Zvi Hirschfield and Deborah Anstandig explore the power of perspective in Parshat Vayera, through the stories of Hagar, Sarah, and Avraham, and ask how we can make room for hope amid uncertainty.
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Personalities, Biblical personalities, Podcast series
How do we know when it’s time to leave the familiar behind? In this episode, Zvi Hirschfield and Yiscah Smith explore Avraham’s response to the call of Lech Lecha and what it means to leave the familiar behind. Was Avraham…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Personalities, Biblical personalities, Self & spirituality
Do you have to be a leader to make a difference? In this episode, Zvi Hirschfield and Tani Cohen-Fraade revisit the complicated character of Noach. Was he truly righteous, or did his silence in the face of destruction reveal his…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Personalities, Biblical personalities, Midrash
What does it really mean to be created in God’s image? In this episode, Zvi Hirschfield and Rabbi Michael Hattin explore one of the Torah’s most intriguing descriptions of humanity: “Let us make the human in our image.” Through different…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), Bereishit, Self & spirituality, Mussar
This year’s companion looks at the High Holiday season through the prism of our relationships: with others, with God, and with ourselves. Bring meaning, inspiration, and depth to your holidays and the upcoming year.
Jewish calendar, High Holidays, Self & spirituality, Reflection, Teshuvah
In November 2022, OpenAI – a non-profit organization – released a free preview of ChatGPT. This triggered widespread interest in generative AI and leading to the ongoing AI boom. By March 2023, OpenAI released a new model – GPT-4 –…
Self & spirituality, Hasidut
The notion of a women serving as pontifex maximus, the bishop of Rome, sovereign of papal states, and the visible head of the Catholic Church – seems incongruous. Yet a legend first recorded in the thirteenth century identifies just such…
Self & spirituality, Hasidut
The Passover Seder night is all about the faculty of speech. We talk, explain, pose questions and offer answers, discuss, and recount the story of our people. Indeed, the Hebrew word for Passover, Pesah, is a portmanteau for peh sah…
Self & spirituality, Hasidut, Jewish prayer
Rabbi Yitzhak of Radziwiłłów was active as a hasidic master in the early nineteenth century. His father, the maggid (preacher) Rabbi Yehiel Mikhel of Złoczów (1731-1780s), was a hasidic leader in the early days of nascent Hasidism. Each of Rabbi…
Self & spirituality, Spirituality
The Battle of the Vale of Siddim – or as it is known in Jewish tradition: The War of the Four Kings against the Five (Genesis 14:1-17) – was a result of longstanding tensions in the Jordan River plain during…
Self & spirituality, Hasidut
In 1933, Rabbi Yisrael Bekmeister (1877-1954) published a twenty-page collection of hasidic tales. The collection included a fascinating tale that speaks to assessing the past year, as we approach the High Holy Days. **** Bekmeister’s slender booklet included fifteen tales…
Self & spirituality, Reflection, Spirituality, Jewish calendar, High Holidays, Yom Kippur
A 1907 collection of hasidic tales by Rabbi Yisrael Berger (1855-1919), Eser Orot, offered a bevy of tales about Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdyczów (1740-1809). Rabbi Berger was one of the key transmitters of hasidic tales, publishing a tetralogy that…
Self & spirituality, Reflection, Spirituality
Take live online courses with our world-class faculty, from Tanakh to Talmud to Text Skills and beyond.
Explore the diverse array of books authored by Pardes teachers.
Use our search tool to find the Pardes program that fits your schedule.