https://www.clouded-torah.org/ Recent content in Thinking about a Clouded Torah on Clouded Torah Hugo en-us Fri, 08 May 2026 07:09:37 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/behar_-_behukotai/ Fri, 08 May 2026 07:09:37 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/behar_-_behukotai/ Chevre, this week’s Parsha is Behar-Behukotai (בהר-בחוקתי). We finish the book of Vayikra. This week we are very land focused. The Sabbatical, the Yovel, Redemption of the Land, and Levite Cities. We then we get into the rules of slavery. And then we have a section where it says you should follow my commandments and it has blessings and curses. What strikes me today, after having spent the past hour talking to an AI to auto push and update my personal repos when I build out my lambda containers, is that this is very much how we interact with AI. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/emor/ Fri, 01 May 2026 05:49:26 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/emor/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Emor (אמור). The parsha starts by talking about the Cohanim (the priests). The Laws of the Cohen and the Cohen Gadol. What blemishes disqualifies (in my code it would be a missing , or ; ). There is a discussion of Terumah, the offerings given to the Cohen. We then have blemished animals. In my world, blemishes are security bugs or recently, I found that some of my code was out of order so the update to the file wasn’t being pushed properly. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/achre_mot-kedoshim/ Fri, 24 Apr 2026 06:11:23 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/achre_mot-kedoshim/ Chevre, this week’s Parsha is Achre-Mot - Kedoshim (אחרי מות-קדושים). There is a section toward the end of the parsha, where it talks about observing HaShem’s decrees or you will be disgorged or thrown out of the land. I have a friend who used to run a small VPS business. (He would sell web sites and basic machine access for a pile of machines in a data center in Texas). And he told me a story once about a noisy customer. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/tazria-metzora/ Fri, 17 Apr 2026 06:14:30 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/tazria-metzora/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Tazria-Metzora (תזריע-מצורע) and it’s Rosh Chodesh Iyyar (today and tomorrow). In Israel, we also have Memorial Day and Independence Day coming this week. A large part of the parhiot are laws around Tzarat. This is a spiritual “disease” that takes a physical form on the person. We have seen this before when Moshe puts his hand into his shirt and it comes out white. And later we see Miriam was afflicted with it and Moshe prayed for her to be healed. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/shemini/ Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:59:45 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/shemini/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Shemini (שמיני). We have come out of Pesach, I hope everyone has restored their kitchens and are happily back to eating chametz. And, in Israel, we have a ceasefire with Iran so we are, mostly, out and about again. Schools have re-opened. All this as we keep an eye on Iran and an eye toward Lebanon. In the parsha, the priestly service begins and anyone that has ever spun up a new service knows, you can expect some “hiccups”. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/shabbat_pesach/ Fri, 03 Apr 2026 08:11:54 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/shabbat_pesach/ Chevre, there is no parsha this week. It’s Chol haMoed Pesach (Passover). The big thing this week is that we’ll read Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs). This is a love story. Kind of like a poem or song. The sages of the Talmud explained this as an allegory of a duet of a love song between HaShem and Israel. On stage at the upcoming AWS Summits around the world and at re:Invent, the AWS staff and customers will be talking about what the two did together. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/tzav_-_shabbat_hagadol/ Fri, 27 Mar 2026 07:13:00 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/tzav_-_shabbat_hagadol/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Tzav (צו) and Shabbat HaGadol. Shabbat HaGadol (the Great Shabbat) is the Shabbat before Pesach (Passover). So you’ve been warned. This week’s parsha goes into detail around the sacrifices offered in the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and Temple. I thought it would be fun to dive into the details of how I write and publish this Dvar Torah. I’m currently writing this on Dropbox Paper. I moved from Quip many years ago so that I own the content and don’t have to worry about losing data should I eventually leave Amazon (at 67, retirement? https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/vayikra/ Fri, 20 Mar 2026 05:57:56 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/vayikra/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayikra (ויקרא). We are starting a new book, yesterday was Rosh Chodesh Nissan, we are starting a new month. And outside of the Parsha, we are deep into the preparations for Pesach (Passover) along with a lot of worry and optional plans for who can make it TO the US or who can make it FROM the US. Which house has guest space, which houses have safe rooms big enough for everyone at The Seder in case bombs and missiles are still flying when Chag comes in. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/vayakel-pekudei_-_hachodesh/ Fri, 13 Mar 2026 06:52:25 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/vayakel-pekudei_-_hachodesh/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayakel-Pekudei (ויקהל-פקודי) and Parshat HaChodesh. This week we finish the Book of Shemot (Exodus). We already learned about the plans for the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and that everything was built according to the plans. This week, the Mishkan is assembled. Anyone working with GenAI these days will know that the fact that you plan something and then build it does not absolutely mean that it’ll be erected and function the way you planned. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/ki_tisa/ Fri, 06 Mar 2026 07:12:18 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/ki_tisa/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Ki Tisa (כי תשא) and Parshat Parah (פרשת פרה). The main focus of the parsha this week is The Sin of the Golden Calf. HaShem tells Moshe to go down to his people. He drops or throws the original tablets, smashing them. And then we have the aftermath of the sin. A new set of tablets are created by Moshe. The sages say that we received the instructions for the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was to create a mobile Har Sinai so that HaShem would always be with us. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/terumah/ Fri, 20 Feb 2026 05:20:27 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/terumah/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Terumah (תרומה). We now get into the instructions for building the Mishkan (The Tabernacle) which is sometimes referred to as the portable Mount Sinai because the holiness that was present at Sinai is now invested into different pieces of the Mishkan. There is a Midrash that Moshe had to tell the people to stop bringing valuables to donate to the Mishkan. This is like if I asked AWS for an EC2 instance and it didn’t only give me what I asked for, but it gave me 3 of them and much bigger than I needed and all for the price of the single little one that I asked for. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/mishpatim/ Fri, 13 Feb 2026 08:14:02 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/mishpatim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Mishpatim (משפטים). Last week we recieved the Torah at Sinai. This week we do a deep dive into the details of the laws. Civil Laws, Slavery, Murder, Murder of a Slave, Injury, Death by Animal, Danger of a Pit, Damages, etc etc. Lots and lots of details. You can imagine that the Israelites would get overwhelmed by all of this. I think about it as a person sitting at terminal and suddenly all the logs go flying by. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/yitro/ Fri, 06 Feb 2026 07:11:42 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/yitro/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Yitro (יתרו). There are some major things that happen in this week’s parsha. Yitro comes, this is Moshe’s father-in-law. And he sees Moshe sitting all day giving judgements to the people. And he tells Moshe that he can’t continue like this. It doesn’t scale. And the parsha ends with the giving of the 10 commandments. But after the advice and before the 10 commandments, there is a listing of the qualifications for leadreship. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/beshalach/ Fri, 30 Jan 2026 06:57:16 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/beshalach/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is BeShalach (בשלח). This is also called Shabbat Shirah because of the song in the middle of the parsha. Paro changes his mind, again, about letting the Israelites go and sends his army after them. The people are between the sea and the oncoming army and start to panic. Moses tells the people to not fear. The angel and the pillar of smoke that had been in front of the people moved to the back, to be between the people and the army. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/bo/ Fri, 23 Jan 2026 06:45:36 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/bo/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Bo (בא). This week’s parsha starts off with the final 3 plagues. Locusts, Darkness and death of the firstborn. The plague of Locusts is that they come and eat everything. In the cloud world we would call this a customer or user. They will come and use up everything offered to them. We also might call them a noisy neighbor. Someone else that has an instance or tenant on the same physical droplet (machine) that you are using and consuming more than their fair share of the resources. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/vayera/ Fri, 16 Jan 2026 06:57:44 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/vayera/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayera (וארא). You’ve been given a task to do, maybe we’ll call it Mission Impossible. You are to get the Jewish people out of Egypt, failure is not an option, you may not say no. This message will self destruct in 10 seconds. The parsha starts with HaShem hearing the cries of The Israelites. Moses says he doesn’t speak well. We have an accounting of the houses of Israel. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/shemot/ Fri, 09 Jan 2026 07:34:25 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/shemot/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Shemot (שמות). We start with a Paro that doesn’t know Yosef and what he did for Egypt. The Jews are enslaved and forced to do labor. The males are to be killed. Moshe is born and he is sent adrift in the “ark” (Teiva in Hebrew) which was probably like a basket of some kind. (BTW Moshe beTeiva is a small hotdog, kosher, roled in pastry dough. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/vayechi/ Fri, 02 Jan 2026 08:05:05 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2026/vayechi/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayechi (ויחי). This week we finish Sefer Beresheit. Yaakov is about to pass on. He has Yosef bring Menasheh and Ephraim to him and he gives them berachot. He puts his right, stronger hand, on the younger. Yosef tries to correct him and I always have an image from a children’s book with Yaakov crossing his hands to make sure he gets his right hand on the right boy. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayigash/ Fri, 26 Dec 2025 07:26:35 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayigash/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayigash (ויגש). The parsha starts with the brothers (most of them) standing in front of Yosef, who is the manager of Egypt. And we see Yehuda, have some backbone and disagree with Yosef. He tells Yosef that they did everything he asked. And he reflects to Yosef what will happen to Yaakov if they return without Benyamin. This is the same Yehuda that killed the people of Shechem and that threw Yosef in the pit and that sold Yosef into slavery and that was comforted by a harlot that was his daughter-in-law that he didn’t give to his 3rd son like he was supposed to. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/miketz_-_chanukah/ Fri, 19 Dec 2025 05:53:25 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/miketz_-_chanukah/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Miketz (מקץ) and it’s Shabbat Chanukah AND it’s Rosh Chodesh Tevet. Our family usually goes Shabbat Chanukah to cousins that live on a Moshav outside of Teveria. Every year we talk about that IF Shabbat Chanukah is Rosh Chodesh then it’ll be the longest benching (Birkat Hamazon, not HaAmazon) possible. And this year we have it. We remember that Yosef is in jail and the cup bearer and baker of Paro received their redemtion and punishment. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayeshev/ Fri, 12 Dec 2025 07:05:59 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayeshev/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Vayeshev (וישב). This week the parsha takes a deep dive into a number of family problems within the family of Yaakov. We have Yosef’s dreams, the hatred of the other brothers towards him, the whole plot to throw him into a pit and then sell him into slavery and a different story being “sold” to Yaakov. We have the problem children of Yehuda, where one son dies, the next refuses to perform yibum or marital rights with with the widow and then the refusal to have the widow, Tamar, marry the third son. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayishlach/ Fri, 05 Dec 2025 07:51:10 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayishlach/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayishlach (וישלח). This week we have Yaakov about to meet up with Esav, his brother. He prepares his family and splits them up. He sends gifts to Esav ahead of time. He’s done everything he can to get ready and then it’s the night before they’ll meet. Yaakov had forgotten something and he goes back for it. And he finds a man, an angel and they wrestle. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayetze/ Fri, 28 Nov 2025 07:15:33 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayetze/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayetze (ויצא). This week we have a deep dive into Yaakov’s life. He flees his brother and goes to Haran. He meets Rachel, but marries Leah by accident. By the way, this is why Jewish Weddings have a Bedekin, where the groom verifies the woman is the right woman. He then marries Rachel right afterwards. The wedding to Leah took place after 7 years of work for Lavan, Rachel and Leah’s brother. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/toldot/ Fri, 21 Nov 2025 06:18:18 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/toldot/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Toldot (תולדות). This week we have a lot of family drama. We have the birth of Yaakov and Esav. Esav sells his birthright to Yaakov for a bowl of lentils (soup). And we have the deception of Yitchak. So Rivka hears that Yitchak will bless Esav and she fears he’ll bless Esav with the blessing of Avraham. So she and Yaakov deceive Yitchak to steal the blessing. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/chaye_sarah/ Fri, 14 Nov 2025 08:31:11 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/chaye_sarah/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Chaya Sarah (חיי שרה). There is an interesting passage toward the end of our parsha. Avraham remarries a woman who is named Keturah. The meforshim (the commentators on the Torah) disagree if he remarried Hagar or if this is a different woman. The Torah then goes on to mention the children that this woman bore to Avraham. He then does and is burried in Hevron by Ishmael and Yitchak. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayeira/ Fri, 07 Nov 2025 07:01:37 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayeira/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayeira (וירא). The parsha starts with the 3 visitors, we can call them VPs or VIPs, they show up in the middle of Avraham recovering from his Brit Millah (Circumcision), the important people always show up at the worst times. However, their message this time is that Avraham and Sarah will have a new delivery, a new project, a son. Next there is the destruction of Sodom. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/lech_lecha/ Fri, 31 Oct 2025 07:24:45 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/lech_lecha/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Lech Lecha (לך לך). The idea of leaving your home and going to your homeland makes this parsha very special to Olim. For me this week, this is a very poignant parsha. I was reflecting on my path of Teshuva. In Aug 2001, I was at the kotel for the very first time and put on tefillin after seeing them for the first time in my life. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/noah/ Fri, 24 Oct 2025 05:37:55 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/noah/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Noah (נח). HaShem destorys the world this week. Seemed like something similar happened on Monday. The sign that HaShem won’t destroy the world again is the rainbow. The sign that AWS will do it’s best to not do the same is the public 6-pager explaining what happened. Toward the end of the parsha we have the listing of generations of who begot who. The AWS write-up explained how many services were connected to each other and impacted each other. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/beresheit/ Fri, 17 Oct 2025 05:21:06 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/beresheit/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Beresheit (בראשית). Again we have the story of the creation of the world. There is a Midrash (I found Midrash Tehillim 90:13 in my internet searching) that talks about the creation of over 900 worlds. Given my recent experience using QCLI and other AI tools, I can imagine HaShem, busy with his other tasks, asking a GenAI to create the world for him. And the AI gets it wrong, so he has to have it redo it again and again until what gets created is “close enough”. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/simchat_torah/ Mon, 13 Oct 2025 08:26:10 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/simchat_torah/ Chevre, we are currently ending Sukkot and tonight will enter Simchat Torah. Just as our hostages this morning came out of the field out of captivity into the joyous embrace of their families, Am Yisrael will come out of their Sukkot, back into their homes and celebrate with joy, Simchat Torah, the re-starting of the Torah. This morning I was davening in the same shul that I was in on Simchat Torah 2 years ago. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/shabbat_chol_hamoed_sukkot/ Fri, 10 Oct 2025 06:07:30 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/shabbat_chol_hamoed_sukkot/ Chevre, there is no parsha this week. But it is Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot, we will read from the Torah and from Nevi’im. And we will read Megillat Kohelet. I’ve been reading Zot HaBracha this week in preparation for Simchat Torah, mid next week. It is the final readings of the Torah and covers brachot to all the tribes and the final words of Moshe. Sukkot is called Zman Simchatenu. Our Happy Time. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/sukkot/ Mon, 06 Oct 2025 05:27:27 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/sukkot/ Chevre, tonight starts Chag Sukkot (סוכות). We leave our comfortable homes and sit in booths as a reminder to what our ancestors did on their journey to Eretz Yisrael. This is the first time in many years I had to extricate the succah from the attic and put it up by myself. No teenager around to help. Don’t worry, he built a succah on his base and he’ll be with us for part of the holiday. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/haazinu/ Fri, 03 Oct 2025 05:44:21 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/haazinu/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Haazinu (האזינו). In case you didn’t have enough shul yesterday, we’re back to shul (every day), but we are heading into Shabbat. And, of course, next week is the start of Sukkot. This is the last full parsha of the Torah. The piece we read next is what we finish the Torah with on Simchat Torah and then restart immediately with Beresheit. This week we have the song of Moshe and I’m reading this as the last warning that he gives. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/yom_kippur/ Wed, 01 Oct 2025 05:23:09 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/yom_kippur/ Chevre, we have arrived at Yom Kippur. While this is the peak of the Teshuva season, it’s not the end. We say LeDavid (Psalm 27) from Rosh Chodesh Elul (a month before Rosh Hashanah) until Hoshanah Rabbah (the last day of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah is a different holiday). And we know that the doors to repentance are always open. As I sit here now, I just came back from shul, we said the last of Selichot and we aren’t saying Tachanun (penitential prayers). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayeilech/ Fri, 26 Sep 2025 05:35:27 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayeilech/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayeilech (וילך). I’m going to be honest with you, I’ve been going through the parsha, like normal, but I’m really not connecting with it this week. It’s extremely short and nestled inbetween Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. My Rosh Hashanah davening was more thoughtful and emotional this year. I suspect it has something to do with our son being in the army. I keep thinking about the whole year depending on our davening of Rosh Hashanah and the 10 days of Teshuvah. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/rosh_hashanah/ Mon, 22 Sep 2025 07:06:16 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/rosh_hashanah/ Chevre, tonight and for the next 2 days it’s Rosh Hashanah (רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה). I learned recently why we don’t bless the new month in Elul before Rosh Hashanah. Of course, there are many reasons, but the one I liked the most was that the whole year relies on Rosh Hashanah. Therefore, if we blessed the new month/year in Elul, then the new year would actually rely on the previous month. But that is not the case. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/nitzavim/ Fri, 19 Sep 2025 06:02:15 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/nitzavim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Nitzavim (נצבים). The parsha this week is pretty short and a lot of the focus of Am Yisrael at this point is on Rosh Hashanah, which is next week. There are a couple of messages in the parsha that connect with Rosh Hashanah. Renewing the covenant, the idea of Teshuvah and choosing life. On Rosh Hashanah, we attend the yearly correnation of HaShem. We renew the covenant with the almighty. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/ki_tavo/ Fri, 12 Sep 2025 06:56:03 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/ki_tavo/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Ki Tavo (כי תבוא). Last week’s parsha started with going out to war. This week’s parsha starts with “when you come into the land”. We will be blessed with new fruits and we will bring them as an offering to the Mishkan and later The Temple. We have tithes because we will be blessed with prosperity. And then there is the choosing. The people choose HaShem and HaShem cherishes this people. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/ki_teitzei/ Fri, 05 Sep 2025 05:52:51 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/ki_teitzei/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Ki Teitzei (כי תצא). A huge part of the parsha this week is talking about relationships. There is one section on marriage and divorce. It says that if someone no longer loves his wife, he can divorce her. But if she marries someone else, he is no longer able to marry her after that. While I was visiting The Israel National Library in Jerusalem, we saw an original Vilna Shas volume on display. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/shoftim/ Fri, 29 Aug 2025 05:55:27 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/shoftim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Shoftim (שופטים). This week’s idea came from Becky Weiss. Thank you. At the very end of the parsha we have the Egel Arufah. This is the case where a corpse is found in the wilderness between 2 cities. The elders from the closest city are to bring a heifer that has done no work to a location that cannot be used for work and they will kill the heifer in a specific manner. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/reeh/ Fri, 22 Aug 2025 05:27:11 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/reeh/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Re’eh (ראה). There is a lot of discussion with Re’eh and the blessings and curses on Har Gerizim and Har Eival. What is striking, having been there, is that 1 mountain is lush and green with trees and the other, right next to it, is empty and barren. And looking at the mountains, you can imagine a huge number of people split between the mountains and someone at the bottom reciting the Brachot (Blessings) and Klalot (Curses). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/eikev/ Fri, 15 Aug 2025 05:55:06 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/eikev/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Eikev (עקב). There are a bunch of interesting things in this week’s Parsha, many of them I’ve spoken about in years past. Toward the end of the Parsha, there is a section that talks about you seeing the miracles that HaShem performed for the Jewish People in Egypt and in the desert (you should know every time I use the word desert, I need to make sure I get the spelling right, that it’s not dessert). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/veetchanan/ Thu, 07 Aug 2025 06:07:27 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/veetchanan/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is VeEtchanan (ואתחנן). I’m writing a day early this week because I’m going on vacation and didn’t want to bring my laptop with me. This week has been a busy one. We started with Tisha BeAv on Sunday. Yesterday, my wife and I sent our son, our only son (yes, I’ve been thinking about Akedat Yitchak this week) to the IDF. Super Emotional. And the parsha has some heavy hitters like the 10 Commandments and most of The Shema. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/devarim/ Fri, 01 Aug 2025 04:54:08 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/devarim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Devarim (דברים). We always read this parsha before Tisha BeAv (the 9th of Av), which is Sunday. Tisha BeAv marks a number of calamities in Jewish History including the destruction of the 2 temples (which happened on the same day of the Jewish Calendar), the expulsion for Gan Eden, and others. We mark the day by sitting low, as if in mourning, fasting (25 hours) and reading Kinot or special poems/prayers about various crises the Jewish People have encountered over the years. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/matot-masei/ Fri, 25 Jul 2025 04:59:05 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/matot-masei/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Matot-Masei (מטות-מסעי). I heard an interesting Dvar Torah this morning that I’m going to build on. My wife’s uncle started sharing videos by Noam Jacobson (https://www.youtube.com/@Noam.jacobson) which I really like (for those that need, he also has versions with English Subtitles). Today, he brought the idea that all the travels are recorded in the Torah because in addition to the destination, the journey is also important. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/pinchas/ Fri, 18 Jul 2025 07:00:47 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/pinchas/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Pinchas (פנחס). We pick up where we left off last week, right after Pinchas killed some offenders in front of the Mishkan. Pinchas, the grandson of Aaron, is made a Cohen (priest) along with all his offspring. A new census is taken. The land is shown to Moshe and then we have a brief reiteration of the offerings daily, Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh and for each holiday. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/balak/ Fri, 11 Jul 2025 06:15:41 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/balak/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Balak (בלק). Balak was the king of Moab and they saw what happened to the Amorites and were afraid. So Balak went to a prophet Bilaam to request Bilaam to curse Am Yisrael. Bilaam refused several times until finally saying I can only say what G-d puts in my mouth. Every time Bilaam went to curse Am Yisrael, he blessed them. Eventually, Moab brought sin down upon Am Yisrael through the immoral acts Am Yisrael did with Moab’s daughters. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/chukat/ Fri, 04 Jul 2025 05:41:25 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/chukat/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Chukat (חקת). The parsha starts with the laws around The Red Hefer. Miriam dies and there is a lack of water followed by the error of Moses and Aaron along with their punishment. Amalek attacks and the parsha ends with the battles of Sihon and Og. There is a lot going on here. A chok is a law for witch we don’t really understand the meaning. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/korach/ Fri, 27 Jun 2025 06:13:50 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/korach/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Korach (קֹ֔רַח). Last week we had the scouts and the story of them coming back with the ill report on Eretz Yisrael. And the punishment of 40 years in the desert. And this week’s parsha we have 2 challenges to the leadership of Am Yisrael. Korach, who eventually gets swallowed up by the earth, and Datan & Aviram. Korach is a leader of the Levites and asks by Moshe and Aaron are the leaders. