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 […]
Slander – the Leprosy of the 21st Century
The double Torah portion Tazria-M’tzora is a challenge to visual thinkers. It focuses not only on leprosy but also hits on childbirth, and “fluid discharge” for both men and women. Whew! Now that I’ve addressed the elephant in the parsha… Origins of the Hebrew word m’tzora Rabbi David Lyon helped me out quite a bit […]
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” […]
Choices have consequences; Choose well
More sacrifices? Leviticus… OY! Parsha Sh’mini I is about sacrifices but has an interesting subplot whereby two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, do a bit of drinking and decide to freestyle how they make the sacrifice. They pay the ultimate price. Let’s bring this forward a bit. Don’t drink and sacrifice? When you’re doing […]