Pardes Live and Mini-Series

In this podcast, a live lecture at Pardes Jerusalem as part of the Summer Evening Lecture series, Rabbi Dr. Zvi Grumet speaks on Judges, Spies and Creative History: Moshe’s Greatest Undertaking.

The Pardes Summer Evening Lecture Series is sponsored in memory of Brondell Pomrenze by Huti and Jay Pomrenze.

There is no word for history in the Hebrew Bible, but there is a deep call for building a relationship with our story. Listen in to an innovative presentation of a Jewish framework for relating to the past by Rabbi Mike Feuer.

The Pardes Summer Evening Lecture Series is sponsored in memory of Brondell Pomrenze by Huti and Jay Pomrenze.

Israel’s war, in Lebanon, against Hezbollah in the 1990s was the first war of the 21st century, foreshadowing the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. It shaped a generation of Israelis. But it has been largely forgotten. Matti’s book Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story of a Forgotten War describes one outpost in that war based on his own experience. In this lecture that was recorded live at Pardes as part of the Summer Evening Lecture Series, Matti uses the outpost as a springboard to discuss the experience of Israelis in the army, and the way the events in Lebanon continue to echo today. Pumpkinflowers was a 2016 New York Times Notable book and was chosen by Amazon as one of the 10 best books of the year.

The Pardes Summer Evening Lecture Series is sponsored in memory of Brondell Pomrenze by Huti and Jay Pomrenze.

In this podcast we will look at the complicated topic of Kol Isha or the voice of a woman as representing a source of sexual temptation. As we will see, the traditional approach today which is to prevent women from singing in public or private spaces is actually an innovative approach that reinterprets the rabbinic sources that dominated from the Gemara until the 17th century. We will try to understand why this approach is perceived as the most legitimate one and whether there is a way to return to tradition and allow women to sing.

The series Uncovered look at three major topics that often restrict women’s presence in traditional Jewish communities: Dress, Hair and Voice. The famous Talmudic statements that “the leg of a woman is nakedness”, “the voice of a woman is nakedness” and “the hair of a woman is nakedness” are often presented at face value but in fact, as the series will uncover, the Talmudic conversation is centered around the laws of saying Shema and do not reverberate outward into a greater conversation anywhere else in the Talmud with one fairly minor exception. However, those statements became the platform for modern halakhic and religious discourse on women, modesty and sexuality and can be perceived as empowering or suffocating depending on where and how the conversation is unpacked. Suffice to say, it is never a neutral conversation. In this series we will try to understand the larger picture before beginning to look at the rabbinic sources that structure the conversation.

In this podcast we will look at the Talmudic statement that “the hair of a woman is nakedness” in order to understand it’s implications for the ongoing halakhic conversation around hair covering. We will see how the ideas developed in the previous podcast around Dat Moshe and Dat Yehudit become synthesized with the idea of nakedness in some of the halakhic discourse while in others, remain separately addressed. In the end, we will see how women come to cover or uncover their hair in many different ways.

Click here to listen to part 1.

The series Uncovered looks at three major topics that often restrict women’s presence in traditional Jewish communities: Dress, Hair and Voice. The famous Talmudic statements that “the leg of a woman is nakedness”, “the voice of a woman is nakedness” and “the hair of a woman is nakedness” are often presented at face value but in fact, as the series will uncover, the Talmudic conversation is centered around the laws of saying Shema and do not reverberate outward into a greater conversation anywhere else in the Talmud with one fairly minor exception. However, those statements became the platform for modern halakhic and religious discourse on women, modesty and sexuality and can be perceived as empowering or suffocating depending on where and how the conversation is unpacked. Suffice to say, it is never a neutral conversation. In this series we will try to understand the larger picture before beginning to look at the rabbinic sources that structure the conversation.

In the run up to Purim, Rabbi Michael Hattin gave the first lecture in a 2-part series on Megillat Esther: Does the Megilla Belong in Tanakh? A Historical and Textual Framing. Stay tuned for the second part coming soon.

Why do some married religious women cover their hair? Why only marrieds? Is this a law or a custom? In this episode of Uncovered, Rabbanit Nechama Goldman-Barash navigates the Halakhic history of laws that have traditionally shaped women’s dress and public conduct. Part 1 will discuss the origins and texture of the practice of head covering. Part 2 will focus on this practice in a modern context.

The series Uncovered looks at three major topics that often restrict women’s presence in traditional Jewish communities: Dress, Hair and Voice. The famous Talmudic statements that “the leg of a woman is nakedness”, “the voice of a woman is nakedness” and “the hair of a woman is nakedness” are often presented at face value but in fact, as the series will uncover, the Talmudic conversation is centered around the laws of saying Shema and do not reverberate outward into a greater conversation anywhere else in the Talmud with one fairly minor exception. However, those statements became the platform for modern halakhic and religious discourse on women, modesty and sexuality and can be perceived as empowering or suffocating depending on where and how the conversation is unpacked. Suffice to say, it is never a neutral conversation. In this series we will try to understand the larger picture before beginning to look at the rabbinic sources that structure the conversation.

Pardes was honored to welcome Rabbi Leon Wiener Dow. In this lecture, he examines the way in which the halakha establishes a silent discourse with the Divine through the shared space of communal action.

 

The Sidney and Miriam Brettler Memorial Series 5778: The Art of Rabbinic Storytelling. In the second lecture in the series, Professor Avigdor Shinan looked at Family: Parents, Children and Wives.

Click here to listen to the other lectures in the series.

In this, the first episode of Uncovered: Sources of Nakedness in Halakha, Rabbanit Nechama Goldman Barash looks at a debate that often centers around female religious identity – where do the norms and boundaries for female dress code come from? Nechama suggests that the answer lies not in the boundaries of halakhic discourse but in the greater religious conversation which seeks to desexualize sacred space.

The series Uncovered look at three major topics that often restrict women’s presence in traditional Jewish communities: Dress, Hair and Voice. The famous Talmudic statements that “the leg of a woman is nakedness”, “the voice of a woman is nakedness” and “the hair of a woman is nakedness” are often presented at face value but in fact, as the series will uncover, the Talmudic conversation is centered around the laws of saying Shema and do not reverberate outward into a greater conversation anywhere else in the Talmud with one fairly minor exception. However, those statements became the platform for modern halakhic and religious discourse on women, modesty and sexuality and can be perceived as empowering or suffocating depending on where and how the conversation is unpacked. Suffice to say, it is never a neutral conversation. In this series we will try to understand the larger picture before beginning to look at the rabbinic sources that structure the conversation.