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/shelach_lecha/ Fri, 20 Jun 2025 06:09:50 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/shelach_lecha/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Shelach Lecha (שלח לך). The majority of this week’s parsha is taken up with the scouts and the fall out from their, mostly, ill report. I heard this week a Dvar Torah that talked about the word ממנו, usually translated as from us. This is the word used to say that the residents of Caanan are bigger than us. But the take in the Dvar Torah I heard was that the residents of Caanan are bigger than him. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/behalotcha/ Fri, 13 Jun 2025 05:53:46 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/behalotcha/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is BeHaLotcha (בהעלותך). In light of what is going on in the world (writing this Friday the 13th of June 2025, Israel attacked Iran last night), I’m going to try to find some positive things to share. The parsha talks about the consecration of the Levites, the order of breaking up the camp for travel, the first journey and then we have the reverse Nun’s. After the reverse Nun’s, things take a turn for the worse. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/naso/ Fri, 06 Jun 2025 05:22:12 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/naso/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Naso (נשא). In the parsha this week we have the priestly blessing. In Israel this happens in shul at least once a day, outside of Israel, this happens only during the holidays. I once heard a great explanation about why the priests turn their back to Jerusalem and to the ark holding the Torah scrolls and face the congregation. The priests are sending forth a blessing from their own reserves of blessing and sending it out onto the people in the congregation. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/shavuot/ Sun, 01 Jun 2025 05:52:51 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/shavuot/ Chevre, tonight and tomorrow is Shavuot (שבועות). We celebrate the receiving of the Torah. There are no dietary restrictions (like there are for Passover or Sukkot, what to eat or where to eat it). It is a strong Minhag to eat dairy on Shavuot. There are a number of reasons for this. I connect most with the idea that before the receiving of the Torah, there was no kosher and so the people ate whatever. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/bamidbar/ Fri, 30 May 2025 06:13:17 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/bamidbar/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Bamidbar (במדבר). I have been at AWS for over 7 years and to say that we are a data driven company would be a understatement. The parsha this week starts up again where we left off at the end of Shemot. The Mishkan has been built and we are continuing our story. We start with a census of the tribes minus the Levites and Cohanim, we get to those later. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/behar-behukotai/ Fri, 23 May 2025 05:58:19 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/behar-behukotai/ Chevre, this week the parsha is BeHar-BeHukotai (בהר-בחוקתי). This week we complete the book of Vayikra. Towards the end of the parsha we learn about tithes from the land and tithes regarding animals. And the parsha states “All tithes from the land, whether seed from the ground or fruit from the tree, are HaShem’s; they are holy to HaShem” and “All tithes of the herd or flock - of all that passes under the shepherd’s staff, every tenth one - shall be holy to HaShem”. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/emor/ Fri, 16 May 2025 05:58:07 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/emor/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Emor (אמור). There are 2 sections in this week’s parsha that stood out to me today. There is a section on blemishes in the priest that is bringing the sacrifice to the temple. So the person that brings a sacrifice gives it to the priest and the priest (or a group of priests) do what is required with the sacrifice. And there is a section that talks about blemishes in the sacrifice itself. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/achrei-mot_-_kedoshim/ Fri, 09 May 2025 06:04:49 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/achrei-mot_-_kedoshim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Achrei-Mot - Kedoshim (אחרי מות-קדושים). We are in the story of the death of Aaron’s sons and this is what happens afterwards. The parsha starts with The Temple Service performed on Yom Kippur. And then at the end of Achrei-Mot the Torah tells us to not become contaminated so that the land will not throw us out. What does it mean to be holy, Kedoshim tells us. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/tazria-metzora/ Fri, 02 May 2025 06:03:07 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/tazria-metzora/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Tazria-Metzora (תזריע-מצורע). This week’s parsha dives deep into the subject of impurity. Of people, objects and houses. Some of the things described could almost come out of a medical journal. And the gemara often takes these topics into the medical area, at least the medical areas known at the time of the compilation of the gemara and the discussions in it. For me, I look at these like looking at problems in my systems. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/shemini/ Fri, 25 Apr 2025 05:37:01 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/shemini/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Shemini (שמיני). This week I was playing with some new software I heard about online. I spun up a small virtual machine in my home lab, ran all the updates, and installed the docker container. The containers were running, but I couldn’t access the software. I was actually more interested in getting the mesh VPN (Tailscale) working in the containers than in the software itself and off to the logs I went. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/7th_day_of_pesach/ Fri, 18 Apr 2025 06:01:25 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/7th_day_of_pesach/ Chevre, there is no parsha this week, it’s Shabbat and the 7th Day of Pesach (Passover). The major event that happened on the 7th Day of Pesach is the Splitting of the Sea. It’s now become a saying that something may be hard, but it’s not the splitting of the sea. And AWS often says that it takes care of the undifferentiated heavy lifting so that the customers can focus on their business. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/tzav_and_pesach/ Fri, 11 Apr 2025 06:36:40 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/tzav_and_pesach/ Chevre, this week’s Parsha is Tzav (צו) followed immeidately by Pesach (Passover פסח). The parsha this week continues with the operations in the Mishkan/Temple. We learn about more sacrifices, the consecration of the Priests (Cohanim). Something that jumped out at me this week is the idea of Pigul. This is essentially left-overs. There is a limited window (the day it’s offered and the next day), but after that, it can no longer be eaten. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayikra/ Fri, 04 Apr 2025 10:50:47 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayikra/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayikra (ויקרא). First off, I need to appologize that this is coming out much later than normal. I ran the 1/2 Marathon this morning in Jerusalem with my son. He finished a full hour before me. We have discussed many times that Vayikra puts down the laws needed for the operation of the Mishkan now that it was built at the end of Sefer Shemot. One of the laws that stood out to me today is the law about when the entire congregation sins. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/pekudei/ Fri, 28 Mar 2025 07:24:57 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/pekudei/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Pekudei (פקודי). We finish the book of Shemot (Exodus) and we have the final touches of the creation of the vestments for the Cohanim (Priests). Followed by the actual construction by Moshe of the Mishkan. To me this is like adding the final details into a cloudformation template, the last connections between all the pieces and then running the cloudformation to build the solution so it can operate. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayakel_and_parah/ Fri, 21 Mar 2025 06:50:50 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayakel_and_parah/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayakel (ויקהל) and it’s Parshat Parah. The parsha starts off with Shabbat. This is a reminder that even for the work of the Mishkan (The Tabernacle), Shabbat overrides the construction. Therefore, all the more so, anything we may be building in our days. The parsha then goes through the construction where it’s reiterated what was already described in the last few parshiot. This is to tell us that the building went exactly to plan. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/ki_tisa_and_purim/ Fri, 14 Mar 2025 06:50:50 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/ki_tisa_and_purim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Ki Tisa (כי תשא) and today is Purim. The major action in this week’s parsha is The Sin of the Golden Calf and the fact that we can repent. The parsha, however, is very much overshadowed this week by Purim, which is Friday and Sunday (in walled cities like Jerusalem). On Purim we read Megillat Esther, which is shrowded in mystery. The Megilla is read as a leader, but the trope changes at specific points based on what is happening in the story. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/tetzaveh/ Fri, 07 Mar 2025 06:27:32 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/tetzaveh/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Tetzavah (תצוה) and Parshat Zachor. Continuing from last week, we now get a deep explanation to the priestly garments followed by their induction ceremony. Parshat Zachor is a special section read the Shabbat before Purim (next Fri in most places). We remember what Amalek did to us as we left Egypt and were vulnerable. They attacked us. And Haman, the villian from the Purim story is an ancestor of Amalek. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/terumah/ Fri, 28 Feb 2025 08:02:05 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/terumah/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Terumah (תרומה). This parsha starts a series of parshiot about the architecture, building and utensils of the Mishkan. Nechema Leibowitz has a theory and discussion about the Mishkan being a portable Har Sinai. This was important because Har Sinai is not supposed to have any significance of itself, only that is where G-d spoke to the Bnei Yisrael. And that is also why Har Sinai is hidden, we don’t know where it is. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/mishpatim/ Fri, 21 Feb 2025 06:45:33 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/mishpatim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Mishpatim (הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים). After we received the Torah last week, we learn a lot of detailed laws this week. Just like when a new service or feature is released, there is the hype or marketing around XYZ new feature that will do everything including make your coffee in the morning. We now get into the details, how much does it cost, what are the current limiations, will it fit my need now, maybe in the future. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/yitro/ Fri, 14 Feb 2025 06:44:23 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/yitro/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Yitro (יִתְר֨וֹ). The most important section of this week’s parsha is the giving of the Torah, represented by the 10 Commandments. I am the cloud that created the concept, you shall have no other but me You shall not try to copy the first cloud, you won’t be able to do it You shall not use more than 1 cloud per workload You shall keep your feedback positive and constructive You shall automate your workloads including scaling (both up and down) and backups so you can keep operating and keep it holy Honor your SA and your TAM Thou shalt kill your cloud resources when you are done with them, preferably with automation Thou shalt utilize multiple accounts to reduce blast radius Thou shalt learn from your neighbor’s mistakes and victories Thou shalt open support cases with all needed information, logs, explanations and ensure contact information is correct and monitored for responses Thou shalt not go around your Account Team Shabbat Shalom https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/beshalach/ Fri, 07 Feb 2025 06:31:03 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/beshalach/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is BeShalach (בְּשַׁלַּ֣ח). The parsha starts with Bnei Yisrael starting out on their journey to Eretz Yisrael. I can almost hear the kids in the back, “are we there yet?”, “I have to go to the bathroom”. But then Paroah changes his heart again and sends an army to bring Bnei Yisrael back. We have the splitting of the Yam Suf, the destruction of the army and Bnei Yisrael singing praises to HaShem for their salvation. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/bo/ Fri, 31 Jan 2025 07:24:31 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/bo/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Bo (בֹּ֖א). This week we have the final 3 plagues. Locusts, Darkness, and the Death of the First Born. There are many ideas around the plague of Darkness. That it did not affect the Jews and that it was inside and outside and anywhere the folks went. I really connect with this plague and the ideas around it. I’ve been using computers since before my bar mitzvah and I’ve been using Linux since 1995ish. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayera/ Fri, 24 Jan 2025 06:41:28 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayera/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayera (וָאֵרָ֗א). The story of the Exodus continues and we have the first 7 of the 10 plagues. Let’s give some background here, Egypt was one of the super powers of their time. They relied on The Nile River for most of their economic power. And we know during the Roman times, they were the bread basket of the empire. So the fact that the plagues attacked The Nile is not surprising. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/shemot/ Fri, 17 Jan 2025 06:57:47 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/shemot/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Shemot (שְׁמוֹת֙). We start the book of Exodus or Shemot (Names). The book starts with a list of names of the tribes or families who were in Egypt. It has been noted by others several times this week that having a list of names is very much in this week’s news with the hostage deal being discussed. May all our hostages come home soon (including Hadar Goldin or Oron Shaul). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayehi/ Fri, 10 Jan 2025 07:34:21 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2025/vayehi/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayehi (וַיְחִ֤י). This is the final parsha of Sefer Beresheit (Genesis) and we can really feel things coming to a conclusion. Yaakov blesses Menashe and Efraim and then gives blessings to all of his sons one by one. Yaakov dies and is buried in Hevron. There is a funeral procession from Egypt to Hevron and then everyone goes back to Egypt. The brothers are worried that Yosef was waiting for his father to die before taking retribution against them for selling him into slavery, but there is no retribution. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/miketz/ Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:45:50 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/miketz/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Miketz (מִקֵּ֖ץ) and it’s Chanukah (חֲנוּכָּה). This week we have a very rapid story. Paroah has a couple of dreams, Yosef is brought in to interpret those dreams. He not only interprets the dreams, but gives a solution. The interpretation is that there will be 7 good years followed by 7 years of famine and that someone should be put in charge to collect the excess of the 7 good years to be used for the 7 famine years. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vayeshev/ Fri, 20 Dec 2024 07:42:58 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vayeshev/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is VaYeshev (וַיֵּ֣שֶׁב). This week’s parsha has a bunch of dreams and then the circuitous route that events took folks to the fruition of those dreams. Actually, this week we only have the start of the fulfillment of those dreams. Yosef has 2 dreams with the sheaves bowing to the central sheaf followed by the stars, the moon and sun bowing to him. And at the end of the parsha we have the baker and the cupbearer dreams. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vayishlach/ Fri, 13 Dec 2024 05:49:04 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vayishlach/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayishlach (וַיִּשְׁלַ֨ח). This week we have the long process of reconciliation between Yaakov (Yisrael) and Esav. Yaakov splits his family (resources) into 2 groups (or AZs). He goes back for some forgotten item (cleaning up unused resources), fights with the “angel” and is told he’ll be receiving a new name (product rebranding). He then sends his family in drips and drabs to appease Esav (staying within throttling limits). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vayetze/ Fri, 06 Dec 2024 17:20:02 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vayetze/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayetze (וַיֵּצֵ֥א). This week we have the marriage of Rachel and Leah to Yaakov. Yaakov agrees to work 7 years for Rachel. At the end of the 7 years, Lavan (Rachel and Leah’s father) switches the brides and Yaakov marries Leah. He only realizes the next day after consumating the marriage. There are several ideas brought outside of the text around how Yaakov could have gotten confused. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/toldot/ Fri, 29 Nov 2024 14:42:56 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/toldot/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Toldot (תּוֹלְדֹ֥ת). In this week’s parsha there is an episode where Yitchak’s team are in confrontation with the herdsman of Gerar. Yitchak’s team dig a well and the others take them over. This happens several times. Eventually, Yitchak gets to Rechovot and there they are able to maintain their well and to stay for a while. I find this episode interesting, water was and is an important commodity, especially in the climate of Eretz Yisrael. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/chaye_sarah/ Fri, 22 Nov 2024 05:48:18 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/chaye_sarah/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Chaye Sarah (חַיֵּ֣י שָׂרָ֔ה). This parsha is very focussed on family continuity. Sarah passes, Avraham buys a place to bury her. And then sends an agent out to find a wife for Yitchak. There is the whole process of the negotiation for Rivka and she is brought back to Yitchak. Once the family continuation is settled, Avraham actually remarries before passing away himself. In the technical world, building systems for high availability (which you could call continuity) has been a stable for a long time. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vayera/ Fri, 15 Nov 2024 06:20:57 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vayera/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayera (וַיֵּרָ֤א). The parsha this week starts off with an interesting story. Three men come to visit Avraham three days after he did circumcision. We learn that this is the time of high discomfort and these three men are visiting Avraham, who is sick. This is the first time we learn about visiting the sick. Avraham, however, fulfills another mitzvah of attending to guests. He jumps up, even in his discomfort, and takes care of his guests personally. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/lech-lecha/ Fri, 08 Nov 2024 07:11:05 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/lech-lecha/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Lech Lecha (לֶךְ־לְךָ֛). This week HaShem tells Avram to go to the land that HaShem will show him. He goes there and Lot decides to strike out on his own. Avram and Saray go to Egypt, but they need to hide their marital situation because Avram is afraid that he will be killed and Saray taken. She does get taken by Pharaoh, but then a plague hits the house of Pharaoh and Saray is released. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/noah/ Fri, 01 Nov 2024 07:39:48 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/noah/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Noah (נֹחַ). There are so many things we can talk about this week. The world was wiped clean and started over by the flood. Noah was told to build the ark and put all the animals inside to save them. The simple comparison is deleting a CloudFormation template and redeploying a workload from scratch. We do this from time to time for various reasons, like finding a bug. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/hoshanah_rabah_-_simchat_torah_-_sheminih_atzeret/ Wed, 23 Oct 2024 08:26:21 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/hoshanah_rabah_-_simchat_torah_-_sheminih_atzeret/ Chevre, this week outside of Israel there is another 3 day Chag into Shabbat. Today is Hoshanah Rabah, the last day of Sukkot. We finish saying Psalm 27, which we have been saying since the start of Elul nearly 2 months ago. Today’s morning prayers were very similar to the festival prayers, but we are able to do work today like the rest of Chol HaMoed (the intermediate days). Tonight is Simchat Torah and Sheminih Atzeret. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/sukkot_and_shabbat_chol-hamoed/ Wed, 16 Oct 2024 06:44:10 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/sukkot_and_shabbat_chol-hamoed/ Chevre, tonight and tomorrow is Chag Sukkot (סֻכּוֹת). Outside of Israel, the Chag will be 2 days and will flow directly into Shabbat Chol-Hamoed. So I won’t be posting another Dvar Torah on Friday, even though I’m in Israel. This year in Israel there is a paradox between building our flimsy huts outside and keeping in mind that we may need to run into our bomb shelters. In a more normal year, we would spend Shabbat Chol-Hamoed with cousins that live near Tiveria, but those cousins are coming to us because of the distance of their Succah from the house and the probability of having a siren in their town verse the probability of having a siren in our town. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/yom_kippur/ Fri, 11 Oct 2024 06:48:08 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/yom_kippur/ Chevre, this week there is no parsha because it’s Yom Kippur (יוֹם הַכִּפֻּרִים). Last week on Rosh Hashanah the big talk around my town was concerning Avinu Malchenu (אבינו מלכינו Our Father Our King). This prayer, which you can see some of the history on wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avinu_Malkeinu), lists many “bad” things and we beseach to be spared from them. During covid there was an emphasis on the line that talks about מגפה or plague. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/hazinu/ Wed, 02 Oct 2024 07:13:20 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/hazinu/ Chevre, we have 2 days of Rosh Hashanah (ראש השנה) followed by Parshat Hazinu (הַאֲזִ֥ינוּ). You are welcome to see what I wrote in 2021 regarding Rosh Hashanah. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/rosh_hashanah.html/ In Hazinu, we have another re-iteration of the need to uphold our part of the covenant. This time Moshe is calling on The Heavens and The Earth to hear it. Given that everyone in Israel was bunkered down last night (essentially in the earth) and the heavens were on fire, this seems appropriate to me. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/nitzavim-vayelech/ Fri, 27 Sep 2024 05:56:58 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/nitzavim-vayelech/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Nitzavim-Vayelech (נצבים-וילך). We are drawing closer to the end of the Torah and to Rosh Hashanah. I think I’ve spoken about this before, but it touches me every time I read it: כִּ֚י הַמִּצְוָ֣ה הַזֹּ֔את אֲשֶׁ֛ר אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם לֹא־נִפְלֵ֥את הִוא֙ מִמְּךָ֔ וְלֹ֥א רְחֹקָ֖ה הִֽוא׃ Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/ki_tavo/ Fri, 20 Sep 2024 05:55:57 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/ki_tavo/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Ki Tavo (כִּֽי־תָב֣וֹא). This week, there is a huge section of the parsha taken up with Blessings and Curses. When Am Yisrael came over the Jordan, they were commanded to go to Mount Gerizim and Mount Eval. We know where these mounts are and interestingly, they are right next to each other. So visiting the area, you can imagine the scene with 1/2 of the nation on 1 mountain and the other 1/2 of the nation on the other. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/ki_tetze/ Fri, 13 Sep 2024 05:33:32 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/ki_tetze/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Ki Tetze (כִּֽי־תֵצֵ֥א). Since we are in Elul, we are turning our thoughts toward “The Chagim” or the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot. In Israel, there is a phrase “After The Chagim” which is referring to “I’ll do this later.” One of the members of my synagogue at the very end of Simchat Torah / Shemini Atzeret (they are together in Israel) states out loud “Now it is After The Chagim” and everyone chuckles. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shoftim/ Fri, 06 Sep 2024 05:48:15 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shoftim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Shoftim (שֹׁפְטִים). The parsha starts with the establishment of just courts and a little later we have a section that talks about setting a king for yourself. What I find truly interesting is that when Am Yisrael in Sefer Shmuel (Samuel) asks for a king and gets Shaul, it seems this is a negative thing. Shmuel tries to disuade Am Yisrael from setting a king over themselves. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/reeh/ Fri, 30 Aug 2024 05:48:14 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/reeh/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Re’eh (רְאֵה). We have a pretty large smathering this week of things including: the sanctity of the land, what to eat or not eat, sanctified foods, false prophets, tithes, shemitah, the treatment of a Jewish bondsman and then we get into the festivals (again). Amongst all of this we find this line after it’s stated that you shouldn’t cut yourself when someone dies. For you are a people consecrated to your God ‘ה: your God ‘ה chose you from among all other peoples on earth to be a treasured people. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/ekev/ Fri, 23 Aug 2024 06:04:22 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/ekev/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Ekev (עֵקֶב). This week has a lot of reminders. Follow the rules so you can live an increase. Don’t forget HaShem when you become prosperous. Don’t forget leaving Egypt and the obstacles you faced. Receiving the Ark and the 2nd Tablets. Being there for miracles like the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. We then have the 2nd part of the Shema we say twice (at least) daily. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vaetchanan/ Fri, 16 Aug 2024 06:06:46 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vaetchanan/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is VaEtchanan (ואתחנן). The first thing that caught my eye is where Moshe at the very beginning of the parsha says to HaShem “You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand…” This is part of Moshe’s plea to be allowed into Eretz Yisrael. As I try to connect this with my cloud experience, I remember back to sitting in a movie theatre at an AWS Awesome Day and learning about some of the things AWS and The Cloud could provide. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/devarim/ Fri, 09 Aug 2024 05:41:46 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/devarim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Devarim (דברים). We start the last book of the Torah this week. This parsha is always read before Tisha BeAv, the fast day we remember the destruction of The 2 Temples in Jerusalem (amongst other things throughout Jewish History). A large part of Sefer Devarim (The book of Deuteronomy) is a review of what’s happened and Moshe’s last speach to The People of Israel. It’s like our yearly reminder to put in feedback on our colleagues and to assess where we are this year compared to last year, did we meet our goals, did we have the right goals. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/matot-masei/ Fri, 02 Aug 2024 05:28:55 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/matot-masei/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Matot-Masei (מַטּוֹת - מַסְעֵי). We finish the book of Bamidbar this week. We always read Parsha Devarim the Shabbat before Tisha be-Av, which is coming up on Aug 13th. There is a battle with Midian, but the soldiers do not do as they are told. They kept the females alive, while a few weeks ago, it was the Midianite Women that caused Israel to sin. Attention to detail is important, I see this a lot when dealing with technical issues in the cloud, if someone misses 1 step or 1 configuration it could mean the difference between your data being secure or you opening the whole site to the Internet. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/pinchas/ Fri, 26 Jul 2024 05:18:49 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/pinchas/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Pinchas (פִּינְחָס). The parsha starts with a continuation of the last parsha. Pinchas, who defended the sanctity of The Mishkan is awarded with being a Cohen (Priest). I always felt this was curious that he wasn’t a Cohen already given his father was, but he had already been born and so wasn’t born into being a Cohen. Similarly to how EBS volumes attached to an EC2 instance after the instance is created doesn’t inherit the Tags assigned to the EC2 (EBS volumes created with the EC2 instance do inherit the Tags). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/balak/ Fri, 19 Jul 2024 05:19:34 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/balak/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Balak (בָּלָּק). I think this is the parsha of the AWS TAM (Technical Account Manager). Balak, the leader of Amorah, turns to Balaam who is connected with HaShem for help. Balaam states, I can’t do anything that The Service Team (or HaShem, the one who runs the world) says I can’t do. Balak, we’ll call him the customer, pushes and pushes Balaam for something he (Balaam) has no control over. