Pardes North America Fellowships are high impact, high intensity cohort-based learning experiences. Throughout the course of the fellowship, participants will experience Pardes Torah learning, peer-to-peer engagement, and personal or professional development. Upon completion of a program, fellows are rewarded with certificates acknowledging their skills and learning.
High Quality Learning: Deep content that inspires a deeper commitment to Jewish text, Jewish living, and lifelong learning.
Outstanding Pedagogy: Outstanding teaching that fosters accessible, inclusive, and inspirational Jewish learning communities.
Peer-to-Peer Engagement: Cohort-based learning that allows fellows to learn from one another and create valuable connections.
Practical Experience: Participants design their own programming and exhibit thought-leadership both written and verbally.
In partnership with Hillel International, Pardes North America is launching the Hillel Professional Summer Fellowship for the summer of 2022. This in-person fellowship, taking place in Jerusalem, will combine participation in the Pardes Summer program with learning the Mahloket Matters curriculum. The learning series will train fellows in a series of tools and core values that will help Hillel professionals better navigate challenging political situations with students, staff, donors, and board members.
We are living in a moment of unprecedented breakdown in American civil discourse. Unable to listen to each other – let alone understand each other – we are stuck in our own echo chambers. Many fear speaking up, lest we be judged or “canceled.” We cannot even agree on a shared set of facts or norms to govern our discourse. These problems cause significant pain and dysfunction for millions, and they show up at work, at schools, on the streets and in our families. The trauma of the global pandemic has only increased fear and distrust among many. This is as true in the Jewish community as it is in society generally.
Pardes North America seeks to foster a renewed discourse that heals divisions and offers our communities – and the world – a path forward.
Pardes North America’s pioneering Mahloket Matters methodology combines social psychology with the rich Jewish textual tradition of deeply engaging with conflicting opinions in order to learn. This curriculum helps provide learners with the motivation to better engage constructively with those with whom they disagree, thereby improving civil discourse. Mahloket Matters reframes what previously felt hostile and threatening as an opportunity for connection and change.
The Mahloket Matters Fellowship is an 8-week fellowship in which participants learn the Mahloket Matters materials and how to utilize them in a variety of capacities. At the end of the program, fellows implement the Mahloket Matters methodology in a program of their own design within their communities.
