Chevre, this week’s parsha is שְׁמִינִי (Shemini). Most folks will comment on the death of Nadav and Avihu for parshat Shemini. However, I live in Gush Etzion and have had enough death over the holiday, so I’ll be staying away from that subject. Instead, I’ll talk about Kosher bugs. There are some locusts/grasshoppers that are kosher. My sister-in-law is visiting from the US and we went to the Biblical Museum of Natural History (outside of Beit Shemesh, Israel) yesterday. There is a lot of interesting things for both young and old. They have a petting zoo where my son convinced my wife to let them drape a snake around her neck and he got to hold a scorpion and a tarantula. And they sell kosher locusts. The teenage boys all tried them to varying levels of success. And the proprietor of the museum told us they are kosher, parev and a bracha of SheHakol. There is even a nutritional chart on the container. I’ll be back at work next week and will reconnect to the cloud and computers then. For now, Shabbat Shalom.

https://www.biblicalnaturalhistory.org/