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/chukat/ Fri, 12 Jul 2024 06:04:17 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/chukat/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Chukat (חֻקַּת). A Hoke (not sure how to represent a Chet since choke would be an English word) is a law that we don’t know the reason for. It’s just for us to do. The parsha starts with the (C)Hoke of the Red Heffer. It’s ashes are used in the purification process and intrestingly the priest who sprinkles the purifying waters becomes impure. This is followed by the death of Miriam and the lack of water. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/korach/ Fri, 05 Jul 2024 05:59:25 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/korach/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Korach (קֹרַח). We have a more significant revolt this week than we did last week. And it takes place in 2 parts, Korach against Moshe and Datan and Aviram. Datan and Aviram do not want to go into Eretz Yisrael. HaShem appears to be so angry that there is a threat to wipe out all of Am Yisrael. Moshe intervenes and tries to get Datan and Aviram to repent (do teshuvah), but they refuse. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shelach_lecha/ Fri, 28 Jun 2024 06:57:12 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shelach_lecha/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Shelach Lecha (שלח לך). We start with HaShem commanding Moshe to send scouts to check out the land. And then we get a list of the scouts, who are the top folks from each tribe. HaShem changes Hoshea’s name to Yehoshua. The change is adding a yud (י) to the start of the name. This changes Yehoshua’s name to start with the same 2 Hebrew letters as HaShem’s name (thank you Rashi). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/latest/ Sun, 23 Jun 2024 14:20:56 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/latest/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is BeHaAlotcha (בְּהַעֲלֹתְּךָ). A lot of focus is generally put on the more pleasant aspects of this parsha. In the middle we have the reversed nuns (׆, thank you Sefaria, I didn’t know these existed in the font) which we say every time we take out the Torah from The Ark. ׆ וַיְהִ֛י בִּנְסֹ֥עַ הָאָרֹ֖ן וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֑ה קוּמָ֣ה ׀ ה’ וְיָפֻ֙צוּ֙ אֹֽיְבֶ֔יךָ וְיָנֻ֥סוּ מְשַׂנְאֶ֖יךָ מִפָּנֶֽיךָ׃ וּבְנֻחֹ֖ה יֹאמַ֑ר שׁוּבָ֣ה ה’ רִֽבְב֖וֹת אַלְפֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ ׆ When the Ark was to set out, Moses would say: Advance, O HaShem ! https://www.clouded-torah.org/latest/ Sun, 23 Jun 2024 14:20:56 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/latest/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is BeHaAlotcha (בְּהַעֲלֹתְּךָ). A lot of focus is generally put on the more pleasant aspects of this parsha. In the middle we have the reversed nuns (׆, thank you Sefaria, I didn’t know these existed in the font) which we say every time we take out the Torah from The Ark. ׆ וַיְהִ֛י בִּנְסֹ֥עַ הָאָרֹ֖ן וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֑ה קוּמָ֣ה ׀ ה’ וְיָפֻ֙צוּ֙ אֹֽיְבֶ֔יךָ וְיָנֻ֥סוּ מְשַׂנְאֶ֖יךָ מִפָּנֶֽיךָ׃ וּבְנֻחֹ֖ה יֹאמַ֑ר שׁוּבָ֣ה ה’ רִֽבְב֖וֹת אַלְפֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ ׆ When the Ark was to set out, Moses would say: Advance, O HaShem ! https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/behaalotcha-1/ Sun, 23 Jun 2024 14:20:56 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/behaalotcha-1/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is BeHaAlotcha (בְּהַעֲלֹתְּךָ). A lot of focus is generally put on the more pleasant aspects of this parsha. In the middle we have the reversed nuns (׆, thank you Sefaria, I didn’t know these existed in the font) which we say every time we take out the Torah from The Ark. ׆ וַיְהִ֛י בִּנְסֹ֥עַ הָאָרֹ֖ן וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֑ה קוּמָ֣ה ׀ ה’ וְיָפֻ֙צוּ֙ אֹֽיְבֶ֔יךָ וְיָנֻ֥סוּ מְשַׂנְאֶ֖יךָ מִפָּנֶֽיךָ׃ וּבְנֻחֹ֖ה יֹאמַ֑ר שׁוּבָ֣ה ה’ רִֽבְב֖וֹת אַלְפֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ ׆ When the Ark was to set out, Moses would say: Advance, O HaShem ! https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/naso/ Sat, 15 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/naso/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Naso (נָשאֹׂ). The parsha starts with the continuation of dividing jobs amongst some of the tribes. But then there is a short paragraph about the purity of the camp. If someone has tzaraat (this is a spiritual cleanliness disease that doesn’t really have a translation), they will go out of the camp. And there are rules around when they go out and checks and when they can come back in. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shavuot/ Wed, 12 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shavuot/ Chevre, tonight/tomorrow is Shavuot (שָׁבוּעוֹת). As I write this today, I’m an severly torn between emotions. On one side is the rescue of 4 hostages and Chag Shavuot where we celebrate the giving of The Torah. On the other side, I’m still impacted by the death of a former neighbor last week and this morning’s announcement of the death of the son of one of AWS Israel’s SAs (the 2nd SA to lose a child in this war). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/bamidbar/ Sat, 08 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/bamidbar/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is BaMidbar (בְּמִדְּבַּר). As we start the book of Numbers, we can see that the Torah has the Bnei Yisrael take a census, then lays out the order of the camps, who will pitch their encampment where around the Mishkan. Followed by a census of the Levites and the assignment of jobs to the Levites. As I’ve been deep into CloudFormation recently, this all makes sense to me. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/behukotai/ Sat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/behukotai/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Behukotai (בְּחֻקֹּתַי). This week we finish the book of Vayikra (Leviticus). We start off with another version of the “if you do what I say, things will be good, if not, not good”. We’ve talked about this before around AWS Best Practices and the AWS Well Architected Framework. We also have a section on the value of things, the redemption of sanctified animals, buildings and fields. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/behar/ Sat, 25 May 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/behar/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Behar (בְּהַר). The parsha starts off with Shemittah or the Sabbatical Year, which happens every 7 years, where Eretz Yisrael gets a Shabbat from work. We then learn about the Yovel or Jubilee Year, every 50 years, where slaves go free and the land returns to it’s original owners (with some details of what goes back and doesn’t based on proximity to a city). The first thing that popped into my head was ownership of S3 buckets. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/acharei_mot/ Sat, 04 May 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/acharei_mot/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Acharei Mot (אַחֲרֵ֣י מ֔וֹת). Acharei Mot (after the death) is referring to the death of Aharon’s sons. It appears that we are receiving a bunch of clarifying laws (ex: permissible biblical relations) after the fall of these 2. In the cloud or in devops we talk about failing often and fast so that we can learn from our mistakes. In the real world (IRL, in real life), that is less of an option. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shevii_shel_pesach/ Mon, 29 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shevii_shel_pesach/ Chevre, tonight and tomorrow is Shevi’i Shel Pesach (שביעי של פסח). On this day, The Jewish People experienced the splitting of the Red Sea. You may have noted that throughout the week, we only said a full Hallel on the first day of Pesach. The rest of the days we say, what is called, half Hallel. This is because of the toll the exiting of Egypt took on the Egyptians. While HaShem saved the Jewish People, we recognize that it caused the death of many Egyptians. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shabbat_chol_hamoed_pesach/ Fri, 26 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shabbat_chol_hamoed_pesach/ Chevre, it’s still Pesach (פֶּסַח). So there is no parsha this week. We continue to read in the Torah about Pesach and we also read Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs). This appears to be a love story, but it’s explained to be how we should be seeing our relationship with HaShem. We read this on Pesach since it’s the holiday of our freedom. Walking around Israel and reading the news from the US, it seems that Am Yisrael is in a weird paradox (stira) where we are celebrating our freedom, but we still have over 100 of our people being held in Gaza, our army is still protecting us on multiple fronts and our Country (Israel) and our Nation (Am Yisrael) are being attacked on college campuses around the US. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/pesach/ Mon, 22 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/pesach/ Chevra, tonight is Pesach (פֶּסַח). There are several focuses on a normal year, exiting Egypt and eating Matza (the bread of affliction). At night we have a Seder and go through the story of leaving Egypt. There are traditional songs that the Haggadah (the book we use for telling the story) is sung to. One part of the Haggadah that, I at least, thought was quaint, but we had outgrown was Vehi She’Amda. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/metzora/ Sat, 20 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/metzora/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Metzora (מְצֹרָע) and Shabbat HaGadol. To begin, I need to say a big thank you to everyone who made my trip to New York so welcoming. And for Israel for opening their skies in time for me to take off and land on-time to get back to my family after some missles and things were lobbed at Israel. I was able to get back without a problem and my in-laws were able to get in with out a problem. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/emor/ Thu, 18 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/emor/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Emor (אֱמֹר). The largest section of our parsha goes over the holidays including Pesach (Passover), The Omer (which we are counting now between Pesach and Shavuot), Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. The Menorah and Show Bread are discussed again. The part, however, that really stood out to me this week is a small section that if a Cohen (Priest) is tameh (not ritually clean), they must go through the purification process before they can enter The Temple to perform the service. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/tazria/ Sat, 13 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/tazria/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Tazria (רעיז†תְִַַּ). Live from New York City, it’s Friday Morning! 😄 The parsha this week talks almost exclusively about Tzarat which is a spirtual affliction with a physical result. If you don’t follow the commandments or are spirtually flawed, you may end up with Tzarat. (It’s often mis-translated as leprosy). I think many folks would take this idea of a spirtual idea with a physical outcome as IOT (Internet of Things), but I liken it more to Lambda. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/kedoshim/ Thu, 11 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/kedoshim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Kedoshim (קְדֹשִׁים). To start, this is the first time that I can remember receiving a request to talk about a specific topic or pasuk. אֵ֥יפַת צֶ֛דֶק וְהִ֥ין צֶ֖דֶק יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֑ם “an honest Efah (measure of volume, equal to 6.1 gallons today or 23 liters), an honest Hin (measure of liquid, equal to 1.5 gallons or 5.7 liters today) you will have.” Becky Weiss, who asked me to talk about this, has worked for various Amazon Service Teams for over 10 years. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shemini/ Sat, 06 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shemini/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Shemini (שְׁמִינִי) and parshat HaChodesh (החֹדש). This week we have the start of the priestly service followed directly by the death of Nadav and Avihu. Have you ever learned about a new service or function, you dig in, start playing with it and then realize it either messed up something else, the bill for that usage was super high, or some other nefarious thing happend? This is the same. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/tzav/ Sat, 30 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/tzav/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Tzav (צַו) and parshat Parah (פרה). This week we continue in learning about more sacrifices that were offered in the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and in The Temple. An interesting fact is that if there remains some of the sacrifices too long, then they are no longer valid to be offered or eaten. They must be burned on the fire on the altar. For me, this is like security keys or tokens that are good for x amount of time and then are no longer valid. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vayikra/ Sat, 23 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vayikra/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayikra (וַיִּקְרָא), Parshat Zachor (זכור) and erev (the day before) Purim. This week we start to get the rules for the operation of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). There is a line that states “You shall season your every offering of meal with salt; you shall not omit from your meal offering the salt of your covenant with God; with all your offerings you must offer salt.” Rashi says this was an agreement from the creation of the world when the waters seperated that the lower waters (the oceans) would be offered up on the alter. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/pekudei/ Sat, 16 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/pekudei/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Pekudei (פְּקוּדֵי). We finish the book of Shemot this week. The parsha starts with an accounting of what was used in the building of the Mishkan, like a bill of materials. We continue with the vestments of the priests including the special clothing of the Cohen HaGadol (The High Priest). Moshe inspects all the pieces, like going over an on premises installation and making sure all the parts and pieces are there. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vayakel/ Sat, 09 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vayakel/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayakel (וַיַקְהֵל) and Parshat Shekalim (שקלים). Up until now we received plans to build the Mishkan (Tabernacle), but this week we start taking those plans and building. As we all know, the plan doesn’t always take into account everything and what we end up as a deployed architecture usually needs some tweaks to accomodate various factors that we couldn’t or didn’t know when doing the planning. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/ki_tisa/ Sat, 02 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/ki_tisa/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Ki Tisa (כִּי תִּשָּׂא). This week, the biggest impact of the parsha is the sin of the Golden Calf. There are different commentaries that say many interesting things. What I think is important, is that we got through it. It happened on Tisha BeAv which also is the same day on the Hebrew Calendar that both Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed, but we got through those as well. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/tetzaveh/ Sat, 24 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/tetzaveh/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Tetzavah (תְּצַוֶּה). We continue with the description of the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), but this week we are focussing more on the clothing and vestments of the Cohanim (priests), the inauguration of the Cohanim and the sacrifices that will take place at The Temple. So if last week we built the VPC and CI/CD pipeline, this week we are focussing more on the IAM Rules, the Lambda code, and application code that will make the workload actually function. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/terumah/ Sat, 17 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/terumah/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Terumah (תְּרוּמָה). This week we have the start of the details of the Mishkan or Tabernacle. It was pointed out by my wife’s cousin that Genesis has 30 sentances to describe the creation of the world. Shemot has over 400 to describe the building of the Mishkan. Some say the Mishkan is a portable Har Sinai (Mount Sinai) and this is how we stay connected with G-d. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/mishpatim/ Sat, 10 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/mishpatim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Mishpatim (מִשְׁפָּטִים). Last week Am Yisrael received the 10 Commandments which represent the whole Torah. This week, we have a bunch of these laws in short bites (bytes?) one after the other. These are some of the important details on running a just society. And we know that some of the details are super important. In the programming world, missing a comma (,) or a semicolon (; ) can significantly change a program. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/yitro/ Sat, 03 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/yitro/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Yitro (יִתְרוֹ). This week we have some interesting concepts. First Yitro, Moshe’s father-in-law comes to the camp. He sees how hard (and not smart) Moshe is working answering halachic questions all day. Yitro suggests some auto-scaling (ok, more like manual scaling) to have a hierarchy so that easier or common questions can be answered by a larger number of folks and harder questions will be referred to more expert folks. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/beshalach/ Sat, 27 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/beshalach/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is BeShalach (בְּשַׁלַׁח). This week’s parsha starts with the route to The Promised Land. Our Metaphor for The Promised Land is being fully migrated to the cloud. Along the way there are obstacles like grumbling folks that only have bitter water or no food. Both of which are responded to with miracles of changing the water to sweet water and the manna starts to be delivered (except on Shabbat, double portions on Friday). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/bo/ Sat, 20 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/bo/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Bo (באֹּ). The parsha starts off with the 8th plague, Locusts. These beasts descend on a website like a DDOS and eat up all the crops, er system resources. Next was the plague of darkness. The Rambam explains this was like a fog that extinguished all flames. Going with the DDOS theme, the monitoring system didn’t have enough resources left and so operations was in the dark. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vaeira/ Sat, 13 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vaeira/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Va’eira (וָאֵרָא). This week we have Moshe again trying to push back against HaShem, but eventually he comes around (Have Backbone, Disagree, and Commit). And we have the start of the plagues. I want to focus on the 2nd plague of the frogs. There is a famous children’s song about the frogs being everywhere (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrhhVSVYV5E). This reall reminds me of issues I’ve faced here and there with disks filliing up. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vaeira/ Sat, 13 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/vaeira/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Va’eira (וָאֵרָא). This week we have Moshe again trying to push back against HaShem, but eventually he comes around (Have Backbone, Disagree, and Commit). And we have the start of the plagues. I want to focus on the 2nd plague of the frogs. There is a famous children’s song about the frogs being everywhere (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrhhVSVYV5E). This reall reminds me of issues I’ve faced here and there with disks filliing up. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shemot/ Sat, 06 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2024/shemot/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Shemot (שְׁמוֹת). We are introduced to Moshe this week and the Jewish people are enslaved in Egypt. Moshe is chosen by G-d to lead the Jewish people and Moshe states “who am I to take out the Jewish people?”. Moshe says he doesn’t speak well and he asks why the Jewish people will believe him. All of these seem to me to be like Imposter Syndrome. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayechi/ Sat, 30 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayechi/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayechi (וַיְחִי). We have the final days of Yaakov, his death and burial. He goes to give a bracha to Yosef’s sons, Ephraim and Menashe. On a personal note, my town buried a fallen soldier named Ephraim z”l this week. The war has hit close to home. When Yaakov goes to give the boys his blessing, Yosef places the boys so that Menashe will be on Yaakov’s right side and Ephraim on his left. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayigash/ Sat, 23 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayigash/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayigash (וַיִּגַשׁ). We continue where we left off last week. Yosef, as the Egyptian Prime Minister, has accused Binyanim of theft and says he’ll go to jail. Judah, the one who sold Yosef into slavery and who also promised his father Binyamin would come home, steps up with a speach. He mentions a few key points. First, that Yosef caused some of this when he demanded that Binyamin be brought down. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/miketz/ Sat, 16 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/miketz/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Miketz (מִקֵּץ). The parsha this week is clearly centered around Yoseph. Paroah has a dream (not like Dr Martin Luther King Jr) and no one can explain it to him. The cup bearer remembers Yoseph and not only does Yoseph explain the dream(s), but offers a potential solution. This is great, not only do you have a problem with your cloud environment, but here’s a solution to it. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayeshev_and_chanukah/ Sat, 09 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayeshev_and_chanukah/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayeshev (וַיֵּשֶׁב) and Chanukah (חנוכה). This parsha, at least the very beginning really speaks to me this week. I’ve returned from abroad and Yaakov has too. He’s now settled down and encounters domestic issues. His favorite son, Yoseph, has his dream and has his special coat. The point of the coat is that with long sleeves, he can’t work like normal. This is an indication that, unlike his brothers, he does not work in the field. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayishlach/ Sat, 02 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayishlach/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayishlach (וַיִּשְׁלַח). This week we have the whole scenario of Yaakov meeting again Esav, his brother, after many years. Yaakov takes precautions, splits up his resources (his family and people) to protect them (so only some can be exposed to the same danger at the same time) and a procession of messengers are sent to Esav. Seeing that we are wrapping up re:Invent in Las Vegas today, I seem some parallels. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayetze/ Sat, 25 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayetze/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Vayetze (וַיֵּצֵּא). I have to admit, I’ve been severly distracted this week. I’m in the US and watching the news today in Israel regarding the hostages. A few days ago, I went over to Canada across the Rainbow Bridge and then saw the car explosion there. I thought I had left the fear of war and explosions behind for a couple weeks as I tour around the US visiting family and heading to re:Invent. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/toldot/ Sat, 18 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/toldot/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Toldot (תּוֹלְדֹוֹת). In this week’s parsha we have the story where Yitchak’s team dug a well in the area of Gerar and the locals quarreled with Yitchak’s team and took over the well. And again and again. Finally, HaShem told Yitchak to move to Be’er Sheva and there dig a well. This having a resource and having it taken away repeatedly until finding a location or a resource that will stand reminds me of EC2 Spot instances. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/chaye_sarah/ Sat, 11 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/chaye_sarah/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Chaye Sarah (חַיֵּי שָׂרָׂה). After the death of Sarah, the purchase of her burial location and her burial, Avraham tasks Eliezer, his servant, with finding a wife for Isaac. Eliezer seems nervous about this task and gives high requirements for the finding the wife of Isaac. The Midrash states that the requirements were high because Eliezer didn’t want to find a wife for Isaac from Avraham’s family, but wanted Isaac to marry his own, Eliezer’s, daughter. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayera.html/ Sat, 04 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayera.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וָאֵרָא (Va’era). In the parsha HaShem tells Moshe that he’s putting him over Pharaoh. Seems like a simple corporate re-org. But Pharaoh doesn’t except it. He’s making the life of his team harder and harder for support Moshe. So HaShem (would he be the CEO) starts to punish Pharaoh and his other teams to make them accept the change. This is followed by the first 7 of the 10 plagues. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayera/ Sat, 04 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayera/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Vayera (וַיֵּרָא). There are more stories this week about activities that I would consider bad or evil. Up until recently, I could not imagine that these could still happen today. We read the Torah every year to keep fresh that, unfortunately, evil still does exist in the world and it takes a nation to fight that evil. The parsha starts with 3 “men” visiting Avraham while he’s “sick” or recovering from his circumsision. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/lech_lecha/ Sat, 28 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/lech_lecha/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Lech Lecha (לֶךְ לְךָ). While the parsha has many illusions to the current situation in Israel, I will avoid those. Instead, there is the story of Lot and Abram (not yet Avraham) where the shephards were fighting over the same pieces of land. Abram offers to have a division of the land with Lot, but lot chooses to go to Sdom. In the cloud, there certainly are some finite resources, those are generally protected by account limits and quotas. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/noach/ Sat, 21 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/noach/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Noach (נֹחַ). וַתִּשָּׁחֵ֥ת הָאָ֖רֶץ לִפְנֵ֣י הָֽאֱלֹקים וַתִּמָּלֵ֥א הָאָ֖רֶץ חָמָֽס (Genesis/Beresheit 6:11) The earth became corrupt before God; the land was filled with violence. Unfortunately, the land (Eretz Yisrael) is again filled with Hamas/Violence. The solution in Noach’s time was to have a flood and destroy the land, but then HaShem promised not to do that again. So now that job falls to the IDF. My family and I are physically safe in our area, but emotionally it is difficult to live in Israel and be emotionally whole. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/beresheit/ Sat, 14 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/beresheit/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is Beresheit/Genesis (בְּרֵאשִׁית). I’ll start with a personal update regarding the war. My immediate family and I are fine. We have relatives, friends and neighbors that are in the army or called up to the army for reserves. We will succeed to fight this evil as Am Yisrael has fought evil throughout the centuries. Because of the war starting on Shabbat, we were sent home from shul before Torah reading on Simchat Torah. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/shemini_atzeret_simchat_torah/ Fri, 06 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/shemini_atzeret_simchat_torah/ Chevre, there is again no parsha this week. This Shabbat, in Israel, is Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah (שְׁמִינִי עֲצֶרֶת - שמחת תורה). Outside Israel, Shabbat is Shemini Atzeret and Sunday is Simchat Torah. This holiday comes right after Sukkot, but is not connected with Sukkot. We don’t live in the Succah, we no longer pick up the lulav and etrog. After all the holidays we’ve had so far and the path of Teshuvah that started way back on Rosh Chodesh Elul, this is an additional holiday that is especially for Israel and HaShem to share an extra day together. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/sukkot/ Fri, 29 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/sukkot/ Chevre, this shabbat again does not have a parsha, it’s Chag Sukkot (סֻכּוֹת). During the Chag, we leave our homes and do most of our activities in the Succah, a temporary booth that we build for the holiday. Our Succah also needs to be dog-proof so that our dogs don’t escape and terrorize the neighbors looking for yummy food. There are many kabalistic ideas around the Succah, I often think about the idea that we exit the comfortable, sturdy dwellings of our homes and enter the flimsy Succah to show trust (Emuna) in the Teshuva (Repentance) we have done over the past month and a half. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/yom_kippur/ Sun, 24 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/yom_kippur/ Chevre, tonight and tomorrow is יוֹם†הַכִפֻּרִים (Yom Kippur). This morning, I was listening to Rav Sacks talking about the fascinating history of Kol Nidre. