This coming week’s Torah portion is B’haalot’kha (Numbers 8:1-12:16). The highlights of this portion include a description of the menorah, the assignments of the tribe of Levi as assistants to Aaron and the priests, another description of Passover, and a description of the departure of the tribes from Sinai. Lots of obvious things to sketch […]
Shavuot – The Journey of a Slave People to a Nation of Laws
The Jewish holiday of Shavuot was on May 30 (this year). It’s two-fer holiday. It marks the biblical giving of the “Ten Commandments” at Mt. Sinai. It’s also an ancient harvest holiday that marks the end of the grain harvest. Shavuot means “weeks” and is named such because it marks the end of 7 x […]
Naso – Live Long and Prosper
The Torah portion Naso, like all sections of the Torah, has many layers and many story lines. I zeroed in on one small line because it connects directly with pop culture. This portion contains the priestly blessing. In pop culture the same blessing and hand sign were used by Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock in […]
A Passover Sketchnote Seder
This year I decided to hold a sketchnote seder. I started by sketchnoting the fifteen major seder steps on a nine foot long paper on top of my dining room table. I placed two colored gel pens at each seat and only put out a water glass and a wine glass as the place setting. […]
Hanukah Told Through Visual Storytelling
“Hanukah is… the Festival of Lights. Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights.” Why eight nights? Why is it near Christmas? What’s the real story? Why do we give gifts? These are all questions that have come up over and over with us and our kids. Sure, every year we light […]