Alumni Articles

Can we really disagree constructively?

Posted on July 23, 2024

Written by Yehudit Mazur-Shlomi (Mahloket Matters Fellow ’24) We live in a time when it is extremely hard to listen to the opinions of others. The world around us seems to be getting split more and more everyday with polarization becoming sharper, and the middle ground splitting under us.   

Disagreement in Service of Heaven

Posted on June 19, 2024

Written by Danielle Tomson (Mahloket Matters Fellow ’23) – Battle lines are drawn in times of war, but truth is rarely one-sided. In these times, I’ve sat scrolling the news and social media with an understanding that so much of I’ve been seeing is somebody’s propaganda. Very little of it feels satisfying as an explanation Continue Reading »

Prizmah.org – The Much-Needed Judaics Teacher Already At Your School

Posted on June 13, 2024

Written by Rachel Friedrichs (Associate Director, PCJE Israel) – Many Jewish day schools have excellent general studies teachers who are also engaged and interested members of their Jewish communities. These teachers have proven classroom teaching skills, are committed to the school’s mission and values, and understand the community and the students, but they may not Continue Reading »

Shavuot: A Chance to Become a Centrist

Posted on May 24, 2023

By Sherwin Pomerantz In Israel, as in the rest of the world, we see people chained to the circumference of the circle, unwilling to let go of hardened positions and allow the centripetal forces to bring them close.

YOU SHOULD KNOW…Rory Michelle Sullivan

Posted on November 28, 2022

Howl at the Moon. Boston. January 2013. It’s Rory Michelle Sullivan’s 26th birthday, and she’s the musical performer at this bar with a stage.

An Orthodox Rabbi Builds an Unorthodox Harlem Congregation

Posted on November 8, 2022

With Kehillat Harlem, Rabbi Kyle Savitch (Year ’15’-’16) aims to build a space where Jews of all denominations can gather.

Have Faith: A New Spiritual Leader

Posted on September 2, 2022

Rabbi Giulia Fleishman continues her work at 2Life Communities.

Argue for the Sake of Heaven

Posted on August 22, 2022

by Elisheva Gray –  When they were having their animated disagreements so many centuries ago, could the wise Jewish sages Hillel and Shammai have imagined how much we would still look to them today to help us navigate our fragmented world? Mishna Avot, a third-century collection of teachings, reminds us that “any mahloket (disagreement) that is l’shem shamayim (for Continue Reading »

Combining Torah and the Arts at Pardes

Posted on June 22, 2022

This article was originally published in the December 2021 edition of Pardes’s Havruta magazine. To learn more about the Pardes Arts and Culture Fellowship, visit www.pardes.org.il/pardes-arts-culture-fellowship or email Ilana HaCohen at ilana@pardes.org.il.  

The emerging rabbinic pulpit

Posted on June 10, 2022

Pardes Board member and alum Faith Leener (Year ’10-’11, Summer ’17) is a co-founder and the Executive Director of the growing Base Movement (check them out: www.basemovement.org).