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WHsgs_YBWE One thing he said is that while Kol Nidre has historically been very emotional with the music we put to it, the words themselves is like a business contract. It’s like if we took the AWS EULA (End User License Agreement) and put it to happy or somber music. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/bedrock_hazinu/ Sat, 23 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/bedrock_hazinu/ User: can you write a hazinu drash similar to what Shlomo Dubrowin writes on twitter? https://twitter.com/dubrowin As an AI language model, I can generate text based on certain prompts or topics. However, it’s important to note that I do not have personal beliefs, opinions, or writing styles, and my ability to generate text is limited by the data and programming that I have been provided with. With that said, if you provide me with more information about Shlomo Dubrowin’s style of writing or his previous Hazinu drashot, I can do my best to generate a text that is similar in style and content. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/hazinu_-_shabbat_teshuvah/ Sat, 23 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/hazinu_-_shabbat_teshuvah/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is הַאֲזִינוּ **(Hazinu) and is Shabbat Teshuvah. Shabbat Teshuvah is the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and often overshadows Hazinu, which is a relatively short parsha. I actually asked Amazon Bedrock (https://aws.amazon.com/bedrock/) to come up with a Drash for Hazinu and the results were “entertaining”. +Bedrock Hazinu However, I was struck this morning by something Rebbe Natan of Breslov mentioned in Lekutei Halachot. When someone does teshuva between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, their averot (sins, but let’s call them oopsies) become merits. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/rosh_hashanah/ Fri, 15 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/rosh_hashanah/ Chevre, there is no parsha this week. We have Rosh Hashanah on Shabbat and on Sunday. This year as we entered Elul, I was taken by surprise, the summer was almost over. This week Ashkenazim started to say Selichot. Slowly, slowly, we ramp up into Teshuvah (returning). And then we hit the 2 pillars of our suspension bridge, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The High Holy Days or the Days of Awe. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/netzavim_-_vayelech/ Sat, 09 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/netzavim_-_vayelech/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is נִצָּבִים - וַיֵּלֶךְ (Netzavim - Vayelech). This week we read one of my favorite passages that the Torah is not in heaven (maybe it’s in the clouds), but it is accessible for everyone. There is a story in the Gemara (Baba Metziah 59b) about a disagreement between the sages. One sage calls on extrordinary measures to prove his point. A river flows backwards, the building starts to fall in, a voice from heaven. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/ki_tavo/ Sat, 02 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/ki_tavo/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is כִּי†תָבוֹא (Ki Tavo). There is a pasuk (a sentance) in this week’s parsha that reads, “And HaShem has distinguished you today to be for Him a treasured people, as he spoke to you, and to observe all His commandments.” Throughout the Torah there are statements, requests, mitzvot, pleadings to follow HaShem’s rules or guidelines. And throughout history the Jewish people have at times been more strict or less strict to following those guidelines. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/ki_tetze/ Sat, 26 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/ki_tetze/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is כִּי תֵצֵא **(Ki Tetze). This week’s parsha starts with capturing a woman during war. If someone wants to marry her, he must first shave her head, allow her to mourn her family for a month. If after a month he still wants her, he can marry her. If he doesn’t, he must release her and can’t enslave her. I’ve always found this passage interesting and strange. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/shoftim/ Sat, 19 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/shoftim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is שֹׁפְטִים (Shoftim). There are a lot of interesting nuggets in this week’s parsha. Some of them, this year, could be seen as more politically charged from years past. There is an interesting pasuk, 1 line, that states you shall not move a boundary. In the cloud, when we talk about boundaries, it could mean several things. Blast Radius, Multi-AZ and the boundary in your workload that makes it highly available, the operational boundaries between AWS Regions. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/reeh/ Sat, 12 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/reeh/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is רְאֵה (Re’eh). We start with blessings curses. If you follow the commandments and are well architected, you’ll be able to stay in the land and in the cloud. We have the reiteration to “perform” the blessings and curses on Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. What is strinking about these mounts, we know where they are (and I’ve been to Mount Gerizim) is that one is lush and wooded and the other is barren. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/eikev/ Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/eikev/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is עֵקֶב (Eikev). There is an interesting section this week about becoming complacent. The Torah talks about becoming satisfied and forgetting HaShem. It reminds us that HaShem took us out of Egypt, fed us and protected us during the exodus, protected us from poisonous creatures, etc. It’s important to understand that in the computer and cloud worlds, that things like Security, Cost Optimization and Observability are journeys. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vaetchanan/ Sat, 29 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vaetchanan/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וָאֶתְחַנַן (VaEtchanan). We are continuing the final speach from Moshe. This week we have the reiteration of the 10 commandments and part of the Shema prayer that Jews say twice daily (at least). We are past Tisha B’Av, which was yesterday. This day marks the destruction of The Temple in Jerusalem on the same Hebrew Date by both the Babylonians and the Romans marking the 2 exiles by these empires. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/devarim/ Sat, 22 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/devarim/ Chevre, this week’s parsha isדְּבָרִים (Devarim). This week starts the closing speach by Moshe as they stand ready to enter Eretz Yisrael. This parsha is always read on Shabbat Chazon, the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av. Chazon is taken from the Haftorah of the week. We are already 1/2 way through the 3 weeks and into the 9 days. This is the ever increasing experience of mourning that we encounter every year in the lead up to Tisha B’Av, the day that both the 1st and 2nd Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed by the Babylonians and the Romans. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/matot-masei/ Sat, 15 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/matot-masei/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is מַטּוֹת-מַסְעֵי (Matot-Masei). This week we are finishing Sefer BaMidbar (the book of Numbers). As we wrap up this book, we are also wrapping up the journey of Am Yisrael. The entire next book of Devarim is Moshe’s goodbye to the people. So the people are at the border of Israel, we learn about dividing up spoils of conquest, intentional and unintentional murder and then we leave off with Tribal Intermarriage. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/pinchas/ Sat, 08 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/pinchas/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is פִּינְחָס (Pinchas). At the end of last week, we saw that Pinchas took a spear and killed a Jew and a Midianite woman he was having relations with in a tent. THE Tent was the tent of meeting or the Mishkan. For Pinchas’s Bias for Action, he was rewarded with being a Cohen. Even though he was the son of Elazar, who was a Cohen, Pinchas was born before Elazar was made a Cohen and it was not yet a family passed position. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/chukat/ Sat, 24 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/chukat/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is חֻקַּת (Chukat). There is an idea that HaShem always gives you the solution before the problem, but you may not be aware of it or understand it. This week we have the Red Cow that explains how to become ritually pure followed by the death of Miriam. Miriam was the source of water and so the people now complain because they are worried about the source of water in the desert. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/korach.html/ Sat, 10 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/korach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha (in Israel) is קֹרַח (Korach). There were 2 rebellions that coincided. There was the rebellion by Korach and the one by Datan and Aviram. While it is appropriate and proper to question authority in a democracy, there is a time and a place when this is appropriate. Doing a vocal opposition and nitpicking when everyone is in the dessert is not the right time. In technology, there are times to review your architecture and times when it’s working well and you need to build new features. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/shelach_lecha.html/ Sat, 10 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/shelach_lecha.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha, in Israel, is שְׁלַח לְךָ (Shelach Lecha). This week’s parsha, my Bar Mitzvah parsha, starts with Moshe sending scouts (often called spies) out to the Land of Israel. Rather than coming back and reporting to Moshe or the leadership, they come back (all but 2) with the stories of impregnable fortifications and giant people. HaShem declares this people will not enter Israel, but will wander the desert for 40 years. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/behalotcha.html/ Sat, 03 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/behalotcha.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha (in Israel) is בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ (Behalotcha). First off, it was great to see everyone at the TLV Summit this week. Thank you for those that came up and said “hi”. This week’s parsha is broken up into a few pieces and some consider Bamidbar is actually 3 books. We have in our parsha up until the breaking up of the camp and the trumpets that notify everyone of this. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/shavuot_-_naso.html/ Thu, 25 May 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/shavuot_-_naso.html/ Chevre, tonight is שָׁבוּעוֹת (Shavuot) followed immediately by נָׁשאֹׂ (Naso) in Israel. Outside Israel, Naso will be read next week. We have been counting the Omer up to Shavuot since Passover. Shavuot is the holiday of the giving of the Torah. It’s traditional to stay up all night (OK, I just can’t anymore, but I stay up later than usual. I need a real good support case escalation to get my blood moving late into the night to stay up). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/bamidbar.html/ Sat, 20 May 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/bamidbar.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּמִדְבַּר (Bamidbar) and today is Yom Yerushalayim. So today is the day in 1967 that Jerusalem was reunified after 19 years of being split. We have a more holiday like atmosphere including Hallel and special meals. In my community, this holiday atmosphere will continue throughout Shabbat. Bamidbar - 2023 starts off where Sefer Shemot left off. The Mishkan was built for the first time and then the pillar of a cloud entered the Mishkan symbolizing G-ds taking up “residence”. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/behar_-_behukotai.html/ Sat, 13 May 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/behar_-_behukotai.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּהַר - בְּחֻקֹּתַי (Behar Behukotai). I heard a story about some friends of ours. One of their sons is learning Pirkei Avot about the passing down of the Torah. His 3 year old brother, Sinai, learned that he gave the Torah to Moshe. ;-) There is an interesting passage this week about preventing poverty. It appears to be a mitzvah to prevent someone from becoming poor. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/emor.html/ Fri, 05 May 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/emor.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is אֱמֹר (Emor). Today, Friday, is also Pesach Sheni or the day that the Bnei Yisrael requested because they could not bring the Pesach offering during it’s time because they were tame or ritually impure. I told my son this morning Chag Sameach (happy holiday) and he said, but that was yesterday. Yesterday was May the 4th or Star Wars day. I smiled and told him that is true and today is Revenge of the 5th (or Sith day), but it’s also Pesach Sheni. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/achrei_mot_-_kedoshim.html/ Sat, 29 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/achrei_mot_-_kedoshim.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is אַחֲרֵי מוֹת - קְדֹשִׁים (Achrei Mot - Kedoshum). This week’s parsha starts with the mentioning of the death of the sons of Aharon. And then launches into the Yom Kippur service. So after we have a reminder of the ultimate punishment, we then learn about how to request or merit forgiveness. This mirrors closely operational pains when operating systems. You have a major problem or outage and then figure out how to alleviate it. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/tazria_-_metzora.html/ Sat, 22 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/tazria_-_metzora.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is תַּזְרִיעַּ - מְצֹרָע (Tazria - Metzora) and it’s Rosh Chodesh (Friday and Shabbat). Most of our double portion is talking about Tzarat, which doesn’t have a good translation into English, but is usually translated as leprosy. The problem with that translation is that Tzarat is considered a spiritual illness. A person, a person’s house or belongings would come down with Tzarat for some kind of spiritual issue the person had. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/shemini.html/ Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/shemini.html/ 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. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/pesach.html/ Wed, 05 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/pesach.html/ Chevre, tonight is פֶּסַח (Pesach/Passover). For most of the Jewish world, we’ve spent some amount of time over the past few days (or some cases weeks) preparing the house for Pesach. We clean and rekasher the kitchen, flip over from the chametz dishes, pots and pans, etc to what we use on Pesach. At the Seder, we are supposed to feel as if we were slaves and leaving slavery to freedom. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/tzav.html/ Sat, 01 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/tzav.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is צַו (Tzav) and Shabbat HaGadol. Shabbat HaGadol is the Shabbat before Passover/Pesach. This is the Shabbat traditionally that the Rav of the community will address everyone on Shabbat afternoon. We love our Rav, but often joke that we need a bingo card to mark off the jokes he tells every year. This week’s parsha is a lot about the sacrifices and the sanctification of the Cohanim (Priests). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayikra.html/ Sat, 25 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayikra.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיִּקְרָא (Vayikra). We start what the sages called the Book of Cohanim. There are a lot of rules about the operation of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). What strikes me this week that I think we may often gloss over is that the sacrifices are expensive. I know it’s ironic that we use the word sacrifice in our daily lives, but here we are talking about adding salt, a super expensive spice of the time, to all the meat. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayakel_-_pekudai.html/ Sat, 18 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayakel_-_pekudai.html/ This week’s parsha is וַיַקְהֵל - פְקוּדֵי (Vayakel - Pekudai) and Parshat HaChodesh. So we have been discussing the blueprints for the Mishkan over the past few weeks. This week, the actual Mishkan is built and concecrated. And then HaShems glory filled the Mishkan. We know that when designing something, the building of that item may not be the same as what was designed. Here we have the design and building matching. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/ki_tisa.html/ Sat, 11 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/ki_tisa.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is כִּי תִּשָּׂא (Ki Tisa) and Parshat Parah. Parshat Parah is a reminder that Passover is coming and those bringing the Korban Pesach need to be ritual pure. The process takes some time and therefore, folks need to be ready and prepare. Our parsha has the sin of the golden calf. Moshe goes up to Har Sinai and is up there 40 days. The people see their leader didn’t come back. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/titzaveh.html/ Sat, 04 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/titzaveh.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is תְּצַוֶּה (Titzaveh) and Parshat זכור (Zachor). Where last week we learned about the pieces of the Mishkan (Tabernacle), this week we learn about the clothing of the High Priest and the “normal” Priest, their inauguration and some of the sacrifices. We then go into the succession of the High Priest. This is an important topic in business operations. Who is on-call, who is backup, who gets an escalation, what happens in the CxO (CTO, CFO, CEO, etc) is incapacitated or dies? https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/terumah.html/ Sat, 25 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/terumah.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is תְּרוּמָה (Terumah). This week we have the instructions for building more parts and utensils for the Mishkan (Tabernacle). In pure Amazonian fashion, all the parts and pieces are explained in words and in great detail. However, when the Torah got to the Menorah, the Midrash Tanchuma says that G-d had to show Moshe a picture in order to show the details of how the Menorah should look. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/mishpatim.html/ Sat, 18 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/mishpatim.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is מִשְׁפָּטִים (Mishpatim) and Shekalim. A large part of the parsha this week is made up of criminal and civil laws. Contracts, Murder, Injury, accidental injury or damages. There is a reason it’s called Mishpatim (judgements). While computers and the cloud do not usually lend themselves to these kinds of rulings, it’s important to know that the “devil” can be in the details. It’s important to understand how the services you are using work and how they may break. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/yitro.html/ Sat, 11 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/yitro.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is יִתְרוֹ (Yitro). Yitro is Moshe’s father-in-law. We’ll call Yitro a TAM (Technical Account Manager). He comes to the Israelite camp, looks around and sees Moshe sitting all day being the judge of everthing himself. So he suggests that maybe there is a way to introduce scaling into the judging system (workload) so that Moshe isn’t doing all the heavy undifferentiated heavy lifting himself. The complicated cases (we call these exceptions) will come to him, but the rest can be handled by lower “courts”. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/beshalach.html/ Sat, 04 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/beshalach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּשַׁלַׁח (BeShalach). As I review the parsha this week, I’m sensing a theme of “they’re never satisfied”. The people are heading out of Egypt and Pharoah changes his mind again and starts chasing Israel and has them backed up against the Sea of Suf. (I can picture this in a movie or 2 or 3 …1000). Israel panics and HaShem says “use the Amazon LP Biased for Action” and so Nachshon ben Aminadav jumps into the water and it splits. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/bo.html/ Sat, 28 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/bo.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is באֹּ (Bo). We start with plague 8 and 9. Pharoah’s advisors (we’ll call them TAMs) are pleading with him to do the right thing. After plague 9, Pharoah states that Moshe will not see his face again. Then Moshe delivers the warning of the final plague. HaShem tells Moshe about the Pesach Offering and that HaShem himself will carry out the final plague. This leads the commentators to understand that “others” performed the other plagues. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/shemot.html/ Sat, 14 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/shemot.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is שְׁמוֹת (Shemot). The parsha starts by stating that Pharoah was a new king in Egypt and didn’t know Yoseph. This reinforces the idea that you need to document your workloads in case someone else (or even yourself much later) need to understand how your system works. This can increase the speed to finding and resolving issues later on. There is the story that the Jewish people have been enslaved in Egypt, Moshe is born, adopted by the daughter of Pharoah after pulling him from the nile river in a basket. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayechi.html/ Sat, 07 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2023/vayechi.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיְחִי (Vayechi). We have the last Parsha of Beresheit and the end of Yaakov. He brings Yosef’s sons, Ephraim and Menashe, close to give them a blessing. Yaakov and Yosef have this interaction where Yosef wants Yaakov’s right hand (primary bracha) to Ephraim, the younger, but Yosef wanted his right hand on Menashe. One of the blessings that Yaakov gives to Yosef’s sons is one that we bless our children nightly with and we sing together when the children get an Aliyah to the Torah on Simchat Torah. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayigash.html/ Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayigash.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיִּגַשׁ (Vayigash). The parsha starts off with a rectification. Judah steps up and will not allow Binyamin to be taken captive and offers himself instead. This fixing affects Yosef so much that he finally reveals himself to the brothers, who are in shock. This is like when you have built a pile of ugly work arounds for a problem and then the official fix comes out. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/miketz.html/ Sat, 24 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/miketz.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is מִקֵּץ (Miketz), Chanukah and Rosh Chodesh. This week we learn about Pharaoh’s dream and Yosef is able to interpret the dream and offers advice about how to deal with it. I’m late in getting my Dvar Torah out because I’m in the US (New England) and we are bracing for a different kind of environmental event. Egypt was bracing for a famine, but had Pharaoh’s dream to warn them. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayeshev.html/ Sat, 17 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayeshev.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּשֶׁב (Vayeshev). This week we have story after story of problematic family relations. The brothers don’t kill, but end up selling Yosef into slavery and then lie to Jacob about what happened. This was even caused by Jacob showing favortism toward Yosef. And then we have the son’s of Yehuda, who were not so up standing, 1 died, his brother didn’t want to perform yibum or taking the other’s wife and was killed for spilling his seed. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayishlach.html/ Sat, 10 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayishlach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיִּשְׁלַח (Vayishlach). This week we start with the preparations for Yaakov and family to meet Esav. This includes the famous angel wrestling match (or was it a dream?) and finally the brothers meet and leave without hostility, I wouldn’t say they are best friends now. This immediately is followed by the capture Dina, Yaakov’s daughter. The prince of Shechem wants to marry her and the sons of Yaakov explain that the men of Shechem need to be circumcised. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayetze.html/ Sat, 03 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayetze.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּצֵּא (Vayetze). This is coming out later than normal because I’m at re:Invent. I expect to be back to the regular time next week. The parsha this week includes several deceits from Lavan toward Yaakov. He switches Leah for Rachel and tricks Yaakov to work an additional 7 years. He switches the agreement on which goats Yaakov will be granted because the circumstances changed and Lavan consistently wanted the upper hand. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/toldot.html/ Sat, 26 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/toldot.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is תּוֹלְדֹת (Toldot). The entire parsha is about Yaakov and Esav. Two brothers who could not be more different from each other. I think it’s interesting to learn from their interactions and how their parents interact with them and each other. When I think about these brothers in terms of the cloud, I immediately thought of Parameter Store and Secrets Manager. They can have similar functions, but one is more expensive than the other and one has a some additional specialized features. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/lech_lecha.html/ Sat, 05 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/lech_lecha.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is לֶךְ לְךָ (Lech Lecha). For most of this week’s parsha we are dealing with Abram (he will only become Avraham at the end of the parsha). There is the episode of the contention with Lot where Abram offers Lot left (north) or right (south) and Lot lifted up his eyes and went to Sdom (east). This ended with Lot being captured in a war and Abram needing to come save him. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/noach.html/ Sat, 29 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/noach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is נֹ חַ (Noach). This week we learn about the flood. So Noach gets the final warning and then the DDOS flood happens. Noach has his workload on AWS with protective services like CloudFront and ELB. Given that Noach was expecting trouble, he was warned, he had also signed up for Shield Advanced. So he also had WAF enabled and was able to immediately get help with blocking the “bad” traffic while his site stayed up. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/beresheit.html/ Sat, 22 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/beresheit.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is בְּרֵאשִׁית (Beresheit). We have made it through all the holidays and have restarted reading the Torah, just in time to start re:Invent season. If anyone is going, I’ll be happy to meet you. I’ll be the one with the built-in wifi (I have Peyot). What’s interesting about the parsha is that we have the creation story twice. Maybe it’s so that both S3 and SQS can claim to be the first AWS Service? https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/hoshanah_rabba_shemini_atzeret_-_simchat_torah.html/ Sun, 16 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/hoshanah_rabba_shemini_atzeret_-_simchat_torah.html/ Chevre, today is הושענא רבה (Hoshanah Rabbah) and Tonight/Tomorrow is שְׁמִינִי עֲצֶרֶת + שמחת תורה (Shemini Atzeret + Simchat Torah). Hoshanah Rabbat is the end of Sukkot and also includes some of the Selichot type prayers from Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur. This is kinda the last last chance to get these in. Kinda like the “are you sure you want to delete this? Are you really sure? Super sure? OK, I’m going to delete it …”. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/shabbat_sukkot.html/ Fri, 14 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/shabbat_sukkot.html/ Chevre, this Shabbat we take a break from reading the Parsha and we read about Sukkot. We also read Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) (we read a different Megilla for each of the 3 festival holidays, Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot). What is interesting here is that Sukkot is Zman Simchateynu or our Joyous time and Kohelet seems the least joyous Megilla. It’s attributed to Shlomo HaMelech (King Solomon) and he uses the word Hevel consistently. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/sukkot.html/ Sun, 09 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/sukkot.html/ Chevre, tonight starts סֻכּוֹת (Sukkot). The main characteristics of this holiday is that we leave our homes and live in temporary structures called a Sukkah. We also take up the 4 Species (Etrog, Lulav, Aravah and Hadas). It’s called the Zman Simchatenu (Our Joyous Time). We have spent over a month praying and saying extra psalms for forgiveness. Now we go out and show our trust in HaShem by building a flimsy structure at the time when the weather (in Israel at least) is just starting to get cool/cold and rain is around the corner. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/hazinu.html/ Sat, 08 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/hazinu.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is הַאֲזִינוּ (Hazinu). This week we have the song of Moshe and then HaShem’s commandment to Moshe to go up to Har Nevo where he’ll die. What is interesting is that Moshe was allowed to enter into the West side of Eretz Yisrael, but because of the 2.5 tribes that pushed to stay on the East side, Eretz Yisrael come to Moshe. So while many workloads are moving toward the cloud, either full regions, local zones or wavelength zones, there is also the possibility of Outposts, Snow balls, Snow cones and Snow mobiles where the cloud can come to you. