These and Those

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

Tag Archives: reflections / testimonials

[Alumni Guest Post] Ben Freedman — Building Upon my Pardes Experience

Posted on January 23, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

The semester I spent at Pardes was among the most important periods of personal growth that I’ve ever had. Upon my return to the US, when family or friends would ask about it, I could only create impressions of how I had grown or what I had truly learned. I would say, “imagine six months Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] The Beating Heart of the Jewish World

Posted on January 16, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Sara Brandes (Year ’01, Fellows ’02, Elul ’05) shares her Pardes reflections: I met my friend, teacher and fellow Pardes alumna Rabbi Shawn Fields-Meyer during the summer before I arrived at Pardes, as a participant in the Brandeis Collegiate Institute. Inspired by her teaching and hungry for more, I sought her out. When I told Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Ayeka: The Cherry on my Spiritual Journey’s Cake

Posted on January 12, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

By Mira B. Shore (Summer ’09, ’10; Year ’12) As a self-identified progressive, liberal, secular Jew growing up at Jewish Day School, I spent a lot of my time and energy speaking about why prayer and G-d were NOT a part of my life. I actively ran from prayer. Once I had my bat-mitzvah, there Continue Reading »

[Alumni Guest Post] Cheddar and Scallion Biscuits on a Sunday Morning

Posted on January 2, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media

Whitney Fisch (year ’08-’09) at Jewhungry wrote a ‘Shout Out’ to Pardes in this blog post… We’ll be checking back in with her for more great recipes 🙂 It’s Sunday and I’m not going to work tomorrow. Wait. Waaaait wait wait. Before I even get into anything we have to take a moment of silence Continue Reading »

A Dvar Torah I wrote for my Synagogue:

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Laura Marder

Shabbat Shalom Pardes. I wanted to share a portion of my Dvar torah that I am giving to my Shul tonight… Shabbat Shalom,   Last week as my facebook followers know I was standing on a mountain over the dead sea welcoming the Sabbath at a meditation retreat. If I close my eyes I can Continue Reading »

Jerusalem: Pulled to a Place

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Shanee Michaelson

During the summer of 2011, I was a recovering attorney who had just completed a year teaching in Jewish early childhood education. I felt a calling towards deepening my own formal Jewish education and learned at Pardes for 3 weeks. I was exposed to the tip of an iceberg of knowledge of every imaginable sort. Continue Reading »

Мой Пардес находился в Иерусалиме

Posted on December 19, 2012 by The Director of Digital Media

This reflection on Pardes was written by Vera Pakhomova Katsman (Fall ’10) В 2010 году я вошла в Пардес. Вообще, Пардес – это фруктовый сад, однако Пардес – это еще и мифологическое место, куда вошли четыре еврейских мудреца, а кто они были, и что с ними случилось там, узнаете потом. Я вам расскажу, как в Continue Reading »

Newton’s Third Law and the Jewish Question

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Derek Kwait

Maybe it’s because I grew up feeling like one, or maybe it’s just some genetic Jewish thing, but for whatever reason, I’ve always sympathized with the outsider. When I went on the Tale of Three Cities tiyyul the two weeks ago, I didn’t know what to expect, except that we were going to meet three Continue Reading »

The trees are alive with the sound of silence

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Shoshana Rosen

By Shoshana Rosen How do I even begin to put into words, an experience that in its essence has no words? Just recently coming back from a silent meditation shabbaton, up north at Kibbutz Hannaton I realize only how much it impacted me by the stark reality of coming back home. Like many have said Continue Reading »

Empty Notebook

Posted on December 4, 2012 by David Bogomolny

I doodled once on the cover of my notebook, but I didn’t take any notes. Every time we met with a speaker, I brought my notebook and pen with me, but I never once wrote down what they were saying. I’m not sure that I couldn’t have; I’m only sure that I didn’t want to. Continue Reading »