Aviva Lauer is the Chief Education and Educational Training Officer at Pardes. Originally from Silver Spring, MD, she has lived in Israel for over 30 years. Aviva holds a Masters in Jewish Studies, with a specialization in Midrash, from Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies.
Aviva has decades of experience in curriculum development, classroom teaching, school administration and educational consulting. She served as the head of the department of Jewish Studies at Immanuel College, London, preceding her joining Pardes in 2009. Aviva is an avid Anglophile, and also speaks elementary Arabic and Yiddish.
The focus and message of some Jewish holidays is crystal clear. On Pesach, for example, we highlight the dichotomy of slavery and freedom. And so, at my seders growing up we remembered not only that our forefathers were slaves in…
Pardes Center for Jewish Educators, Holidays, Jewish Calendar, Tu Bishvat
At least in Israel, maybe this is the one year to let it go. A few weeks into the war, when the young adults I work with were feeling the need to process the dark, topsy-turvy world falling down all…
Jewish Calendar, Yom Hazikaron
During a holiday where there is both darkness and light, where we retreat indoors and shine brightly from the windowsill, go on a journey with Pardes North America to find meaning in the discord within our tradition. Night 7* –…
Jewish Calendar, Chanukah
Parashat Bo 5782: Locusts That Last a Lifetime Description: In this week’s Torah portion of Bo, God rains down upon Egypt the last three plagues. One of these three is the plague of locusts. Learn along with PCJE Director, Aviva…
Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Bo
Yom Kippur 5782 – Who is the Hero of the Jonah Story? In this podcast, Aviva Lauer explores the Book of Jonah, read on the afternoon of Yom Kippur, in an effort to understand what message we are meant to…
Jewish Calendar, Yom Kippur
In this podcast, Aviva Golbert discusses Isaac and Rebecca: The Original Meet-Cute. See elmad.pardes.org for accompanying source sheet. This lecture was held at Pardes and is part of the Summer Evening Lecture Series.
Personalities, Biblical Personalities, Podcast Series, Pardes Live and Mini-Series
In this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Vayera, somewhere between the horror show that is Sodom and Gomorrah and the monumental account of the Binding of Isaac, something mind-blowing and world-changing happens. Isaac is born. Chapter 21 of Bereishit (Genesis) relates:…
Tanakh, Torah, Bereishit (Genesis), VaYera
This week’s parasha, Pekudei, is the last portion in the Book of Shmot (Exodus), and the final section in a series on the building of the mishkan, or tabernacle, in the desert. As such, I think it would be instructive…
Tanakh, Torah, Shemot (Exodus), Pekudei
There’s no way to avoid it. Thanksgivukkah. It’s here. For perhaps the last time for some 70,000 years, American Thanksgiving and Jewish Hanukah will overlap this month. (Actually, it’s only the second time since Thanksgiving was declared a national holiday…
Jewish Calendar, Chanukah, Sukkot