Shabbat can be a long day, especially in the middle of the summer months when sunrise makes an appearance around 5am and sunset doesn’t arrive until close to 10pm. During those times, it’s important to have a range of options to keep yourself (and everyone else occupied). One of the delightful distractions my family discovered was the “Yiddishe Kop” book series by Gadi Pollak (https://www.amazon.com/Yiddishe-Kop-Visual-Brainteasers-Sharp/dp/1943281823). Each page presented nothing more than a scene and a set of questions. (“Who arrived at the parking lot last?” “What day of the week is it?” “Which book was taken off the shelf before Shabbat?”).
While the images are both implicitly and explicitly Jewish (and moreover, Orthodox Jewish) in nature, what they underscore is just how much information a single snapshot in time can convey, if you only know how and where to look.
Like all of our other senses, seeing is more than just allowing our eyes to receive images. It’s the act of engaging our mind to parse that information; to inform our understanding; and to direct our actions.
