eJP – Retrospective of a Retired Pardes Board Chair
Posted on February 3, 2022
Written by Sherwin Pomerantz – As the immediate past Chair of the Israel board, Sherwin shares why serving Pardes was so meaningful and how Pardes is making a difference. What has impressed me about Pardes and seemingly, the motivating factor for everyone involved, is the incredible impact our graduates have had and continue to have, Continue Reading »
Mazel tov to Rabbi Dr. Erin Leib Smokler on winning the National Jewish Book Award in Modern Jewish Thought and Experience!
Posted on January 26, 2022
Rabbi Dr. Erin Leib Smokler (Pardes Alumna Summers ’03 and ’04) is a faculty member at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. She is also the Dean of Students and the Director of Spiritual Development at Yeshivat Maharat, where she teaches Hasidism and Pastoral Torah, and a faculty member at the Institute for Jewish Continue Reading »
The Times of Israel – Can We Be a ‘Holy Nation’ While Abuse Persists?
Posted on January 24, 2022
Written by Pardes Faculty Judy Klitsner – Charismatic Jewish leaders and teachers are in the headlines again: abusing their power by betraying the trust of unsuspecting followers. As is too often the case, it appears the offenses were widely known, or at least strongly suspected, by communal members and leaders. In this frighteningly familiar pattern, Continue Reading »
Times of Israel – Colleyville: ‘It is burning, brothers, it is burning’
Posted on January 19, 2022
This blog for Times of Israel was written by past Israel Board Chair Sherwin Pomerantz – In February 2019, I was in Colleyville, Texas, at Beth Israel Congregation for the bat mitzvah celebration of the daughter of Charlie Cytron-Walker, the rabbi who was held hostage with his family this past Shabbat. His mother-in-law is my Continue Reading »
PHOTOS: 12+ Feet Down, Many More to Go
Posted on January 11, 2022
Over the past few weeks, 12, 18, and 22-meter holes have been drilled around the perimeter of the lot, followed by the insertion of steel frame piles. At the end of each day, the cement trucks arrive to fill the piles with cement. As the piles begin to provide a solid structure around the outside Continue Reading »
Jerusalem Post – In the Wake of an Earthquake: Meet Rabbi Avraham Dov
Posted on January 11, 2022
Written by Rabbi Dr. Levi Cooper – Avraham Dov survived the 1834 looting of Safed and the 1837 Galilee earthquake, but he died in late 1840 when a plague struck Safed. Rabbi Avraham Dov of Owrucz (Ovrutsh) (1760-1840) was a hassidic master during the formative years of the movement. He first served in the rabbinate Continue Reading »
eJewishPhilanthropy – Shmitta and Organizational Change
Posted on January 6, 2022
Written by Pardes Alumna Elyssa Hurwitz (PCJE ’19-20) – What would it look like for employees to have individualized or intentionally chosen professional development every six months, with the purpose of supporting growth in the areas they need? How would it impact the retention of employees to offer bonuses or benefits of some kind at Continue Reading »
San Diego Jewish World – 3 Subjects Worthy of Deep Study: Torah, JCC’s, Mideast History
Posted on December 1, 2021
Written by Doron Krakow (father of current year student Aaron Krakow (’21) – My son, Aaron, is a student at Machon Pardes (The Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies), where he is spending a semester studying Jewish texts—a spiritual journey taking the place of the kind of post-army trek to southeast Asia typical of many young Continue Reading »
Jerusalem Post – Justice in the Biblical Story of Dinah
Posted on November 21, 2021
Written by Pardes faculty member Rabbanit Nechama Goldman Barash – “Out went Dinah the daughter of Leah whom she bore to Jacob, to see the girls of the land. Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, Prince of the Land, saw her. He took her and lay with her and degraded her.” (Genesis 32: 1-3) Continue Reading »
Jerusalem Post – Which Israel educator are you?
Posted on November 11, 2021
Written by Ilan Bloch (Community Education ’06-’07, ’15-’16, Year ’20-’21). This article was inspired by Pardes faculty member Rabbanit Nechama Goldman Barash. A tour guide or teacher might also have higher expectations of her students. She may embrace the Socratic method continuously, even when students are exhausted. Our Sages teach (Taanit 23a) that halfway through Continue Reading »