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayelech.html/ Sat, 01 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayelech.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּלֶךְ (Vayelech). The parsha this week is super short (70 pasukim or sentences). Here we have Moshe leaving Am Yisrael. As someone working in tech for more than a year (ok, closer to 30 now), changing teams and people coming and going is normal. I think working in the cloud world this is even more so. As part of the Emotional Intelligence (EQ) learning that I’ve been doing, I have an article that was shared with me this week about dealing with change [1]. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/nitzavim.html/ Sat, 24 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/nitzavim.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is נצבים (Nitzavim). Throughout the book of Devarim, there are explanations of the good and bad repurcusions from our actions (architectures). This week there is a reminder that what we do (and build) are choices and those choices have repurcussions for good or bad (or costs). In the “real world” our actions affect others and the world around us. In the “cloud world” our architectures and workloads affect our resilience to failure or problems and affect the costs associated with our architecture. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/ki_tavo.html/ Sat, 17 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/ki_tavo.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is כִּי תָבוֹא (Ki Tavo). This week we have the declaration that is said when bring the first fruits (Bikurim) and has also made it’s way into the Passover Hagadah. “An Aramean tried to destroy my forefather. He descended to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation - great, strong, and numerous. The Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, and placed hard work upon us. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/ki_tetzeh.html/ Sat, 10 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/ki_tetzeh.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is כִּי תֵצֵא (Ki Tetzeh). There are a number of laws that are mentioned this week. 2 in particular stood out to me. The first is that when a worker is working in your vineyard, they are allowed to eat of the fruit. And there are a number of gifts to the poor including leaving the corners of your fields unharvested for the poor, the forgotten sheif is left for the poor and anything that is dropped is left for the poor. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/shoftim.html/ Sat, 03 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/shoftim.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is שֹׁפְטִים (Shoftim). The parsha starts out by stating that we should appoint judges and officers in all our cities. Over the years, we’ve seen the computer industry start with centralized machines, think the original mainframes with punch cards that could fit in a room (or 2). This would be like when Moshe was the sole distributor of judgement. Then Moshe brought in the 70 elders to assist. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/ekev.html/ Sat, 20 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/ekev.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is עֵקֶב (Ekev). As part of the repetition in the book of Devarim, there is a paragraph this week that talks about HaShem’s miracles. I see these every day. I have Lambdas that are in the free tier that help automate work for me. Magically things like S3 inventory reports and Cost and Usage Reports arrive and are accessible via Athena. Lifecycle policies for EBS volumes and S3 buckets move objects between storage tiers and expire resources to save costs. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vaetchanan.html/ Sat, 13 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vaetchanan.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וָאֶתְחַנַן (VaEtchanan). This week we have a double wammy with the repetition of the 10 Commandments followed by the first paragraph of The Shema. In the introduction to the 10 commandments HaShem gives the reason we should follow him, he took us out of Egypt. Egypt in Hebrew is מצרים which means the narrow place. So HaShem took us out of the on-prem data center, the narrow place, to the cloud. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/devarim.html/ Sat, 06 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/devarim.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is דְּבָרִים (Devarim). You know when you give notice at work and you are in that time period of handing everything over before leaving a company? That is what is happening in Devarim. Moshe has appointed his successor and he’s winding down, reflecting on the journey they’ve taken. So there is a review this week of some of the journeys the people took and some conflicts with other groups they’ve had. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/masei.html/ Sat, 30 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/masei.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha, in Israel, is מַסְעֵי (Masei). This is the week that the rest of the world reads Matot-Masei and we all finish Sefer BaMidbar this week. We have a summary of the journeys in the desert, there are instructions for when entering the land of Israel, the boundaries of the land, a review of who will be the leaders, we have the Cities of Refuge for accidental murder and a discussion of Tribal Intermarriage and inheritance. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/matot.html/ Sat, 23 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/matot.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha (in Israel) is מַטּוֹת (Matot). This week we have the battle against Midian (on the East side of the Jordan River), the soldiers did not do as they were told in regards to captives. Given that a war took place there is now a discussion about the purity of the soldiers and their weapons. The spoils are then divided. And then we have an interesting request. Reuven and Gad want to make their shares of Israel on the East Side of the Jordan. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/pinchas.html/ Sat, 16 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/pinchas.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha, in Israel, is פִּינְחָס (Pinchas). We have a very Amazonian parsha this week. We start with gathering metrics, aka a census of the people. We have the daughters of Zelophehad Disagree’ing and Moshe committing after a word with his sponsor (HaShem). Moshe asks for a successor (Hire and Develop the Best). We have a few offerings (Insist on Highest Standards) followed by a list of the holidays (Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibilities). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/balak.html/ Sat, 09 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/balak.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha, in Israel, is בלק (Balak). This is where Balak, King of Moav (I can see these mountains from my house and Ruth will come from there, the ancestor of King David) was afraid of the Bnei Israel and was trying to hire Bilaam to curse them. Nearly the whole parsha is about Balak and Bilaam. From the outside, Israel was scary and it was difficult to curse them. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/chukat.html/ Sat, 02 Jul 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/chukat.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha in Israel is חקת (Chukat). The parsha this week starts with a rule/law that we may or may not understand. We have the details around the Red Heffer used in the purification process. Some folks may think this is a tikkun (fixing) of the Golden Calf. But really, this is one of those rules that we do not understand and may never understand. There is no Have Backbone, Disagree and Commit. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/korach.html/ Sat, 25 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/korach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha in Israel is קֹרַח (Korach). Have you ever had a situation where you wish the earth would swallow you up? We have a family story like this, but it didn’t happen to us. It did happen, however to Korach. He was a leader of the Levite Tribe, but he wanted more. He challenged Moshe’s leadership and organized a revolt. For this HaShem had the earth open up and swallow him up. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/shelach_lecha.html/ Sat, 18 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/shelach_lecha.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is שְׁלַח לְׁךָ (Shelach Lecha). In this week’s parsha, scouts are sent out into The Land of Israel. They each cover a different area, but upon their return they don’t report quietly to Moshe, they report to the whole community. This is like a company that runs a POC on the cloud and instead of reporting to their directors, they tell the whole company the report. And the report they give is accurate in the facts, but the interpretation is flawed. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/nasso_-_shavuot.html/ Sat, 04 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/nasso_-_shavuot.html/ Chevre, the parsha this week (in Israel) is נָשאֹׂ (Nasso) followed immediately by שָבוּעוֹת (Chag Shavuot). A large part of Nasso is taken up with the offerings of the 12 Princes of Israel during the inaugruation of the Mishkan. Each one is identical except for the name of the Prince and the Tribe they represent. to me, this looks like a CloudFormation template with the details and details over and over. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/bamidbar.html/ Sat, 28 May 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/bamidbar.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּמִדְּבַּר (Bamidbar). This parsha, called Numbers in English, is very Amazonian. We start with metrics, the counting of the tribes, then we go into the layout of the camp and then we go back to Levi for their encampment placements and specific travel jobs. Who puts there tents on which side of the Mishkan. What is really interesting, is that the Mishkan already here is directed East/West. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/behuchotai.html/ Sat, 21 May 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/behuchotai.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha in Israel is בְּחֻקֹּתַי (Bechukotai). This week we finish the book of Vayikra which is the book of instructions for the priests. The majority of this week’s parsha is around blessing and curses. If we do what is proper, follow AWS best practices, then good things will happen like automatic scaling and failovers. If we do not do what is proper, then we could get surprise bills or outages. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/behar.html/ Sun, 15 May 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/behar.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha in Israel is בְּהַר (Behar). The parsha starts this week with some mitzvot about the land. We learn about Shemitah (which we are going through now in Israel) where we don’t work the fields, Yovel (or Jubilee) where land is returned to the original owners, we learn about redeeming the land since it’s not sold in perpetuity and we learn about the Levite cities since the tribe of Levy do not have a land portion other than some cities. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/kedoshim.html/ Sat, 30 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/kedoshim.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha in Israel is קְדֹשִׁים (Kedoshim). קְדֹשִׁ֣ים תִּהְי֑וּ כִּ֣י קָד֔וֹשׁ אֲנִ֖י ה“ אֱלֹקיכֶֽם “You shall be holy, for holy am I, HaShem your God.“ In the parsha we have a list of things that should or should not be done to make us holy. Honest business dealings, loving (brotherly) your neighbor, not mixing diverse species, moral correctness in times of war, honest weights and measures, eating only kosher or clean animals. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/sheviih_shel_pesach_-_achrei_mot.html/ Fri, 22 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/sheviih_shel_pesach_-_achrei_mot.html/ Chevre, this Friday is שביעי של פסח (Shevi’ih shel Pesach) followed immediately by אַחֲרֵי מוֹת (Achrei Mot). So the last day of Pesach is a holiday, we don’t do work like Shabbat, except on holidays we are allowed to cook (with specific restrictions). The last day of Pesach commemorates the splitting of the Sea of Suf (the Red Sea) during the Exodus story. What is interesting to me is that outside the Egyptians were being drowned, but inside the Jews were walking on dry land with the sea all around them. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/sheviih_shel_pesach_-_achrei_mot.html/ Fri, 22 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/sheviih_shel_pesach_-_achrei_mot.html/ Chevre, this Friday is שביעי של פסח (Shevi’ih shel Pesach) followed immediately by אַחֲרֵי מוֹת (Achrei Mot). So the last day of Pesach is a holiday, we don’t do work like Shabbat, except on holidays we are allowed to cook (with specific restrictions). The last day of Pesach commemorates the splitting of the Sea of Suf (the Red Sea) during the Exodus story. What is interesting to me is that outside the Egyptians were being drowned, but inside the Jews were walking on dry land with the sea all around them. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/pesach.html/ Fri, 15 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/pesach.html/ Chevre, there is no parsha this week because it’s Shabbat and פֶּסַח (Pesach/Passover). So we won’t be reading further in Sefer (the book of) Vayikra, we’ll get back to that next week. But this starts the week of Pesach. And since there is only 1 Shabbat of Pesach, in shul (synagogue) tomorrow, we’ll read Shir HaShirim or The Song of Songs. This is a love story and The Sages tell us this is HaShem telling Am Yisrael how much he loves us. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/metzora.html/ Sat, 09 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/metzora.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is מְצֹרָע (Metzora) and שבת הגדול (Shabbat HaGadol). This week we continue learning about Tzarat and we learn that it can “infect” clothing, objects and buildings. We learn there are purification processes for people and buildings. I think of Tzarat like tags applied to AWS resources. If we look for them, we can see them, but they don’t necessarily affect the functioning of the resource itself. If we (or the Cohen) do not look for them, then they have no impact. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/tazria.html/ Sat, 02 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/tazria.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is תזריע (Tazria). This week’s parsha is mostly about an affliction (not really a disease) called Tzarat. We’ve discussed this in the past, Tzarat is an affliction of Tumah (ritual purity, but not cleanliness). When Moshe stuck his hand in his shirt and brought it out white, that was Tzarat and Miriam gets afflicted with it when she spoke poorly about Moshe and he prayed for her to be healed. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/shemini.html/ Sat, 26 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/shemini.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is שְׁמִינִי (Shemini) and Parshat Parah. Parshat Parah is one of the parshiot leading up to Pesach (Passover) and it reminds us that before we can eat the Pascal Offering, that we need to become purified. There is a specific procedure, that we can’t do now because we don’t have The Red Heifer. But it is a preparation and reminder of the upcoming holiday. I like to think of these Special Parshiot leading up to Pesach as runway lights, we’re getting there, we can see the lights. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/tzav.html/ Sat, 19 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/tzav.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is צו (Tzav). This week’s parsha continues the explanation of the sacrifices. One interesting thing is the note that we shouldn’t eat blood. This leads to the kashering process where the blood is extracted from meat by using salt. I learned this week that this used to be done in people’s homes and so was a major part of Rabbinic training. Now this is done before it is sold to consumers and this reflects in the Rabbinic training as well. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayikra.html/ Sat, 12 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayikra.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיִּקְרָא (Vayikra). This week’s parsha starts the new book by the same name. We left off with the initialization of the Mishkan (aka a Region). Now we have a book mostly about how to use that region. This is the instruction book, the documentation, for what to do and who to do what. The Mishkan is considered to be a portable Temple. So in AWS parlance you might be thinking Outpost, but I think it’s more like a snowball, that they can be setup and taken down as needed. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/pekudei.html/ Sat, 05 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/pekudei.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is פְּקוּדֵי (Pekudei). This week’s parsha is the last in the Book of Shemot (Exodus). We have the reiteration of a bunch of things we’ve seen over the past few weeks, the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and finally the cloud covers the Tent of Meeting and God’s temporary place on Earth is “activated”. This second half of the Shemot seems to me like we get the architectural plans, this is what it should look like. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayakel.html/ Sat, 26 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayakel.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is וַיַקְהֵל (Vayakel) and it’s Parsha Shekalim. As I mentioned last week, Shekalim is the parsha that reminds us that in the near future we will be contribuing our 1/2 shekel to The Temple for use in communal offerings. This is the first of the special parshiot leading up to Passover/Pesach. So you can think of it as the beginning of the countdown. The prasha, Vayakel, starts with Shabbat. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/ki_tisa.html/ Sat, 19 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/ki_tisa.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is כִּי תִּשָּׂא (Ki Tisa). And the parsha starts with how Bnei Yisrael is to take a census. It is generally considered “bad” to count people in Judaism, so instead we count things. At shul (synagogue) when we need to count for a minyan we use a 10 word pasuk or we say not 1, not 2, or we count kippot. Anything to avoid counting people [1]. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/purim.html/ Wed, 16 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/purim.html/ Chevre, tomorrow is פורים (Purim). On the day of Purim there is a lot going on. We are to give Tzedakah (Matanot LeEvyonim), we hear the Megilla, we have a suedah (usually with friends and/or family), we dress up in costumes (and/or wear non-Covid type masks) and we drink alcohol. There are a lot of hidden messages in the Megillat Esther. There are times that the trope or music the book is read with changes to that of Eicha from Tisha BeAv. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/titzaveh.html/ Sat, 12 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/titzaveh.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is תְּצַוֶּה (Titzaveh). Where last week we learned about the items and makeup of the Mishkan, this week we start with the oil for The Menorah, the vestments (aka swag, but they don’t get to keep it) of the Kohanim including what the Kohen HaGadol wears, and we have the inauguration of the Kohanim. So with any new deployment the starting point is important. The details on how we start our journey can affect us for a long time to come. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/terumah.html/ Sat, 05 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/terumah.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is תְּרוּמָה (Terumah). This week we have a description of the Mishkan (The Tabernacle) including the roof/cover, the walls, the divider; the Ark; The Table; The Menorah; The Inside Alter; and The Courtyard. In true Amazonian style, this is all written out, no pictures, but in my version only takes up 4 pages and not 6. Not to worry, next week we’ll see more. So the details of these holy items are also found, sometimes scaled out, in the 1st and 2nd Temples. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/yitro.html/ Sat, 22 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/yitro.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is יִתְרוֹ (Yitro). Yitro is Moshe’s father-in-law. He shows up in this week’s parsha as the TAM. He goes to Moshe and tells him, you have a scaling problem. Let’s talk about some best practices so you can scale better. Moshe implements the recommendation and everyone’s lives are better. Instead of Moshe taking on all the cases of the people of Israel, he now has setup a hierarchy where he only has to adjudicate the hardest problems. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/beshalach.html/ Sat, 15 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/beshalach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּשַׁלַׁח (BeShalach). The main focus of the parsha is the splitting of The Red Sea (or the Sea of Suf) and like my calendar on a good day the waters (or my appointments/meetings) magically moved to the side (or disappeared). We also have the Man (or Manna) which is the food the Israelites ate in the desert for 40 years. There are varying stories of what it tasted like, either it tasted like nothing (Covid folks may be able to relate) or it tasted like what the individual wanted it taste like. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/bo.html/ Sat, 08 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/bo.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is באֹּ (Bo). Last week we had the start of the exodus plagues and this week we have the rest of them. What is interesting is after the exodus plagues, we have some commandments. Remember the exodus, what to do with the firstborns and making signs on your arm and between your eyes. So now that we are free from the shackles of the data center, we are able to take on some personal responsibilities. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayera.html/ Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2022/vayera.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּרָא (Vayera). This week’s parsha starts with the 3 strangers visiting Avraham who is recovering from his Brit Milah (circumcision). This is were the sages learn the mitzvah of visiting the sick. While attending to sick applications, workloads, instances and lambads are important, visiting severly sick folks properly is important. Proper means showing you are thinking about them (Chime, Zoom, Phone Call, Email, Whatsap, actually visiting), but also respecting that they may not have the strength for visitors. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vaeira2.html/ Sun, 26 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vaeira2.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וָאֵרָא (Va’eira). In Shemot, last week, we had a list of people that went from Israel to Egypt. Now we have a list of the heads of the houses of Israel in Egypt. I actually got confused last week when talking to my family and called the book Numbers, which is Bamidbar, but that book starts and ends with counts of the people as well. At this point, I’m of the thinking that we should setup VPC Flow Logs, CloudTrail, S3 Access Logs, or the automated family counter to create the data in my S3 bucket s3://in-and-out-of-egypt/vaeira/ and then I can query the data via “normal” tools like Amazon Athena. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shemot2.html/ Sat, 25 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shemot2.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is שְׁמוֹת (Shemot). This week’s parsha starts with a large turnover at the head of the company. The CEO (aka Pharoah) doesn’t remember what Yosef did to save the company. The engineering team (aka the Jewish People) are given crazy deadlines that they can’t possibly meet. This kinda reminds me of what I’m told it’s like to work at a startup. A leader is born and he’s the step brother of the CEO. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayechi2.html/ Sat, 18 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayechi2.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיְחִי (Vayechi). This is the final parsha of Sefer Beresheit. Most of the parsha is Yaakov giving “blessings” to his sons. It seems more like a Well Architected Framework Review where each son is highlighted for their strengths or faults during their lifetimes. Yaakov then requests to be buried in Hevron, he dies and there is the funeral in Hevron. While there, Yosef’s brothers are worried he will take revenge on them, so they tell him that their father wanted them to get along and for Yosef to not take revenge. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/miketz_-_chanukah.html/ Sat, 04 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/miketz_-_chanukah.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is מִקֵּץ (Miketz) and it’s חנוכה (Chanukah). In this week’s parsha we have the story of Yosef interpretting Paroh’s dreams and taking over the government of Egypt. His brothers come down to get food during the famine and he takes Shimon into custody until his brother Benyamin will be brought down to Egypt. Benyamin is accused of theft and Judah, who sold Yosef into slavery and did Teshuvah (repentance) sticks up for Benyamin. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayeshev.html/ Sat, 27 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayeshev.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּשֶׁב (Vayeshev). In this week’s parsha we start to focus on the next generation. Like upgrading from c5 instances to c6i or c6g types. Yaakov has a favorite son (pets not herds), Yoseph, who is a dreamer and doesn’t understand when to keep his dreams to himself. This causes friction between the brothers. Yaakov sends Yoseph to check on his brothers. They throw him in a pit and sell him into slavery to be brought to Mitzrayim. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayishlach.html/ Sat, 20 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayishlach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיִּשְׁלַח (Vayishlach). This week we have the sending of emissaries from Yakov to Esav. Yakov is offering up his wealth to Esav. These are the results of the bracha he “stole” from Esav before running away. He is appeasing his brother and trying to give the bracha back. The family drama continues with the defiling of Dina in Shechem and the trickery that Levi and Simon use to get “justice. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/toldot.html/ Sat, 06 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/toldot.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is תּוֹלְדֹת (Toldot). Nearly the entire parsha is comprised of the relationship between Esav and Yakov. Starting with them fighting in Rebecca’s womb, Esav coming home from the hunt and selling his birthright to Yakov and culminating with Yakov stealing Esav’s blessing and fleeing the country. When Rebecca sees that Yitchak is getting ready to bless Esav, she prepares Yakov to take his place. She makes the food for the meal and dresses Yakov in Esav’s clothing. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/chayei_sarah.html/ Sat, 30 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/chayei_sarah.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is חַיֵּי שָׂרָׂה (Chayei Sarah). I would like to dedicate this week’s drosh to my friend Big Mike, who passed away last Shabbat from COVID, may his memory be a blessing. There are several deaths in this week’s parsha. We start with the death of Sarah. Avraham then sends his servant to find a wife for Isaac, ensuring continuity (the proverbial hit by a bus problem) for the family (or product, project). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vaeira2.html/ Sat, 23 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vaeira2.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וָאֵרָא (Va’eira). In Shemot, last week, we had a list of people that went from Israel to Egypt. Now we have a list of the heads of the houses of Israel in Egypt. I actually got confused last week when talking to my family and called the book Numbers, which is Bamidbar, but that book starts and ends with counts of the people as well. At this point, I’m of the thinking that we should setup VPC Flow Logs, CloudTrail, S3 Access Logs, or the automated family counter to create the data in my S3 bucket s3://in-and-out-of-egypt/vaeira/ and then I can query the data via “normal” tools like Amazon Athena. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayera.html/ Sat, 23 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayera.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּרָא (Vayera). There is a lot that happens in this parsha. If I was to try to find a theme throughout the various stories, it would come down to being good to other people. In Yiddish, what is called a Mensch. This is where Avraham fights for the saving of Sdom and Amora, where Lot brings in visitors and offers them hospitality. There are also a lot of areas that could be improved including the fact that Sdom had to be destoryed and the Lot offered his daughters to the people of Sdom do defile instead of his guests. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/noach.html/ Sat, 09 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/noach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is נֹ חַ (Noach). According to tradition, Noach was misunderstood for a long time while he was building the arch. He thought that the people would see what he was doing and ask about it. He was willing to be misunderstood for a long time, like Amazon. So Noach built his ark, we’ll name it the HMS Snowball, he loads up 2 of every animal, for our case we’ll call this data, and then sets sail via UPS. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/beresheit.html/ Sat, 02 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/beresheit.