I’m still here! Since my last post a long, long time ago Your Bayit I engaged on a yearlong journey with the rabbis of YourBayit.org to create sketchnotes for a full cycle of Torah in preparation for editing and publishing the posts for each portion (each one is called a dvar Torah, together they are […]
Traversing Wilderness
“If you want to leave your Egypt and get to your Promised Land, you have to be willing to traverse wilderness.” -Rabbi Steven Kushner It occurred to me a few days ago that the Torah (Old Testament, Bible,…) is a broad sweeping story arc. There are four places of major consequence – the Garden of […]
The Shuhari of Keeping / Be-ing Kosher
Parsha Sh’mini II is a quintessentially Jewish part of the Torah, detailing what can and cannot be eaten. You’ve heard of these rules if you’ve ever heard the word “kosher.” Keeping Kosher If you follow these rules in their literal sense it’s called “keeping kosher.” Rabbi Dalia Marx issues a challenge that while “keeping kosher” […]
Sometimes Instructions are Not Enough
In this week’s Torah portion, called “T’rumah” (literally “gifts”), the Children of Israel are called to donate gifts for the building of the desert Tabernacle, that G-d might “dwell among them.” Pretty detailed building plans are laid out by G-d from which Moses would build. The Menorah I focused on the details of the menorah (yes, […]
The Nature of Learning is PLAY
We’re taught to plan the work and work the plan. How’s that approach working for us? Meh. So why not UN-learn and RE-learn the fundamentals of learning? Why not recognize that we no longer live in the Industrial Age but in an age of interconnectedness where collaboration beats control, where innovation is the key to […]