One of the most exciting milestones in any construction project comes when the drawings begin to make sense in three dimensions. That moment has arrived.
As the structure continues to rise, it is now possible to walk through the building and experience the spaces much as future students, faculty, and visitors will. Standing in what will become the reception area, you can already imagine arriving at the heart of the building before making your way to classrooms, offices, or the dining hall.
The floors above are beginning to reveal the rhythm of daily life. Flexible classrooms are taking shape, designed without fixed furniture so they can easily adapt for seminars, art workshops, yoga, or community programs. Faculty offices and informal meeting spaces will provide places for learning to continue long after class ends.
The building has also been designed with sustainability and community in mind. It is targeting Israel’s highest green building standards, with energy-efficient climate systems, bicycle facilities, and even specially designed nesting boxes for swifts, migratory birds whose urban habitats have steadily disappeared. These small additions will help support local biodiversity while contributing to the building’s environmental goals.
The latest site images also show just how far construction has progressed. The concrete structure now extends well above street level, with columns, stairwells, and floor plates defining spaces that only months ago existed only on architectural plans.
And then, for the first time, the building began fulfilling its true purpose.
This summer, we welcomed participants in the Pardes Learning Seminar (PLS) into the new building for its very first Torah class. Longtime Pardes faculty member Leah Rosenthal taught a group of approximately 20 participants, making them the first people ever to learn Torah within these walls. It was a fitting milestone: before the building is finished, before the final walls are painted and the doors officially open, the sound of Torah learning has already filled the space. The future home of Pardes has begun to do what it was always meant to do.
July 12, 2026
