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My Pardes

Pardes = orchard, grove,

Origin of the word paradise

The term paradise derives from old Persian pairi [around] daeza [wall brick or shape]. Composed in one word it means walled- in garden or compound. It was introduced in European languages through Greek when Xenophon translated it to paradeisos. The Persian tradition of building enclosed gardens with rectangular water basin and odorous plants stems from the royal Achmenide tradition of the enclosed hunting grounds of lions which was a ritual practice enforcing their divine –royal authority. Later the paradisian garden tradition was expanded to Moghul India (Taj Mahal) and under Islam in the Middle Eastern until Andalusia (Alhambra ,Granada) and later to Europe. The Hebrew word pardes, derives from Greek or Persian and means garden, grove or orchard.

https://embassies.gov.il/holysee/Relations/Pages/heaven.aspx

An illustration of the Persian gardens which are the basis of the Pardes.

Ecclesiastes 2.5 “I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits”

This is a photograph of our backyard Pardes with its water feature and greenery.

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Visual Midrash

Search Links

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https://www.thetorah.com/article/scribing-the-tabernacle-a-visual-midrash-embedded-in-the-torah-scroll

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https://koheletprize.org/media/HO-11-a-Lesson-Guide-for-Visual-Midrash.pdf

https://therra.org/Reconstructionist/Fall1998.pdf

https://torahaura.com/make-a-midrash-out-of-me

https://www.sofer.co.uk/oddities

https://www.mahiber.com/marketplace/product/339-panim-el-facing-genesis-visual-midrash

https://adelaidejmuseum.org/pesach-midrash-project-2005/

http://www.templesholom.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Visual-Midrash.pdf

https://jewishberkshires.org/community-events/berkshire-jewish-voice/berkshire-jewish-voice-highlights/an-unlikely-trio-artists-torah-and-covid-19

https://www.chanazelig.com/blog

https://ajr.edu/5766journal/deprophetis5766/

https://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2018/08/21/biblical-beauty-art-revelation/

https://www.jewishartnow.com/2015/10/30/not-by-words-alone/

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https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/belief/articles/midrash-manicurist

https://www.chabad.org/blogs/blog_cdo/aid/2451762/jewish/Sinai.htm

https://www.rachelbrodie.net/text-midrash.html

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https://www.chabad.org/blogs/blog_cdo/aid/2052347/jewish/Jewish-Art-for-the-Soul.htm

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Visual Midrash

The Electric Rabbi in Cyberspace

https://visualmidrash.splitrockstrategies.com/midrash/electric-rabbi/

https://nlbehrmann.myportfolio.com

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Visual Midrash

Modernism and Synagogue

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Visual Midrash

Web is Language of contemporary Humankind

״דברה תורה כלשון בני אדם״.Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, 1:26

Dibrah Torah k’Lashon Bnei Adam” (Bava Metzia 94b and many other places).

Gemara states below 31b:- “Dibrah Torah k’Lashon bnei Adam”, “the Torah spoke the language of men”.

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Visual Midrash

Impact of Graven Images

Their idols are silver and gold. The handiwork of man,

A mouth they have but they do not speak,

 Eyes they have but they do not see.

Ears they have but they do not hear, 

A nose they have but they do not smell.

Their hands-but they do not feel;

 Their feet-but they do not walk; 

They make not sound with their throat.

(Translation by Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms)

Abraham Joshua Heschel paraphrases the verse of the psalm  “The dead praise not the Lord” as “Those who are spiritually dull cannot praise the Lord.” ‘Praising the Lord’ in our approach is not the empty words of the liturgy, but living fully in our bodies and with our senses, activating the God-given credentials of our individual aptitudes.