Yinzer in YerushalayimA lifelong Pittsburgher goes on a 9-month odyssey to study Judaism at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem.
Contact Derek at earthkwait@hotmail.com.
Week 28: At the Crossroads by dmkwait
Click here for Week 27 The biggest event this week was our Critical Issues speaker, Rabbi Michael Melchior , former Member of the Knesset, executive in the World Zionist Organization, curr...
Click here for Week 27 The biggest event this week was our Critical Issues speaker, Rabbi Michael Melchior , former Member of the Knesset, executive in the World Zionist Organization, curr...
Week 27:Purim by dmkwait
[Note: By request of the powers that be, all names in this blog post have been changed to protect the innocent.] It's never easy to decide what you want to be for Purim. This year especially, limit...
[Note: By request of the powers that be, all names in this blog post have been changed to protect the innocent.] It's never easy to decide what you want to be for Purim. This year especially, limit...
Week 26: Making a Lasting Impression by dmkwait
When I woke up to a snowstorm this morning, I was so happy I could dance. It wasn't just snow, it was big-flaked, sticky snow, the kind you could make snowballs out of were there enough of it, and...
When I woke up to a snowstorm this morning, I was so happy I could dance. It wasn't just snow, it was big-flaked, sticky snow, the kind you could make snowballs out of were there enough of it, and...
Week 25: Topsy-Turvy by dmkwait
There is a Jewish saying that when the month of Adar enters, joy increases, and another that when Adar comes, the world stands on its head. Officially, Rosh Chodesh Adar was Thursday, but the prec...
There is a Jewish saying that when the month of Adar enters, joy increases, and another that when Adar comes, the world stands on its head. Officially, Rosh Chodesh Adar was Thursday, but the prec...
Week 24: More Leftovers by dmkwait
* For Tuesday's group lecture, Robby Berman, head of the Halakhic Organ Donor Society came to give a riveting, inspiring, infuriating talk. I'll sum it up in brief: There is no va...
* For Tuesday's group lecture, Robby Berman, head of the Halakhic Organ Donor Society came to give a riveting, inspiring, infuriating talk. I'll sum it up in brief: There is no va...
Week 23: Planting Seeds by dmkwait
(Click here for Week 22.) Some of my fondest Jewish childhood memories are of Tu B'Shvat . Every year in Sunday School, we at Beth Israel Center threw a huge seder, with tens of specie...
(Click here for Week 22.) Some of my fondest Jewish childhood memories are of Tu B'Shvat . Every year in Sunday School, we at Beth Israel Center threw a huge seder, with tens of specie...
Week 21: Head of the Month by dmkwait
Despite popular belief, the Creation narrative in the Bible does not depict creatio ex nihilo , a creation of something out of nothing, or יש מאין (yeish mayain), as we say in Hebrew. In...
Despite popular belief, the Creation narrative in the Bible does not depict creatio ex nihilo , a creation of something out of nothing, or יש מאין (yeish mayain), as we say in Hebrew. In...
Week 20: The Arava Tiyyul by dmkwait
Tuesday through Thursday those of us who didn't go on the annual Poland trip went on a tiyyul to the Arava. The Arava is a huge rift valley south of the Dead Sea split between Israel and...
Tuesday through Thursday those of us who didn't go on the annual Poland trip went on a tiyyul to the Arava. The Arava is a huge rift valley south of the Dead Sea split between Israel and...
Week 19: Tastes of Home by dmkwait
As I end my first semester in Israel, I am surrounded by reminders of where I come from and how I got here. It started last Thursday night, when I made halushki , a Central/Eastern European dis...
As I end my first semester in Israel, I am surrounded by reminders of where I come from and how I got here. It started last Thursday night, when I made halushki , a Central/Eastern European dis...
Sh'mot, Pardes, and I by dmkwait
Last year on Parshat Sh'mot, I gave the following speech at Young People's Synagogue where I announced my intention to apply to Pardes for the coming year. As it turns out, once I got to Pardes, I ...
Last year on Parshat Sh'mot, I gave the following speech at Young People's Synagogue where I announced my intention to apply to Pardes for the coming year. As it turns out, once I got to Pardes, I ...