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּרֵאשִׁית (Bereshit). In the beginning AWS created SQS. And AWS saw that SQS was good. There was evening and there was morning Day 1. Then AWS created S3. And AWS saw that S3 was good. There was evening and there was morning Day 1. Then AWS created EC2. And AWS saw that EC2 was good. There was evening and there was morning Day 1. Then AWS created RDS. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/hoshanah_rabba_-_shemini_atzeret_simchat_torah.html/ Mon, 27 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/hoshanah_rabba_-_shemini_atzeret_simchat_torah.html/ Chevre, today is הושענא רבה (Hoshanah Rabba) and, in Israel, tonight/tomorrow is שְׁמִּינִּי עֲצֶרֶת + שמחת תורה (Shemini Atzeret + Simchat Torah). Outside Israel, tonight/tomorrow is Shemini Atzeret and the next day is Simchat Torah. So there is a lot going on in these couple of days. Hashanah Rabba is a part of Sukkot, it’s the last day of Sukkot, but it’s also the last day of Teshuvah that we have been working on since we started adding some extra prayers way back at the start of Elul. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shabbat_chol_hamoed_sukkot.html/ Sat, 25 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shabbat_chol_hamoed_sukkot.html/ Chevre, there is no parsha this week because it’s Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot. ;-) What is special about this Shabbat is that we will be reading קהלת (Kohelet) or Ecclisiastes in English. This book is traditionally believed to be written by Shlomo HaMelech. What is interesting to me is that Sukkot is called Zman Simchatenu in Musaf. But Kohelet is pretty dark, like the author is depressed for most of the book. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/sukkot.html/ Mon, 20 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/sukkot.html/ Chevre, tonight starts סֻּכוֹת (Sukkot). There are so many things that we could talk about regarding this holiday. We leave our houses and sit in temporary dwellings, like a container that leaves a data center, EC2, ECS, EKS, etc etc to temporarily be run as a Lambda. We are confident in our teshuva from Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that G-d will protect us in the elements. This is the only holiday of the 3 major festivals (Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot) that does not specifically commemorate an event. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/hazinu.html/ Sat, 18 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/hazinu.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is הַאֲזִּינוּ (Hazinu). Most of this week’s parsha is taken up with Moshe’s final goodbye to the people of Israel. It’s written as a “song” meaning the verses are split in half. It’s similar to a spot node that has it’s 2 min warning and needs to finish some things before being terminated. Moshe was on such a level that he was given this spot termination warning. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/yom_kippur.html/ Wed, 15 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/yom_kippur.html/ Chevre, tomorrow is יוֹם הַכִּפֻּרִּים (Yom Kippur). The gemara states that for infractions between Adam (person) and HaMakom (G-d), Yom Kippur atones. But for infractions between Adam and his friend, Yom Kippur does not atone until Adam requests for forgiveness. So we have a special API with the All Mighty, but we need to cleanse ourselves first. We have been doing this over the past month with special prayers (Selichot, extra Psalms/Tehillim). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayelech.html/ Sat, 11 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayelech.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּלֶךְ (Vayelech) and it’s שבת שובה (Shabbat Shuvah). This week’s parsha is short, but it includes something really interesting, Hakel. Every 7 years, during Shemitah, which we just started, the king will get up and read certain sections from the Torah. Everyone was to gather around and hear the king read these sections. It’s a reminder that the Torah is accessible to everyone and that it’s everyone’s responsibility to learn and follow the Torah. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/rosh_hashanah.html/ Tue, 07 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/rosh_hashanah.html/ Chevre, as you might have noticed, tomorrow is ראֹשׁ הַשָּנָּה (Rosh Hashanah). As we have talked about in the past, Rosh Hashanah is complicated and often has concepts that clash. It’s a holiday with lots of food and feasting, but on the other hand it’s Yom HaDin (Day of Judgement). We dress in white for purity and offer selichot, but there is no Tachanun (the standard prayer for forgiveness) because it’s a holiday. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/nitzavim.html/ Sat, 04 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/nitzavim.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is נִצָּבִ֤ים (Nitzavim). There are times when folks get into things and they feel that it’s an impossible task. I personally feel this way when I start learning for a new AWS Certification. However, with some perseverance, patience and a lot of work, it’s possible to achieve. The parsha this week tells us that the Torah too is not in Heaven, but is in the world and attainable. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/ki_tetze.html/ Sat, 21 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/ki_tetze.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is כִּי תֵצֵא (Ki Teze). When I started to become religious, I found myself in a Gemara (Talmud) class where we learned about restoring lost objects, which appears in this week’s parsha. At the time I was on a program in Arad, Israel east of Beer Sheva. A few days later we found a lost lamb. Having just learned that we need to return this lost animal, we tried to figure out what to do. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shoftim.html/ Sat, 14 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shoftim.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is שֹׁפְטִים (Shoftim). There is an interesting section in this week’s parsha around prophecy. First we are told (again) to not use magic or worship idols, but when we come into the land, some of us will have prophecy. This is almost like a 6th sense or the ability to see visions or dreams that will eventually come true. In Amazon we talk about being able to see around corners, but in our case this comes from experience and not necessarily from prophecy. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/reeh.html/ Sat, 07 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/reeh.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is רְאֵה (Re’eh). One of the sections this week talks about the prohibition to copy the religious rites of the Canaanites. When Amazonians go for PR Speaker training, we learn about how Amazon does not look at competitors, but only talks to customers. Here, we are told the Torah is God’s word to us and we should do what God says. In this case, with rites and prayers, God is our customer. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/ekev.html/ Sat, 31 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/ekev.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is עֵקֶב (Ekev). There is a section in this week’s parsha where it talks about the good things about the land of Israel that the Bnei Israel will come to posses. One of the key phrases is that HaShem is always watching it. There are Midrashim that every land has an Angel that watches over it, but in Israel, we have the eyes of HaShem. So just as every data center has some form of monitoring, the monitoring used in AWS Regions is the best of the best. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vaetchanan.html/ Sat, 24 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vaetchanan.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וָאֶתְחַנַן (Va’et’chanan). As part of Moses’ summary in the book of Devarim, this week we have the repetition of the 10 commandments and the start of the Shema. There is an interesting section this week where we are told that when we enter The Land of Israel, we will be living in other people’s houses. During the war, the locals will either flee or be killed in battle and the Bnei Israel will take over their homes. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/matot_-_masei.html/ Sat, 10 Jul 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/matot_-_masei.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is מַטּוֹת - מַסְעֵי (Matot - Masei) and Shabbat is Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av. This week we conclude Sefer Bamidbar. In previous years I have written about the Multi-AZ aspect of the region with 2.5 Tribes electing (pushing) to stay on the East side of the Jordan River and the rest coming into Eretz Yisrael proper on the West side. Maybe this is even more poignant now that we are building an AWS region here in Israel. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/balak.html/ Sat, 26 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/balak.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בָּלָּק (Balak). We have the story of Bilaam hiring Balak to curse the Israelites. Every time he goes to curse them he blesses them. What I really find intriguing about this parsha is that from the outside, Balak essentially is singing the praises of the Bnei Israel as forced into the mouth of Balak. But on the inside, the Israelites are actually not followinng the rules and are doing some aweful things with sexual immorality. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/chukat.html/ Sat, 19 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/chukat.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is חֻקַּת (Chukat). This week we have the death of Miriam, Moshe’s sister. After she passes the water no longer flows for the Bnei Israel in the desert. We then have the story of Moshe striking the rock (like he did in the past) instead of speaking to the rock, like he was told to do. So the water flows, the people are saved, but Moshe gets in trouble. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/korach.html/ Sat, 12 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/korach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is קֹרַח (Korach). In addition to Korach and family being swallowed up by the earth and there happened to be a sink hole at Share Tzedek Hospital this week [1]. If I was taking this week’s parsha as notes on a loop, I don’t think Korach would do very well. He says he’s Customer Obsessed, but seems to lack Have Backbone, Disagree; and Commit. Maybe Moshe could use more Are Right A Lot in getting opinions, but he did take advice from his father-in-law and create the Sanhedrin (Invent and Simplify). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shelach.html/ Sat, 05 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shelach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is שְׁלַח לְׁךָ (Shelach Lecha) and it’s my Bar Mitzvah parsha. We start out with the story of the scouts, often called the spies. 1 person from each tribe is sent out. When they come back, they go directly to the people and not to Moshe. They bypassed leadership and went public. 10 of the scouts were against going into the land and 2 were for. So first off, the scouts violated the policy of talking to the public. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/naso.html/ Sat, 22 May 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/naso.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is נָשאֹׂ (Naso). Most of the parsha is taken up with the inauguration of the Mishkan by the princes of the 12 tribes. What was amazing here is that none of the princes tried to 1-up the other. Without auto-scaling groups or any prior communication, no launch template, they all brought the exact same offerings. This is considered by the sages to be a show of togetherness (Achdut). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/bamidbar.html/ Sat, 15 May 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/bamidbar.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּמִדְּבַּר (Bamidbar). It is not halachically proper to count Jews. When a census was needed during the Temple times, every Jewish Male over a specific age would contribute a 1/2 sheckel and these sheckels would be counted. David HaMelech got in trouble for performing an unsanctioned census. As an Amazonian, I need metrics to make informed decisions. The census at the start of Bamidbar was ordered by HaShem. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shavuot.html/ Sat, 15 May 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shavuot.html/ Chevre, tonight/tomorrow is שָׁבוּעוֹת (Shavuot). Shavuot is connected with Pesach. After we left Egypt, we went out into the desert, became purified and then received the Torah. So we count the Omer which is a measure of grain from Pesach to Shavuot. Similar to how Sukkot has Shemini Atzeret at the end (although the very next day), Shavuot is weeks later. I think of them like having Multi-AZ DB (Sukkot + Shemini Atzeret) vs having a Global DB Replica (Pesach + Shavuot). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/behar_-_behukotai.html/ Sat, 08 May 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/behar_-_behukotai.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּהַר - בְּחֻקֹּתַי (Behar-Behukotai). We finish Sefer Vayikra. In the parsha there is a lot of discussion about how we interact with the land, like with Shemita, Yovel and redeeming the land. It then gets into the rules of slavery. This was abolished in Jewish law at various times around the world, but mostly around the mid 1800’s. What we can learn here, however, is how to treat our co-workers and colleagues. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/emor.html/ Sat, 01 May 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/emor.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is אֱמֹר (Emor). I’m not going to talk about the parsha today. I am dismayed about the news of the stampede in Meron last night. I personally have mixed feelings around Lab B’Omer in general. I like the idea of folks getting together (COVID safe) and having a spiritual uplifting event. On the other hand, I heard in the news this week that based on the 2018 (2019 the fires were cancelled because of a heat wave and 2020 was COVID), that the emissions in Israel from the fires were estimated to be that of 70k cars for a year. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/achrei_mot_-_kedoshim.html/ Sat, 24 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/achrei_mot_-_kedoshim.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is אַחֲרֵי מוֹת - קְדֹשִׁים (Achrei Mot - Kedoshim). We learn this week about a lot of things we should be doing and shouldn’t be doing individually. Fore example, don’t pass your children through the Molech. This was a practice that took place where children would either be passed through fire or a ring of fire and it was a form of idol worship (עבודה זרה Avodah Zarah, literally strange work). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/tazria_-_metzora.html/ Sat, 17 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/tazria_-_metzora.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is תַּזְרִיעַּ - מְצֹרָע (Tazria-Metzora). The parsha focuses mostly on physical conditions in the person. I initially wanted to say medical, but some of the conditions could also be spirtual in nature and/or spiritually impure. We’ve talked before about the idea that the potential for holiness can cause a longer period of impurity. In the cases of spiritual impurity, the Kohen is the one that declares the person impure and instructs them on what they need to do. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shemini.html/ Sat, 10 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shemini.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is שְׁמִינִי (Shemini). This week’s parsha starts off with the priestly service. If we continue a theme we’ve spoken about periodically where the Mishkan is like a Data Center / AZ / Region, then the priests would be the caretakers of the infrastructure. Only the priests are allowed to enter the Mishkan and at certain times for specific purposes. Similarly, only authorized people are allowed in Data Centers for specific tasks. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/ki_tisa.html/ Tue, 06 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/ki_tisa.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is כִּי תִּשָּׂא (Ki Tisa) and Parshat Parah. In this week’s parsha we learn about The Golden Calf AND it’s Parshat Parah. Now the Red Heffer is often considered a tikkun or fix for the sin of The Golden Calf. Because we sinned with The Golden Calf, we became impure and have to go through a process to purify ourselves. We learn about it now so that we will have time to purify before bringing our sacrifices on Pesach (Passover). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/tzav_-_pesach.html/ Sat, 27 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/tzav_-_pesach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is צַו (Tzav) and it leads directly into פֶּסַח (Pesach). Tzav continues to talk about sacrifices, but ends with the concecration or bootstrapping of the work in the Mishkan. Understanding what has to be done to get started is important. There are important things that have to be done to get up and running. IAM and/or SSO users need to be made, password policies need to be implemented. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayikra.html/ Sat, 20 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayikra.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיִּקְרָא (Vayikra). Sefer Vayikra in the Gemara (Talmud) is called the Book of the Cohanim (Priests). This is where all the sacrifices are spelled out. Now that we have the Mishkan (see last week), we need to know how to use it. Here are all the details we need to get the most out of our Data Center. And similarly to how AWS works to secure and protect our customers, there is room for mistakes. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayakel_-_pekudei.html/ Sat, 13 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayakel_-_pekudei.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיַקְהֵל - פְקוּדֵי (Vayakel-Pekudei) and Parshat HaChodesh. This is Parshat HaChodesh which announces the coming of Rosh Chodesh Nissan (Sunday) which means that Pesach is right around the corner. This is like how AWS announces things at re:Invent even when they are not yet available or only in Preview, like upcoming regions. We then have further explanations into the details of how the Mishkan was put together, the vestments worn by the Cohanim (Priests) and then Moshe builds the whole Mishkan by himself (do you think 1 person could build a whole region? https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/terumah.html/ Sat, 20 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/terumah.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is תְּרוּמָה (Terumah) and also Parshat זכור (Zachor). First of all, this is the month of Adar which is often called הפוכו or Upside Down 🙃. So that is why it was 70F (21C) last week and snowing ❄️ this week. Next up is that next week is already Purim 🤡. And then we get to the parsha and Zachor. Zachor is a mitzvah דריתא (Doritah, it’s Aramaic) or from the Torah. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/mishpatim.html/ Sat, 13 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/mishpatim.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is מִשְׁפָּטִים (Mishpatim) and it’s also Rosh Chodesh Adar. So there is an idea that Adar is upside 🙃 and/or backwards because Adar has Purim 🤡. Maybe for us this year, that means going out of lockdown for 1 day 🤷‍♂️. So the parsha starts off pretty dry with all kinds of laws around slavery, loans, damages. But at the end there is the prophecy at Har Sinai. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/yitro.html/ Sat, 06 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/yitro.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is יִתְרוֹ (Yitro). There are a few interesting things in the parsha this week. The most poignant is that Yitro comes to Moshe and explains to him that he can’t do everything, he has to delegate. He had been sitting from morning to night doing everything himself. So Moshe took 70 elders who can be the judges of the smaller cases and only refer to Moshe, with his direct connection to HaShem for the difficult cases. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/beshalach.html/ Sat, 30 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/beshalach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּשַׁלַׁח (BeShalach). We have the destruction of the Egyptian army (aka, the on-prem data centers are cleared out) and the song sung by the Israelites after the destruction. We can think of all the folks that used to spend 1/2 their time running the data center and the other 1/2 trying to get work done as so happy now that they can focus on their work and don’t have to crawl under floors running cables for that new shiny server that will be under utilized. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/bo.html/ Sat, 23 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/bo.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is באֹּ (Bo). In this week’s parsha we have the continuation of the last few plagues; (8) Earthquake (9) Pandemic (10) the problematic CTO from last week get’s fired because he refuses to move to the cloud. And then we have the description of how the Bnei Yisrael prepared for and left their Data Centers for the cloud. In reality, this is the description of Passover, but it does end with the Amud Anon or the pillar of cloud (during the day and pillar of fire at night). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vaera.html/ Sat, 16 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vaera.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וָאֵרָא (Vaera). In this week’s parsha we have 7 of the Passover (Pesach) plagues. Thinking about the stubborn CTO what doesn’t want to move to the cloud and run their own data centers. (1) The dreaded backhoe that cuts large wads of fibers (2) The misconfigured BGP that takes down all your data centers at once (3) Floods (4) Power outages or worse, Power brownouts (5) Fire, either inside or outside your data center (6) simple hardware failure for things like your backup generators, UPSes or cooling systems (7) Hail, the midrash talks about hail with fire inside, like firebombs, those could cause some problems if they hit your building. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shemot.html/ Sat, 09 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/shemot.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is שְׁמוֹת (Shemot). In the parsha we have the commandment to Moshe to save the Jewish people from slavery. I sincerely hope that some of our customers do not require a burning bush to get the message that moving to the promised land (on the cloud) is the right thing to do. Unfortunately, depending on the C-suite, they could be like Paro and increase the burden before understanding how the cloud can make them more efficient through automation. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayechi.html/ Sat, 02 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vayechi.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיְחִי (Vayechi). This week’s parsha has a lot of endings. It starts with the upcoming death of Yaakov, the cross-armed blessing that Yaakov gives to Yosef’s sons, the “brachot” that Yaakov gives to his sons. These were more foreshadowing than brachot and not all of them were so nice. Finally, he dies and is buried in Hevron. The brothers are now worried that Yosef will take revenge on them. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/miketz.html/ Sat, 19 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/miketz.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is מִקֵּץ (Miketz). In this week’s parsha we have Pharoah’s dreams that can’t be interpreted. His cup bearer remembers Yosef, who is still in jail, and he is summoned. Yosef is able to interpret Pharoah’s dreams and Pharoah puts him in charge of the operation of saving food for the lean years. This is truly a rags, from prison, to riches, running Egypt the Super Power of the time. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayeshev_-_chanukah.html/ Sat, 12 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayeshev_-_chanukah.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּשֶׁב (Vayeshev) and it’s Shabbat Chanukah. I’ll be speaking to the Israeli team next week about Chanukah, so I’ll stick with the parsha here. The parsha starts with Joseph’s dreams and talk about Think Big. He dreams about leading his brothers and his mother. But being so Amazonian, he’s truly misunderstood and will be for a long time. There is the side story of Yehudah and Tamar and then back to Yosef. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayishlach.html/ Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayishlach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיִּשְׁלַח (Vayishlach). As you may know, on Shabbat afternoon, we start to read the next parsha. Last week there was a discussion about how to read 1 word. It wasn’t the actual pronouncement of the word, but about the laining, the sing-song reading of the word. There were 2 variations, one had a happier tune and one had a dower (less happy) tune. The word is קטנתי and in this context it talks about how small Yaakov was or felt in relation to Hashem. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayetze.html/ Sat, 28 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayetze.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּצֵּא (Vayetze). In addition to the deceit by Lavan to Yaakov in the marriage of Leah and Rachel, Lavan also changes the work contract for the herd that Yaakov is tending to after the marriage work was complete. Lavan changes the rules many times and Yaakov is able to adapt and consistently come out ahead. Finally, Yaakov has completed all his contractual obligations and flees from Lavan to avoid further treachery. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/chai_sarah.html/ Sat, 14 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/chai_sarah.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is חַיֵּי שָׂרָׂה (Chai Sarah). The first thing that Avraham does after purchasing a burial plot for Sarah and buring her is to organize his needs. He needs Yitchak to be set to continue, he needs a wife. He has Eliezer, his servant, goes out and lays down the requirements. So when a business has a failure and no longer wants to run their own data centers, they need to look for a better place to run them. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayeira.html/ Sat, 07 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayeira.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּרָא (Vayeira). This week we read about the destruction of Sdom and Amora. We have Avraham asking HaShem, can you destroy the righteous with the wicked? Can you delete the S3 bucket when there is still data in it? So there is a negotiation, Israeli Chutzpa has a source, where Avraham and God negotiate down to 10 people. Finally, the cities will be destroyed. But before deleting that bucket, let’s save Lot out of that doomed society. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/lech_lecha.html/ Sat, 31 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/lech_lecha.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is לֶךְ לְךָ (Lech Lecha). At the end of last week, we had the Tower of Bavel. So it seems that the world started with 1 language. As we know today, the world has many languages (I’ll throw a few in here: Ada, Bash, C (and all it’s derivatives), Java, Perl, Python, SQL, Typescript and many many many more). What strikes me intresting this week’s parsha is that Avraham wouldn’t take honors or rewards for the battle of the 5 kings, but he did take presents from Egypt. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/noah.html/ Sat, 24 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/noah.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Noah. We all know the story about how the clouds (all AWS regions) opened up and flooded the world. Noah, however, was able to transfer 2 of each instance type (aka animals) to his ark (AZs are built to not be in the same flood plains) and preserve his workload (all life on the planet). When the incident was over, he was able to move back to all this regions and AZs and his workloads were able to auto-scale to fill the planet. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/noah2.html/ Sat, 24 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/noah2.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is נֹ חַ (Noah). A comment was made on my Dvar Torah last week that I’d say something about a Low Level format using Hot Water and a Compressed Backup (Aryeh Radle). While that is an interesting thought, it seems that this is more of a migration using an AWS Snowball or Snow mobile from on-prem. A common mistake in pictures of Noah’s Ark is that there are only 2 of every animal. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/noah3.html/ Sat, 24 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/noah3.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is נֹ ח. Last year I talked about flooding and AZs, that is the majority of the parsha. What is interesting though, is at the very end, we have The Tower of Babel. This is where they tried to build a tower to reach G-d and their languages were confused as a result. Our building in Tel Aviv is pretty tall (64 stories, not all ours of course) and inside it, we have cloud services like Translate, Comprehend, Transcribe, Polly and Lex. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/beresheit.html/ Sat, 17 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/beresheit.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּרֵאשִׁית (Beresheit). There are volumes written about this parsha, but what struck me this year is that it’s iterative. Meaning, the story about the creation of Eve is described twice. We see later that the 10 commanments are given twice as well. The sages actually tell us that us that before Beresheit there were many iterations. So we see that HaShem iterates, just like a developer does. