Celebrating Justin Pines

Pardes alumni are making an incredible impact on our world.

They are leading and creating organizations and businesses of all kinds, responding to humanitarian crises, writing novels, educating at all levels, creating works of art, and so much more! In celebration of Pardes’s 50th, we are highlighting 50 standout alumni whose accomplishments exemplify the rich texture of the Pardes community worldwide.

Meet Justin

Rabbi Justin Pines serves as the Director of Lay Leadership for the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. Justin helps shape the educational vision and experience for lay leaders seeking to deepen the Institute’s impact as well as their own. His life and teaching are currently heavily influenced by Rabbi Irving ‘Yitz’ Greenberg, the Mussar movement, and being the grandchild of four Holocaust survivors

Can you share a special Pardes memory?

I remember traveling to Poland with Rabbi Dr. Levi Cooper as part of a trip with Pardes, as well as the preparation for the trip with Dr. David Bernstein. Before then, most of my knowledge of Polish Jewry was about what happened during the Shoah. Dr. Bernstein and Rabbi Cooper helped us to gain a sense of Jewish life and Torah before the war. I remember learning Hasidic texts and singing Modzitzer niggunim and feeling deeply connected to not only the deaths but also the lives of those who were murdered.

What was your favorite class at Pardes?

My favorite class I have ever taken anywhere (highschool, college, law school, five yeshivot) was Nevi’im Rishonim with Rabbi Michael Hattin. I still suggest people make sure they take that class, and was super happy when Rabbi Hattin shared some of those ideas in a Pardes podcast and also in his book on Joshua. We did one chapter each class. Each class was a master work of art (or architecture) on its own – building up to a crescendo over the course of the hour, and, at the same time, I couldn’t wait for the next class. Rabbi Hattin’s methodology opened up a whole new way of looking at and appreciating Tanach, and he also modeled how to love Torah and the importance of being a mensch when teaching Torah.

What are you most proud of in your work?

In the pandemic summer of 2020, I helped lead a virtual Hartman program for teens. Most camps were closed, and it seemed like most of the teens would miss a key Jewish development experience. Working with an amazing team of Hartman staff and scholars, we hosted over 250 teens, as well as 25 college age staff facilitators, in a 5-week, 3 hours/day intensive learning experience. It was very satisfying to do our part to address a major challenge facing the Jewish community, and we were able to provide these students with a deep summer Jewish learning experience where they could meaningfully explore the challenges facing the Jewish people and the world using Jewish text and ideas as their guides, in a pluralistic environment, and with no question too controversial.

If you could have any Shabbat guest, who would it be?

I would ask my great-uncles about their childhood, their families, their dreams, and their loves, and to share a favorite Torah or song with me that I might share with others in their name.

I would ask Yosef HaTzaddik about his encounter with the man in the field. Did he receive a warning about his brother’s intentions in that conversation, and did he go ahead anyway? And if so, why? Did he have so much trust in Hashem that he was willing to walk towards being the victim in one of the lowest moments in our people’s history? And, what advice might he have for Jews in positions of power in America today?

And I would ask Shmuel HaNavi about the current state of leadership in Israel and his advice about how to continue to build the modern state in a way which is a kiddush Hashem. And I would recommend that he listen to Rabbi Michael Hattin’s podcast Crisis and Kings about Shmuel I & II and to let me know his thoughts.

How does Pardes continue to affect you today?

During my time at Pardes, I realized that learning Torah was a life-long pursuit. It also helped me to deepen my sense of pluralism and the many different ways in which people express their Judaism. The outstanding faculty inspired me to become a rabbi and a teacher, and modeled different ways to teach and live. Beyond my particular time at Pardes, the Pardes alumni network writ large continues to play a large role in my life, community and learning, as so many close friends and life-long hevrutas also studied at Pardes, many at different times than me.