Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on September 11, 2013 by The Director of Digital Media
On Yom Kippur, the shul is full. The normally sparse rows are packed, white plastic pool chairs spill out and crowd the aisles. Why do people come. The people that never come, why do they come now, on this day. As a child, I wasn’t even sure why I came. No holiday made me question Continue Reading »
Posted on September 10, 2013 by Jessica Baverman
From my blog: Here it is. Yom Kippur 2013/5774. This year’s High Holidays sprung upon me somewhat quickly. This is a tough Yom Kippur. It’s been 10 years since my Aunt Rhona died on Yom Kippur in 2003. How has it been so long? This year, I think I have also been very hard on Continue Reading »
Posted on September 4, 2013 by Jessica Baverman
From my blog: Last year, I spent Rosh Hashanah in Ra’anana with a family I hadn’t known more than a month before the holiday. I didn’t prepare much, and I was getting used to being in Israel. This year, I am surrounded by a new set of friends, an amazing partner, and a lot more Continue Reading »
Posted on August 22, 2013 by Ben Schneider
From: my blog Living in a new place surrounded by new people has given me a new appreciation of how great it is to move past the “coming out” stage with Jewish communities. Coming out with subtlety, in individual conversations, is exhausting, and when I’m around large groups of people who don’t know I’m gay Continue Reading »
Posted on July 19, 2013 by Charlie Carnow
Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said, ‘There were no greater festive days in Israel than the fifteenth day of Av and Yom Kippurim, when the daughters of Jerusalem would go out in borrowed white dresses so as not to embarrass those who didn’t have their own” (Mishnah Ta’anit 4:7) Ask in America (and maybe across the Continue Reading »
Posted on April 26, 2013 by Aliza Geller
Devar Torah Workshop, Parashat Emor Over the past couple of weeks, students in their first year of the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators have been participating in a Devar Torah workshop with DLK (Rabbi David Levin-Kruss). This is the Devar Torah I wrote to be presented at the workshop yesterday, for Parashat Emor. Please keep Continue Reading »
Posted on April 22, 2013 by Liviah Landau
April 15th, 2013 It’s Erev Yom HaAtzma’ut and just a few days ago I had my first meeting with Nefesh b’Nefesh, an agency that works for North American Jews intending on immigrating to Israel. My application is in, and a few more papers are needed, but the decision has been made. I am making Aliyah Continue Reading »
Posted on February 21, 2013 by Annie Matan Gilbert
This fast comes in contrast with the feasting of Purim to come. In the Purim story, Esther asked Mordechai to ask the Jews to fast for three days. Some texts say this is because they were preparing for battle and others say this was to invoke God’s help and protection. There are two Hebrew words Continue Reading »
Posted on October 12, 2012 by Heather Kantrowitz
Originally posted on my blog: Shalom friends and family! From Rosh Hashanah until Sukkot we were without internet at the house, hence the lapse in blog posts. Anyways, it’s back now (after a long and frustrating process) so I’ll try to summarize everything that’s been happening in my life in the past few weeks. 1) Continue Reading »
Posted on October 11, 2012 by Cara Abrams-Simonton
Originally posted on Oct. 1: Two months since I last wrote. It is now 5773 and I am hoping to blog more regularly. Call it a Jewish new year’s resolution! The Jewish New Year ראש השנה Rosh HaShanah was on September 17 followed by the Day of Atonement יום כיפור Yom Kippur on September 26. Continue Reading »