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/simchat_torah_shemini_atzeret.html/ Sat, 10 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/simchat_torah_shemini_atzeret.html/ Chevre, this Shabbat is שְׁמִינִי עֲצֶרֶת שמחת תורה (Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret). So this Shabbat is actually 2 holidays combined together. Outside of Israel, these are celebrated one day after the next. Shemini Atzeret is a holiday all to itself. After starting the teshuva process back at the beginning of Elul, through Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and now after having lived in the Sukkah (I’ve been connected to the cloud underneth the cloud of honor, aka the Sukkah) this is an extra holiday. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/sukkot.html/ Fri, 02 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/sukkot.html/ Chevre, there is no parsha this week. This Shabbat is סֻכּוֹת (Sukkot). When I was still running data centers, I spent a lot of time in them. Wiring, checking the A/C Temperature, setting up monitoring. As we prepare to exit the confines of our houses and enter the Sukkah, we are moving from the world of material to the world of spiritual. After Yom Kippur, we rely on HaShem to protect us in the flimsy Sukkah. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/hazinu.html/ Sat, 26 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/hazinu.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is הַאֲזִינוּ (Hazinu). This is the last full parsha before Simchat Torah when we restart reading the Torah. There is a part of Moshe’s song that talks about G-d’s wrath. If we think about his wrath as natural disasters, then it the job of AWS to help our customers mitigate that wrath. By being multi-AZ and maybe even multi-Region, our customers can succeed to operate globally even when 1 part of the world undergoes a natural disaster. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/rosh_hashanah.html/ Fri, 18 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/rosh_hashanah.html/ Chevre, there is no parsha this week. Instead this Shabbat is completely dedicated to Rosh Hashanah. There is a prayer we say during Selichot and in the Machzor (at least in Ashkenazi) called שמע קולינו (Hear our Voice). There is a line that states: “השיבינו ה׳ אליך חדש ימינו כקדם” Lead us back to you Hashem and we shall find the way back, renew our days as of old. Renew our days of old when we could hug each other without fear of dying. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/nitzavim_-_vayelech.html/ Sat, 12 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/nitzavim_-_vayelech.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is נִצָּבִים - וַיֵּלֶךְ (Nitzavim-Vayelech). There is a passage in this week’s parsha that really speaks to me. “For this commandment that I command you today - it is not hidden from you and it is not distant. It is not in heaven, for you to say, ‘Who can ascend to the heaven for us and take it for us, so that we can listen to it and perform it? https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/ki_-_tavo.html/ Sat, 05 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/ki_-_tavo.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is כִּי תָבוֹא (Ki-Tavo). In this week’s parsha we have the commandment that will take place on Har Eival and Har Grizim. So Am Yisrael will be split 1/2 and 1/2 on each mountain with the Levites in the middle. The blessings and curses will read and everyone will say Amen. So here we have a simple Pro/Con analysis. The folks are reminding themselves of what happens when you do the right things and when you do the wrong things. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/shoftim.html/ Sat, 22 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/shoftim.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is שֹׁפְטִים (Shoftim). We are marching toward the end of the Moshe’s speach and his repetition of many things we have seen before. “When you come to the Land that HaShem, your G-d, gives you, you shall not learn to act according to the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you one who causes his son or daughter to pass through the fire, one who practices divinations, an astrologer, one who reads omens, a sorcerer, or an animal charmer, one who inquires of Ov or Yidoni, or one who consults the dead. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/reeh.html/ Sat, 15 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/reeh.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is רְאֵה (Re’eh). The parsha this week continues Moshe’s farewell speech. One section talks about private altars and how offerings will be brought to the place “the please G-d chooses to rest His Name”. We understand this to be Jerusalem. In the AWS world, we understand this to be “friends don’t let friends build data centers”. In another section, we learn not to copy the customs of the locals. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/ekev.html/ Sat, 08 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/ekev.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is עֵקֶב (Ekev). One of the greatest midot (dimensions or aspects) of all the people I have met at AWS has been their humility. In this week’s parsha there is a warning thta you may say “My strength and the might of my hand made me all this wealth!” What I hear in AWS has only been, what do our customers need or what do our customers need that they might not know yet. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/devarim.html/ Sat, 25 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/devarim.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is דְּבָרִים (Devarim). There is a famous story about a time when a businessman asked Rav Kook about making aliyah. The man had dealings back home and would it be financially viable for him. Rav Kook answered that when Bnei Yisrael were on their way to Eretz Yisrael, the first war they had on entry was with Sichon Melech Heshbon. In the realm of Aliyah, the first thing you need to do is to kill any accounting (Heshbon). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/matot_-_masei.html/ Sat, 18 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/matot_-_masei.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is מַטּוֹת - מַסְעֵי (Matot - Masei). This week we finish reading Sefer Bamidbar. Last week I mentioned that 2.5 tribes requested to stay on the East Side of the Jordan River. When they made that request they said they would build pens for their animals, cities for their families and then come and fight. When Moshe approved their request, he re-ordered that list to fighting with the rest of Am Yisrael, making cities for their families and making pens for their animals. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/pinchas.html/ Sat, 11 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/pinchas.html/ Chevre, this week’s Parsha is פִּינְחָס (Pinchas). There is a small piece of this week’s parsha where Moshe goes up to the top of Mount Abarim and sees The Land of Israel. I like to think about this like when you are flying to Israel and finally see the coast line and you enter into the Israel airspace. No matter how many trips and how long I’ve lived here, this always brings me such joy. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/chukat.html/ Sat, 27 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/chukat.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is חֻקַּת (Chukat). In this week’s parsha Miriam, Moshe’s sister, dies and Am Yisrael lack fresh water. HaShem tells Moshe to speak to the rock to bring water. He strikes the rock, however, and water flows. As a result, he is told that he will not be entering Eretz Yisrael. There are often times many ways to do the same job using AWS APIs, but frequently, there are better ways to accomplish the goal that cost less. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/korach.html/ Sat, 20 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/korach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is קֹרַח (Korach). This week’s parsha is famous for the rebellion of Korach. But there was also the rebellion of Datan and Aviram and they were slightly different. Korach says that all of Am Yisrael is kodesh and that the leadership of Moshe and Aharon are not correct. Datan and Aviram reject Moshe as well, but they are not just challening the leadership, they are challenging the direction that they are moving in. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/shlach.html/ Fri, 12 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/shlach.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is שְׁלַח לְׁךָ (Shlach - Lecha). This week we have a clear example of how not to do “Have Backbone, Disagree and Commit”. First Moshe sends the scouts, 1 from each tribe, promenent men. Yehoshua, later, sends only 2 scouts in a military type operation. When they come back, they do not report back to him, but he puts them on a pedestal and has them tell the whole nation what they saw, without having vetted what they were going to say first. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/behaalotcha.html/ Sat, 06 Jun 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/behaalotcha.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is בְּהַעֲלֹתְּךָ (Beha’alotcha). There is an interesting section in our parsha. It states that the Levites will perform their functions from the age of 25, this actually starts their apprenticeship and they actually start working at 30. It then states that they will retire at the age of 50. From 50, they will not perform the functions of a Levi, but will minister with his brothers to safeguard the charge. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/shavuot_nasso.html/ Thu, 28 May 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/shavuot_nasso.html/ Chevre, tomorrow is שָׁבוּעוֹת (Shavuot) and Shabbat is Parshat נָׁשאֹׂ (Nasso). (Note: for those outside of Israel, Shavuot is a 2 day chag and so you will not read Nasso this week. Israel and the rest of the world will come back to the same parsha later, but I’ll only be writing about the Israeli readings). Shavuot is the giving of the Torah. It is a common minhag to stay up all night learning. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/bamidbar.html/ Sat, 23 May 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/bamidbar.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּמִדְּבַּר (Bamidbar) and today is also Yom Yerushalayim. The sefer starts off with CloudWatch (Athena, but can we talk about a Greek god in relation to the parsha?) and the counting of the members of the tribes. What is interesting is comparing this list with the list that happens later (after the 40 years). And the tribes count is from age 20 and above. Levi, however, is counted separately and they count from 1 month and above. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/behar_-_behukotai.html/ Sat, 16 May 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/behar_-_behukotai.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is בְּהַר - בְּחֻקֹּתַי (Behar-Behukotai). I’d like to start by saying thank you for all your warm wishes. My wife is home and recovering from her surgery. We feel truly blessed to have such great friends, family, neighbors and co-workers who have all helped us in so many different ways. It has been greatly appreciated. This week, we finish reading Sefer Vayikra. One of the interesting things discussed this week is Shemitah. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/achrei_-_mot_kedoshim.html/ Sat, 02 May 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/achrei_-_mot_kedoshim.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is אַחֲרֵי מוֹת - קְדֹשִׁים (Achrei-Mot Kedoshim). The last section of the parsha this week talks about the holiness of kashrut. While the rules of kashrut can get extremely complex, but restricting ourselves, we indicate that we can override our lower yearnings do what Hashem commands. Some of the rules we follow are spelled out explicitely in the Torah, but many of them are things that the sages learned by reading between the lines. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/tazria_metzora.html/ Sat, 25 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/tazria_metzora.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is תַּזְרִיעַּ - מְצֹרָע (Tazria Metzora) and is also Rosh Chodesh Iyar. The parsha speaks about contamination and purification (Tahara). It talks about people being contanimanted, clothes and belongings and even houses. If the house gets too contaminated, it needs to be destroyed and rebuilt. There is a Midrash about someone who had to destroy his house and found hidden treasure in the walls. I can imagine that if a developer was forced to read old code and re-write it for the cloud, that they too may find hidden treasure. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/shemini.html/ Sat, 18 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/shemini.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is שמיני (Shemini). The parsha starts with the kickoff of a new region, aka the priestly service in the mishkan. Soon after the start, however, Nadav and Avihu die doing an unauthorized service. The IAM was setup correctly, but these Admins went beyond what they should have. In our world this would include a large bill item and potentially being fired. Here they were fired for reel (they burned up). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/sheviih_shel_pesach.html/ Wed, 15 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/sheviih_shel_pesach.html/ Chevra, tomorrow is the 7th day of Pesach. Like the first day of Pesach, we don’t do work. The main focus of this day is on the miracle of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds. Up until this time, the people were still worried about Paro coming after them. Moshe stated, they wanted to go out 3 days journey to offer sacrifices to God. So on the 7th day, Paro realized that the people weren’t coming back. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/shabbat_chol_hamoed.html/ Fri, 10 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/shabbat_chol_hamoed.html/ Chevra, this Shabbat is Shabbat Chol HaMoed, we do not read a parsha this week. During the week of Pesach, we read various sections from Sefer Shemot. On Shabbat Chol HaMoed Pesach, we also would normally read Shir HaShirim. This is considered, by the Sages, to be a love story between Am Yisrael and HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The “standard” explanation for Jewish Holidays is “so and so tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat”. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/pesach.html/ Wed, 08 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/pesach.html/ Chevra, tonight is פסח (Pesach/Passover). I think we all know the story, or you’ll read it tonight, but this year is a bit different. In case you hadn’t heard, we are more like the original Jews having Pesach. We are shut in our homes. (I don’t have a lamb tied to my bed nor blood on the mezuzot of our house). We know that the Jews didn’t have time to let their dough rise, so they left with what they had. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/tzav.html/ Sat, 04 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/tzav.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is צַו (Tzav) and Shabbat HaGadol. What struck me about this week’s parsha is the section on Kashering. Given that we are all now doing our own kashering for Pesach. Normally, at least in my town, there is a communal kashering of items. The Rav and a group of experienced people help the residents kasher things for Pesach. Shabbat HaGadol is also one of the times in the year that The Rav of the community gives a long drasha on Shabbat afternoon. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayikra.html/ Sat, 28 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayikra.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is וַיִּקְרָא (Vayikra). This book of the Torah was called The Book of Cohanim by the Sages because it is very centered around the avodah of the priests in the Mishkan or Beit HaMikdash. I found in the parsha an interesting passage that talks about when the entire congregation makes a mistake and the matter is hidden from them. Given that we are all sitting at home and can’t see the enemy in the war raging around us, I connected with this passage. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayakhel_-_pekudei.html/ Sat, 21 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayakhel_-_pekudei.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is וַיַקְהֵל - פְקוּדֵי (Vayakhel-Pekudei) and Parshat HaChodesh. We will bless the month of Nissan that will be on Thursday of next week. And we will be finishing the book of Shemot. Now that we have read the whole book about leaving Egypt, we’ll embark on cleaning our houses (can’t complain about the commute anymore) before Pesach. What is also ironic about this week’s parsha is it starts with Moshe assembling the entire assembly of the Children of Israel. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/ki_tisa.html/ Sat, 14 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/ki_tisa.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is כִּי תִּשָּׂא (Ki Tisa) and Parshat פרה (Parah). The main focus of the parsha this week is the Golden Calf. Beforehand, Moshe receives the 1st tablets and afterwards, he recreates them. This week is also Parshat Parah, where we are reminded that before Pesach, we need to become tahor to bring the Korban Pesach to the Temple. It appears to just be a coincidence that the Golden Calf and Parshat Parah fall on the same Shabbat. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/purim.html/ Mon, 09 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/purim.html/ Chevra, today is פורים (Purim)! I was in a shiur once where they were saying that Achashveros was either a genius or really stupid. Throughout most of The Megilla, he is extremely passive. So either everyone is manipulating him or he is the one that is manipulating things around him from behind the scenes, but maintains plausible deniability. I used to work on a product that had 2 databases. One was extremely basic (and was a delight to upgrade and work with). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/tetzaveh_-_zachor.html/ Sat, 07 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/tetzaveh_-_zachor.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is תְּצַוֶּה (Tetzaveh) and Parshat Zachor. Zachor is when we remember what Amalek did to us and we read this every year before Purim. The parsha goes through the priestly vestments (clothes) and then through the inauguration ritual of the Mishkan. The parsha finishes with the daily offerings. What struck me as from this parsha in the wake of the latest global news is the idea that the whole Nation of Israel was together, but had very little interaction with the outside world. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/terumah.html/ Sat, 29 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/terumah.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is תְּרוּמָה (Terumah). This parsha discusses the building of the Mishkan. While this may appear to be completely material, it also has a deep spiritual context. This is the instructions for building the home on earth were The Holy One, Blessed be He, will reside. The obvious correlation to AWS would be the Region, AZ or Data Center. But I think what’s more important is the spiritual side. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/mishpatim.html/ Sat, 22 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/mishpatim.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is מִשְׁפָּטִים (Mishpatim). There is a phrase in English, “the devil is in the details”. Now that the Torah has been given, there is a laundry list of rules. Toward the end of the parsha is when Am Yisrael says “נעשה ונשמע” We will do and we will listen (or obey). Many people who jump into development and into the cloud start to do and then start to learn the details of what they are doing. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/yitro.html/ Sat, 15 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/yitro.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is יִתְרוֹ (Yitro). The first interesting thing to note is that the parsha is named after Moshe’s father-in-law, who is not Jewish. But Moshe, exibiting “is right a lot” listens to good advice from Yitro. From this, Moshe takes this advice and the advice of others, stores it in a data lake sitting on S3 and runs some Sagemaker and/or EMR on the data and comes up with what he should do. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/beshalach.html/ Sat, 08 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/beshalach.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is בְּשַׁלַׁח (BeShalach) and שבת שירה (Shabbat Shirah). The main section of the parsha is the song that is sung after Am Yisrael crosses the Red Sea (Yam Suf) and the Egyptian army is destroyed. For me, this was like when I attended an Awesome Day (Thanks Doron) and saw for the first time how powerful the cloud could potentially be. Next, Am Yisrael realizes they are in the middle of the desert and don’t have any food or water. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vaeira.html/ Sat, 25 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vaeira.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is וָאֵרָא (VaEira). Multiple times in the parsha, that includes 7 of the 10 plagues, it says that Paro’s heart was hardened. It goes to show that if Paro was running on AWS, he could have gotten the benefit of our enhanced security, hardened AMI (AWS Linux 2), serverless (where he wouldn’t have to harden anything except his code). It seems that Paro left himself open to security vulnerabilities. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/shemot.html/ Sat, 18 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/shemot.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is שְׁמוֹת (Shemot). We learn that Paro was using ephemeral storage on his instances and doesn’t remember what Yosef did for him. Moshe is born and saved by Paro’s daughter and eventually Moshe escapes to Midyan. When he’s in Midyan, HaKadosh Baruch Hu gives Moshe a couple of security tokens to prove who he is to Paro and sends him to tell Paro to let his people go. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayechi.html/ Sat, 11 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayechi.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is וַיְחִי (Vayechi). This week we finish sefer Beresheit. And we finish with Yaakov’s deathbed speach about what will happen with all the tribes going forward. So Yaakov does an S3 inventory of all his sons and then iterates over them using EMR or Athena to give his views on things. Yaakov makes Yosef promise to bury him in Hevron and then Yosef does it. The brothers, worried about retaliation, come to Yosef and again ask for forgiveness. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayigash.html/ Sat, 04 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2020/vayigash.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is וַיִּגַשׁ (Vayigash). In this week’s parsha, Yaacov and all his descendents leave the famine in Caanan and go to Egypt. So they back up a snowmobile, pile in all their data. They have an S3 inventory which we see as a list of who is going to Egypt. They take all their flocks and use DMS to transfer it into the cloud. And they move to Egypt where Yosef, the right hand of Paro, gives them the choicest land. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/chanukah_-_miketz.html/ Sat, 28 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/chanukah_-_miketz.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is מִקֵּץ (Miketz) and it’s Chanukah and Rosh Chodesh. As I mentioned at the candle lighting, the Beit HaMikdash is central to Jewish prayers. All prayers flow through the Beit HaMikdash and now through Har HaBayit. There were 2 Chanukah miracles. The bigger external one was the military victory of little Am Yisrael over the Greek Superpower of the time. It’s very similar to the War of Independence where recent survivors arrived, no one spoke the same language and barely everyone had a firearm let alone bullets that worked in that weapon. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vayeshev.html/ Sat, 21 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vayeshev.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּשֶׁב (Vayeshev). In this week’s parsha the main character is Yosef. He is sent out to find his brothers while wearing his long coat of many colors. This coat represents that he doesn’t work. With long sleeves that will get in the way and of many colors that he won’t want to get dirty, he is pampered and doesn’t want to work. His brothers throw him into a pit (empty, there was no water, meaning it may have had scorpions or other things in it). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vayishlach.html/ Sat, 14 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vayishlach.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is וַיִּשְׁלַח (Vayishlach). In this parsha we have Yaakov confronting Esav, but before that he spends the night fighting with a “man”. There are a lot of ideas who this “man” or angel was. One idea is that Yaakov was fighting with himself (like an Aurora storage sync about who had what data first), who he wants to be. When he comes out of the battle, he is told he’ll get the name Yisrael and he is no longer passive, but is active. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vayetze.html/ Sat, 07 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vayetze.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּצֵּא (Vayetze). We have the story of Jacob running away from his brother Esav, sleeping in Bet El, the dream of the Ladder, his working for 7 years for Rachel, but marrying Leah instead and then marrying Rachel and working another 7 years and he makes the way with 12 of his 13 named children (11 boys and Dina) most of the way to Eretz Yisrael. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/toldot.html/ Sat, 30 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/toldot.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is תּוֹלְדֹת (Toldot). We have the famous story of Esav coming back from hunting and being famished (super hungry). So much so, that he sells his birthright to Yaakov for a bowl of lentil soup. If I think of this story in terms of Leadership Principles, we can see the lack of Dive Deep (to really think about what he was doing), Are Right A Lot (he gets upset about losing his birthright later), Develop the Best, Insist on High Standards, and Think Big. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/chayei_sarah.html/ Sat, 23 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/chayei_sarah.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is חַיֵּי שָׂרָׂה. After Avraham buries Sarah he sends one of his people to find a wife for Yitchak. It’s said that making a marriage match is as difficult as creating the world. While finding the right talent at Amazon is probably not as difficult as creating the world, we can see that recruiting and maintaining our Higher Standards and Hire the Best is tough. May we learn from the story of Rachel that the right person (or in our case people) are out there and we just have to find them. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/lech_lecha.html/ Sat, 09 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/lech_lecha.html/ Chevar, this week’s parsha is לֶךְ לְךָ. In this parsha we have the strange scenario of the covenant between the parts. Avram (not Avraham till the end of the parsha) will follow HaShem and teach his ways and HaShem tells Avram that he will be a great nation born and raised (not cloud native), but through Saray (soon to be Sarah). It’s the first written indication of the shared responsibility model. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/beresheit.html/ Sat, 26 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/beresheit.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is בְּרֵאשִׁית. In the beginning, there was SQS and it was seen to be good. Night, morning, 1 day. Then was created S3 and it was seen to be good. Night, morning, 2nd day. Then was created EC2 and it was seen to be good. Night, morning, 3rd day. Then was created SNS and it was seen to be good. Night, morning, 4th day. Then was created VPC and it was seen to be very good. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/shemini_atzeret_and_simchat_torah.html/ Mon, 21 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/shemini_atzeret_and_simchat_torah.html/ Chevra, tonight and tomorrow are שְׁמִינִי עֲצֶרֶת and שמחת תורה. So there are several interesthing things here. First, these are technically seperate holidays and outside of Israel happen on different days. The idea of finishing reading the Torah every year and restarting only came about during the Babylonian Exile around the 6th Century BCE. One interesting fact is that the last word of the Torah is ישראל and the first word is בְּרֵאשִׁית. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/shabbat_chol_hamoed_sukkot.html/ Sun, 13 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/shabbat_chol_hamoed_sukkot.html/ Chevra, this Shabbat is Chol HaMoed Sukkot and so the normal parsha is not read this Shabbat. Actually, we’ll be finishing the Torah in the middle of next week, but we’ll explore that on Sunday. This Shabbat in addition to the Sukkot reading we’ll read Kohelet (קהלת). This is generally attributed to Shlomo HaMelech (no relation that we know about) and has many famous pasukim including “there is nothing new under the sun” and the poem iterating on there is a time for everything, a time to dance, a time to plant, a time to for everything. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/hazinu.html/ Sat, 12 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/hazinu.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is הַאֲזִינוּ. We are in the last parsha read on Shabbat. The remaining piece of the Torah called זאת הברכה is read on Simchat Torah. We’ll tackle that in 2 weeks. Early next week we’ll talk about Sukkot. For now, we have our last “regular” Shabbat for a couple of weeks. The majority of the parsha is the Song of Moses and is the final words from Moses and the parsha ends with the death of Moses. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/yom_kippur.html/ Wed, 09 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/yom_kippur.html/ Chevra, tomorrow is יוֹם הַכִּפֻּרִּים. While it is the day our fates are sealed for the next year, it is generally a happy day (despite fasting) because it is the day that we believe that our sins have been forgiven. In any case, there is also a sense or urgency, especially during נעילה (Neila). This is a prayer that is only said once a year and it is about the closing the doors, the final sealing. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vayelech.html/ Sat, 05 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vayelech.