continue Reading »
Posted on November 29, 2011 by Leah Stern
Hey Pardesians and World, As some of you may know, I am learning the commentator Seforno on the parsha each week with the awesome Hayim Leiter (back right hand corner of the Beit Midrash). Two weeks ago we were studying Parshat Chayei Sarah, during which we read the story of Eliezer going to find a Continue Reading »
Posted on November 17, 2011 by S. Rotenberg
I was studying Talmud and came across this connection to quantum mechanics. In quantum mechanics, one of the many mysteries goes as follows: A particle x is shot at a device which measures if it is black or white. The scientist has no idea if the particle shot is black or white. In fact, the only Continue Reading »
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Naomi Zaslow
For the last two weeks I’ve been adjusting to my new life in Jerusalem. After two years in Korea (South, not North) I’m suffering from culture shock of the radical sort. Take for example: Hummus instead of Kimchi with every meal- Hebrew and Arabic replace Korean and Konglish- Sticky sweet wine with no Soju in Continue Reading »
Posted on September 11, 2011 by The Director of Digital Media
Let’s meet some more of this year’s Pardes Fellows! David was born in Jerusalem, but he grew up in New Jersey, and he lived in Washington, DC for several years before coming to study at Pardes in 2009. He completed his undergraduate education at CWRU in biomedical engineering, worked for two years as an AmeriCorps Continue Reading »
Posted on May 19, 2011 by The Director of Digital Media
A Testimonial by Avigail Hurvitz-Prinz About a month ago my Talmud class did an exercise where we shared our reasons for studying Gemora. Everyone had their own reasons, and my list came up to a total of 21 reasons as wide ranging as “intellectual challenge” and “to have a sense of the Rabbinic world” or Continue Reading »
Posted on April 5, 2011 by Pious Antic
Last year, my chevruta and I were in the Beit Midrash, studying a section of Gemara dealing with the obligations of a husband to his wife when we came across the phrase משמשין מטותיהן. In a hurry to finish the section before our next class, my chevruta quickly translated the phrase as “Sweet Apricots”. This Continue Reading »
Posted on March 28, 2011 by Pious Antic
When I first left for Israel, and perhaps even more so when I decided to come back for a second year, many, if not most, of my friends and family back home simply couldn’t understand why I would want to come here to spend my days studying dusty old ancient texts. To be frank, after Continue Reading »
Posted on March 27, 2011 by Tamara Frankel
Dear Friends, This past week’s parsha includes one of the few narratives in the book of Vayikra, namely the divinely ordained death of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, upon presenting their voluntary fire offering. But the telling of the acts of Nadav and Avihu and their subsequent deaths are brief and perplexing. We do not Continue Reading »
Posted on February 8, 2011 by Pious Antic
Rabbi Yitzhak Frank gave a lecture on Aramaic grammar at Pardes last week. The casual reader of this blog could be forgiven for failing to leap out of his chair in excitement after reading the above sentence. I, however, was simply giddy when I walked into the beit midrash and saw Rabbi Frank standing there Continue Reading »
