This Pardes Life

In the latest episode of This Pardes Life for Pesach Sheni, Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield meets with Rabbi Aryeh Ben David. They discuss Rabbi Ben David's organization which creates tools to make Jewish text and practice personally relevant and inspiring. Rabbi Ben David talks about the design and educational approach reflected in the Ayeka Haggada, and challenges us to embrace the "tough" conversations about our relationship to God, Torah and the Jewish people in order to make Jewish practice come alive. In addition, Rabbi Ben David describes how his own journey through Judaism and observance that led him to embrace the vulnerability and openness towards himself and others that a personal relationship with Judaism offers.

This podcast has been generously sponsored by Rabbi Zvi Hirshfield's inspiring mother Joanne Hirschfield, in memory of loving husband and father Seymour Hirschfield z"l.

See www.elmad.pardes.org/thispardeslife for other episodes in this series.

In the latest episode of This Pardes Life, Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield and Rabbi Levi Cooper go LIVE from the new Pardes New York office. They talk about a text that is close to Levi's heart. "Words I Heard from My Master" are teachings from the Ba'al Shem Tov,  which appears as an appendix in the first ever published chassidic work, the Toldot Yaakov Yosef (1780) by Rav Ya‘akov Yosef of Polnoye.

See www.elmad.pardes.org/thispardeslife for other episodes in this series.

In the latest episode of This Pardes Life, Rabbi Alex Israel is in conversation with Rabbi David Jaffe, author of the 2016 Jewish Book Award prize winner, "Changing the World from the Inside Out: A Jewish Approach to Personal and Social Change". David discusses his book and the history of Mussar, a Jewish methodology of personal improvement and growth, as he shares insights into how we can become better people.

See www.elmad.pardes.org/thispardeslife for other episodes in this series.

In the latest episode of This Pardes Life, Rabbi Alex Israel conducts a fascinating and wide-ranging interview with scholar and author Rabbi Daniel Gordis, which covers his views on Conservative Judaism, the widening gaps between Israeli and US Jewry, and the renewal of Judaism in mainstream Israeli culture.

See www.elmad.pardes.org/thispardeslife for other episodes in this series.

In the latest episode of This Pardes Life, Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield and Rabbi Alex Israel explore Maimonides approach to finding balance between spiritual aspirations and living a normal life. Rabbi Israel shares his own process of balancing a passionate Jewish life with appreciation and connection to a wider world.

See www.elmad.pardes.org/thispardeslife for other episodes in this series.

In this episode of This Pardes Life, Rabbi Alex Israel talks to Rick Goldberg. Rick is a longstanding friend of Pardes who has written "Judaism in Biological Perspective: Biblical Lore and Judaic Practices." The conversation discusses topics as varied as Judaism's view of the "Yetzer", the sexual drive, a biological view of the effects of Jewish marital law and even why synagogue services are so long!

See www.elmad.pardes.org/thispardeslife for other episodes in this series.

In the latest episode of This Pardes Life, Rabba Yaffa Epstein and Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield discuss a midrash (Genesis Rabbah 8:5) that relates to the tension of perusing truth and perusing peace. Rabba Yaffa shares her own approach to the balance between objective and subjective truth and how many of us might gain by perusing personal meaning instead of trying to win arguments.

In addition to demonstrating a creative and text-based approach to understanding mishna, in this podcast, Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield and Rabbi Rahel Berkovits discuss how classical rabbinical texts are central in the discussion of feminism and the role of women in contemporary Jewish life. Rahel also shares her own personal take on many of these issues.

The text used to accompany this podcast is Mishna Berakhot ch 3. See attached source sheet or online source sheet at Sefaria.com.

See www.elmad.pardes.org/thispardeslife for other episodes in this series.

Three teachers, three struggles and the interplay between the personal and the political.

This special edition of This Pardes Life brings you a live panel discussion, recorded on Tisha B'Av 2016. Learn what Dr. Naomi Marmon Grumet has to say about the contentious issues surrounding mikveh today; what Nechama Goldman Barash thinks about orthodoxy being inclusive of LGBTQ+; and what Rabbi Meir Schweiger sees as the importance of settling Yehuda and Shomron. With Rabbi David Levin-Kruss mediating the discussion, this is a podcast not to be missed.

See www.elmad.pardes.org/thispardeslife for other episodes in this series.

In this edition of This Pardes Life, Rabbi Zvi Hirschfield, in havruta with Rabbi Mike Feuer, explore a text by Rav Kook that discusses vegetarianism and ethics. The discussion that ensues raises the issues of whether Judaism needs to be a force for human improvement and how all of us are challenged in the struggle for the real and the ideal.

See elmad.pardes.org for the source sheet.

See www.elmad.pardes.org/thispardeslife for other episodes in this series.