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is וַיֵּלֶךְ. This parsha is extremely short and is normally connected with last week’s parsha. At the end of every 7 Shemita years (every 50 years) on Sukkot there is a special event called Hakhel. This is when major sections of the Torah are read out loud publicly. The Torah is not given to the elite or the special, it is for everyone. The AWS Cloud is also not given to the large and special companies. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/rosh_hashanah.html/ Sun, 29 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/rosh_hashanah.html/ Chevra, the next 2 days is ראֹשׁ הַשָּנָּה. And as I mentioned at the Happy Hour, and some people were surprised, Rosh Hashanah - 2019 is Yom HaDin. It is the coronation of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Yom HaDin can seem confusing since it’s also a holiday and we eat and bless each other for a sweet new year. I think of it like S3 Bucket Security. There are IAM permissions and there are Bucket permissions, but the actual security is the 2 together. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/nitzavim.html/ Sat, 28 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/nitzavim.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is נִצָּבִים. There is mention this week that the Torah and her commandments are not hidden or distant. It’s not in heaven (or the cloud). The mitzvot are here in front of each one of us wherever we are. There is a concept in the gemara that the sages can’t maintain a halacha if the community can’t live by it. Similary, the cloud features are built to make them more accessible to the developers, if the feature or service is too expensive or too difficult to use, then the developers and customers will use something else. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/ki_tavo.html/ Sat, 21 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/ki_tavo.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is כִּי תָבוֹא. As Harel mentioned, we had a lot of visitors coming to Israel this week. That is true, but the parsha is actually talking about Bikurim or the first fruits. The first fruits of AWS backbone infrastructure was officially launched recently in the Israel Edge location. May it bring us more usage and only positive customer experiences. Shabbat Shalom. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/ki_tetzei.html/ Sat, 14 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/ki_tetzei.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is כִּי תֵצֵא. In this week’s parsha we learn about building a protective fence around the flat roof of a building. The idea here is to protect the innocent from getting hurt. There are many halachot that come out of this idea of building a fence including the common idea in the Gemara that the Sages build a fence around the Torah to keep people from even getting close to trespassing a Torah commandment. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/shoftim.html/ Sat, 07 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/shoftim.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is שֹׁפְטִים. Last year I wrote about the cities of refuge, so I won’t revisit that. There is an interesting line in the parsha that states you should not move the boundary of your fellow. When I look at this with my Amazonian eyes, I think about seperating workloads into multiple AZs and see this as a caution for ensuring that my workloads are all multi-az. Of course, things like serverless allow Amazon to worry about this for me so I can have a restful Shabbat. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/reeh.html/ Sat, 31 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/reeh.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is רְאֵה. You’ll be happy to know that I’m back home and therefore back to my normal sources for these notes. ;-) There is an admonition (aka don’t do it) against creating private altars. Now, this comes in a section about the holiness of the land, but if we think about it in terms of clouds, then we should keep the land holy and not create data centers in every building. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/reeh.html/ Sat, 31 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/reeh.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is רְאֵה. You’ll be happy to know that I’m back home and therefore back to my normal sources for these notes. ;-) There is an admonition (aka don’t do it) against creating private altars. Now, this comes in a section about the holiness of the land, but if we think about it in terms of clouds, then we should keep the land holy and not create data centers in every building. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/ekev.html/ Sat, 24 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/ekev.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is עֵקֶב. Toward the beginning of the parsha there is a discussion about if you compare yourself to other nations remember what HaShem did for you. We all know that Amazonians do not usually talk about the competition. It’s much more productive to focus on what you’re doing and what is good for your customers. It also helps avoid one upmanship where you are only trying to do better than the other guy and not do the most interesting or best result for your customer. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/veetchanan.html/ Sat, 17 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/veetchanan.html/ Chevra this week’s parsha is וָאֶתְחַנַן. There is a lot of repetition in this week’s parsha. The major things repeated are the Shema (שמע) and the 10 commandments. Seeing that all the techies were at the Tech Summit this week, it seems relevant that going over things again can be very useful. Shorter this week due to all the running around. Shabbat Shalom. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/devarim.html/ Sat, 10 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/devarim.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is דְּבָרִים. This sefer is referred to by the sages as the Mishneh Torah (the repeating of the Torah). The Rambam borrowed this name when he named his momentous work by the same name. And so this week’s parsha starts out with a repeating of what already happened. I personally find this interesting and I often find myself thinking about looking back at my time at Amazon when hiring, especially doing a PS1. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/masei.html/ Sat, 03 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/masei.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is מַסְעֵי. There are a bunch of things happening this Shabbat. First of all, today (Friday) is Rosh Chodesh Av, which means next Shabbat will be the 9th of Av. Normally we fast on the 9th of Av, but this year we’ll be drinking wine and eating meat because it’ll be Shabbat. But that also means that this week coming up we won’t be eating meat because it’ll be the 9 days. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/pinchas.html/ Sat, 13 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/pinchas.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is פִּינְחָס. In this week’s parsha we find the story of Zelophehad’s daughters. Their father died in wilderness, but was not against Moshe and he had no sons. They came to Moshe and asked for their father’s inheritance. At the time in the area of the world where the Jews were traveling was a male based society. For them to come forward and ask for the inheritance was a big big deal. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/korach.html/ Sat, 29 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/korach.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is קֹרַח. This week has a considerable amount of discord. I think they may have taken Disagree to a new level and totally forgot about commit. The main “villians“ here are Datan and Aviram (but not our Dotan and Aviram, they are famous for only good reasons!). Moshe is shown to be virtuous in this round of objections, Aharon in the next round, but we have gotten into the arena of the earth swallowing up the detractors and Aharon’s staff growing leaves overnight. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/matot.html/ Thu, 27 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/matot.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is מַטּוֹת. This is the parsha that talks about the tribes of Reuben and Gad wanting to stay on the east side of the Jordan River Valley and we talked about Multi-AZ in regards to that request. The condition by Moses is that the men from those tribes need to continue with the other tribes into Eretz Yisrael and participate in the war of conquest. It may have seemed that the tribes were scared, but they really wanted this land on the east side because it was better for the types of crops and cattle they wanted to raise. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/shelach.html/ Sat, 22 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/shelach.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is שְׁלַח לְׁךָ. The majority of this parsha is pretty negative. We have the scouts (or spies) and the punishment of this generation not being able to enter Eretz Yisrael, the group that then tries to go up anyways, and someone desecrating Shabbat. But the parsha does end on a high note with the remembrance of the commandments. This reminds me of the recommendations that are being added for services in the console. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/behaalotcha.html/ Sat, 15 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/behaalotcha.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is בְּהַעֲלֹתְּךָ. This week we start out with the kedusha of the Menorah and having Aaron light it. There is then an explanation of the divine signs about when to break up camp (no SQS or SNS available) and the order of breaking up the camp (Step Functions?). There is then an interlude where Moshe’s father-in-law (with a different name from before) is invited to the join the camp. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/naso.html/ Sat, 08 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/naso.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is נָשֹׂא followed immediately by שָבוּעוֹׂת. This parsha is the longest of the Torah and is mostly due to the korbanot brought by the the Princes of Israel during the dedicating of the Mishkan. If you can imagine 12 people building the same exact VPC structure, instances and all the details without a script or CloudFormation, that is the miracle of the princes bringing the same offerings. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/bamidbar.html/ Sat, 01 Jun 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/bamidbar.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּמִדְּבַּר. In English it’s called Numbers because there is a lot of counting. I wonder if we could put together a CloudWatch dashboard with all the metrics that occur throughout this sefer since there is counting a few times. The parsha opens with the counting and it starts exactly where we left off in the story at end of Sefer Shemot, right after Moshe finished building and dedicating the Mishkan. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/bechukotai.html/ Sat, 25 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/bechukotai.html/ Chevre, this week’s parsha is בְּחֻקֹּתַי. We finish sefer Vayikra and start next week (at Mincha on Shabbat actually) with BaMidbar. The parsha starts with blessings and curses, “if you follow my commandments and do them”. It then talks about things dedicated to the temple and redeeming houses and fields. There are 2 ways to look at the redemption of the Jubilee Year. 1) is to see that you don’t really own the property and so G-d is forcing this realization on you by returning the property to who he originally assigned it. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/behar.html/ Sat, 18 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/behar.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is בְּהַר. So we know it takes place at Har Sinai. The parsha talks about Shemitah and Yovel followed by the Cities of Refuge. As you may know Cities of Refuge are were someone who accidentally killed someone can go to take refuge from the family of the deceased. The refugee can live there until the death of the Kohen HaGadol when they are allowed to go free and the family of the deceased is not allowed to kill the accidental murderer. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/emor.html/ Sat, 11 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/emor.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is אֱמֹר. Sefer Vayikra is often called the book of the Cohanim, it contains a lot of rules surrounding korbanot and the death of Aharon’s sons. This week we learn about specific Kohen laws and laws about the Kohen Gadol plus what belmishes disqualify sacrifices from the altar. Finally, we have a listing of the korbanot for all the holidays mentioned in the Torah. As we gear up for re:Inforce and start selling tickets to re:Invent, it’s as if the Torah would list all the major activities that would happen at these events plus The Summits. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/kedoshim.html/ Sat, 04 May 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/kedoshim.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is קְדֹשִׁים. So it includes all kinds of things about how to be holy (kadosh) or how to avoid be unholy. One of the forbidden things it mentions is you should “indulge in sorcery” (translated by Art Scroll). The Hebrew is actually לא תנחשו. And the continuation of the pasuk says you should not believe in lucky times. The Gemara in Sanhedrin (65b) talks about trying to commune with the dead. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/metzora.html/ Sat, 13 Apr 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/metzora.html/ It’s playoff hockey in Boston and AWS is there. ;-) Chevra, this week’s parsha is מְצֹרָע, but it’s also Shabat Hagadol. Next Shabbat is already Leil Seder and Pesach. Given the moon lander’s name was Beresheet and with Chol HaMoed coming, I’d like to raise a beracha that one can make when they see some kind of natural beauty that they haven’t seen for 30 days or more. So when you are out on tiyul and see a beautiful vista or mountain, you can say: ברוך אתה ה’ אלוקינו מלך העולם עושה מעשה בראשית https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/shemini.html/ Sat, 30 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/shemini.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is שְׁמִינִי and it’s parshat פרה. This is the 2nd of 4 special parshiot leading up to Pesach. There is a Mishnah that talks about the preparation the sages would do leading up to Pesach. They would send people out to the main roads and mark the cemetaries so that the people going to Jerusalem would be able to stay pure. This parsha of Parah is a reminder that we should work to purify ourselves for Pesach. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/shevii_shel_pesach_and_achrei_mot.html/ Tue, 26 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/shevii_shel_pesach_and_achrei_mot.html/ Chevra, tomorrow is שביעי של פסח followed directly by Shabbat אַחֲרֵי מוֹת. The last day of Pesach is not a seperate Chag, but we don’t do work on it (except for cooking related to Chag). The major item of interest from this day is the Splitting of the Sea of Reeds and the destruction of the Egyptian army. Because of the death and destruction of the Egyptians during Pesach, except for the first day of Pesach, full Hallel is not recited, but only a 1/2 Hallel. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/tzav.html/ Sat, 23 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/tzav.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is צַו. This week we have more korbanot, but at the end of the parsha we have the consecration of the Kohanim and the inauguration korbanot. In my house this week we started to consecrate my son into the inner secrets of Linux by creating a t3-nano instance for him and giving him access. He is now free to learn on the machine and do what he wants and we can always resort to a daily snapshot. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/passover.html/ Tue, 19 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/passover.html/ Chevra, this week there is no parsha! It’s Chag Passover and so we’ll be reading from Shemot about the Exodus. Because there is no Shabbat Chol HaMoed, we will also be reading Shir HaShirim tomorrow as well. Shir HaShirim is often considered a love letter from HaShem to Am Yisrael. Regarding the Exodus from Egypt, I see this as a migration from on-prem to Eretz Yisrael. We noted previously that the “region” in Eretz Yisrael has at least 2 AZs, The East Side of the Jordan and the West Side of the Jordan. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vayikra.html/ Sat, 16 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vayikra.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is וַיִּקְרָא and parshat זכור. So Sefer Vayikra - 2019 is mostly about operations of the Mishkan (so it’s very geard towards the TAMs). Zachor is the remembrance of what Amalek did to us and is connected with Purim (this week coming up) because Haman was a descendant of Amalek. So at the same time we are supposed to stomp out the name of Amalek and remember what they did to us. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/pekudei.html/ Sat, 09 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/pekudei.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is פְּקוּדֵי. This is the last parsha in Sefer Shemot and ends with the completion of the Mishkan built by Moshe single handedly. When it’s built the cloud of HaShem enters it and when the cloud was in the Mishkan, not even Moshe could enter it. Only the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur can enter the Holy of Holies and only Kohanim doing their holy work can enter the outer area. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/tazria.html/ Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/tazria.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is תַּזְרִיעַּ, but it’s also Rosh Chodesh Nissan and Parshat HaChodesh. That means there are 2 weeks till pesach. I have to admit that I’m very happy to have a much smaller home lab since most of what I do now resides in the cloud. Few machines to clean. A large part of parsha is talking about Tzaraat, which is considered a physical disease one gets from a spiritual source like talking Lashon Harah. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vayakel.html/ Sat, 02 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vayakel.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is ויקהל and is also Shabbat שקלים. The parsha talks about the building the Mishkan, the selection of Betzalel and his actual building of all the things that have been described previously. So previously was the God given design of the Region, Availability Zone, and/or Data Center. Now we have the actual building of those things. Shabbat Shekalim is the first of the 4 Parshiot that notify Am Yisrael to start preparing for Pesach. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/ki_tisa.html/ Sat, 23 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/ki_tisa.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Ki Tisa. The parsha starts by finishing up the utensils to be used in the Mishkan, a description of the Icense and the commandment of Shabbat. We then have the episode of the Golden Calf. This episode becomes the basis for our Teshuva (like for those who pick on those bringing Torah to them by having a skit making fun of them at the IL SKO. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/tetzaveh.html/ Sat, 16 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/tetzaveh.html/ Chevrah, this week’s parsha is Tetzaveh. We continue with the items needed for the operation of the Mishkan. This week we learn about the clothes the Kohanim were to wear during the service including the special vestments for the Kohen Gadol. The Urim and Turim are used in Tanach a few times to answer questions. There is a procedure (documented in the wiki) about how to ask it questions and receive an answer. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/terumah.html/ Sat, 09 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/terumah.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Terumah. The entire parsha is about building the Mishkan in the desert. While the EC2 team are building out the racks, Moshe receives specific instructions for building The Ark, The Showbread Table, The Menorah, The Covers of the Mishkan (including those Unicorn/Tachash skins, do you think he used our workshop app to order the Unicorns?), the walls, partitions, The Altar and The Courtyard. What’s interesting is there are many aspects of our modern synagogues that take their placements from the Mishkan/Temple like the Bima in the middle of the shul, the lecturn where the Sheliach Tzibur davens is in front of the Perochat/partitions (which holds the Torahs). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/mishpatim.html/ Sat, 02 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/mishpatim.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Mishpatim. After receiving the Torah at Sinai and Moshe instituting the Sanhedrin (with the elders) and a system of Judges, we now get a series of laws. This reminds me of my start at AWS. Now that you passed the loop and negotiated an offer, you start and go through the (seemingly) tedious process of on-boarding. Don’t worry, next week we’ll get back to something a bit more interesting. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/yitro.html/ Sat, 26 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/yitro.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Yitro. The main focus of this week’s parsha is the preparation and receiving of the Torah represented by the 10 Commandments. Before that, however, there is advice from Yitro to Moshe (Yitro is Moshe’s Father-in-law). The first piece of advice is about leadership. Yitro is pushing Moshe to Think Big and not take on all responsibilities. If there is a big legal case, then Moshe would need be Are Right a Lot and all of this is to Deliver Results in a scalable way. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/beshalach.html/ Sat, 19 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/beshalach.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is BeShalach. A lot happens in this parsha, but the main focus is on the Egyptians chasing the Bnei Yisrael into the Yam Suf and the Yam Suf splitting. Then when the Egyptians try to enter, the sea crashes back down on them and drowns them. If this isn’t the best excuse for Multi-AZ, I don’t know what is. You could say that from both sides. There is a midrash that the Bnei Yisrael crossed the Yam Suf in 12 different tunnels or partings, so this would be like diversifying to 12 different AZs. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vaeira.html/ Sat, 05 Jan 2019 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/vaeira.html/ Chevra this week’s parsha is Va’Eira. The bulk of the parsha is taken up with 7 of the 10 plagues. Yesterday at a customer’s site I saw a t-shirt that read: “Science is Magic that works”. It took a lot for HaShem to convince Paroah to let the Bnei Yisrael leave Egypt. To the Egyptians a lot of the things that were happening looked like Magic, but I’ve seen lots of documented discussions about how some of the plagues may have been possible. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/shemot.html/ Sat, 29 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/shemot.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Shemot. This is the Bar Mitzvah weekend! We have a deluge outside in rain and a deluge inside with family with more still set to arrive (in our town) in the next couple of hours. In this week’s parsha we learn about the birth of Moshe and HaShem talks to Moshe for the first time. We see that Moshe asks for signs to show the Jewish People so they will believe him. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/vayechi.html/ Sat, 22 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/vayechi.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is VaYechi. In this week’s parsha we have the end of the life of Yaakov, the blessings he gives to his sons, his burial and the end of the life of Yosef. There is a blessing that parents often say with their children when they are going to bed: לְאָךְ הַגֹּאֵל אֹתִי מִכָּל־רָע יְבָרֵךְ אֶת־הַנְּעָרִים וְיִקָּרֵא בָהֶם שְׁמִי וְשֵׁם אֲבֹתַי אַבְרָהָם וְיִצְחָק וְיִדְגּוּ לָרֹב בְּקֶרֶב הָאָרֶץ https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/vayigash.html/ Sat, 15 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/vayigash.html/ Chevrah, this week’s parsha is Vayigash. In this week’s parsha it’s mentioned that Yosef receives the news that his father’s health is getting worse. The midrash asks why did they have to tell him? After being away from his family for so long, didn’t Yosef see his father on a regular basis? The midrash answers that Yosef was afraid to spend time alone with his father because he was scared of the question coming up about what happened to him (Yosef). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/miketz.html/ Sat, 08 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/miketz.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Miketz. In this week’s parsha, we have Yosef being called up from the dungeon by Paro to interpret his dreams. Paro puts Yosef in charge where he collects the grain for the 7 good years. The whole story of Yosef’s brothers coming to buy food, leaving a brother (essentially as collateral for Binyamin), getting their money returned to them, going back with Binyamin. The story about Yosef putting his cup in Binyamin’s bag to test the brothers. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/vayeshev.html/ Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/vayeshev.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is VaYeshev. There is a lot in this week’s parsha including the story of Itamar, Yosef being sold into slavery, Yosef in Egypt with Potifar (and Patifar’s wife). It’s the dreams, however, that I want to focus on. There are Yosef’s dreams at the beginning of the parsha (the sheafs of grain bowing to Yosef’s and the sun and moon and stars bowing to Yosef). I don’t know if Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy imagined what AWS would become when they started it, but the idea of Thinking Big and dreaming big dreams has enabled AWS to grow and stay ahead of the competition (even Larry peaking out from Andy’s pie-chart). https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/vayeitzei.html/ Sat, 17 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/vayeitzei.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Vayeitzei. In this week’s parsha, Yaakov goes to Haran and meets Lavan. He marries Leah and then Rachel, and their handmaidens and has 12 of his 13 children that we are told about. He worked for Lavan for 20 years (7 years for Leah, 7 years for Rachel, and 6 years for the cattle). Now we know that Yaakov must have spent a lot of time out in the field watching over the flocks, so he must have had great 4G so he could stay connected with the cloud. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/toldot.html/ Sat, 10 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/toldot.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Toldot. This seems to be the most Anti-Amazonian parsha we could find. Esav and Yaakov start fighting in the womb and even during birth Yaakov is holding onto Esav’s heel. There is the story of Esav and the Lentil soup where he is so focused on the here and now and not the future that he gives his birthright away for a bowl of soup. Then there is the situation where Rivka has Yaakov dress up as Esav to trick Yaakov into giving Yaakov his blessing. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/chayei_sarah.html/ Sat, 03 Nov 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/chayei_sarah.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Chayei Sarah. In the parsha, Avraham purchases Ma’arat HaMachpela to bury Sarah, Avraham sends Eliezer, his servant, to find Yitchak a wife and then Yitchak gets married. I suspect that the negotiation between Avraham and Heth are similar to when Amazon comes to town and wants to build a data center. All the sudden, prices go up. ;-) Eliezer travels from Hevron to Avraham’s homeland to find a wife. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/vayeira.html/ Sat, 27 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/vayeira.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Vayeira. In this week’s parsha we find the story of Sodom and Gemora, which were destroyed because HaShem couldn’t find 10 righteous inhabitants. Just this morning, I was learning a Mishnah in Pesachim which talked about the 3 regions of Eretz Yisrael (Transjordan, Yehuda, and Galil). It made me think that if the workloads were Well Architected, even with the destruction of 2 AZs in Sodom and Gemora, the application would be able to continue on via Yehuda and Galil. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/lech_lecha.html/ Sat, 20 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/lech_lecha.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Lech Lecha. When I think of Avraham (still Avram at the beginning of our parsha), I think of being Biased for Action. In our parsha he’s told to leave everything he knows and go somewhere new. Next week he’s told to take his only son from Sarah and sacrifice him (there are Midrashim that say Sarah died from hearing Yitchak had been sacrificed). We see Avraham rushing to the aid of his nephew, Lot, when he gets in trouble. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/hazinu.html/ Sat, 22 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/hazinu.html/ This week’s parsha is Hazinu. It’s mostly comprised of Moshe’s song to Am Yisrael. He starts by calling Heaven and Earth as witnesses to what he’s saying. Similarly, the cloud by it’s name is in Heaven, but really it resides on Earth. The benefit we saw recently with those that are Well Architected is that when there is a natural event (like a hurricane), then the customers don’t need to worry. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/yom_kippur.html/ Tue, 18 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/yom_kippur.html/ Chevra, I don’t have a specific Dvar Torah for Yom Kippur. We wear white and don’t eat because we are supposed to be pure as angels. Well, we are always like angels in the cloud(s). It has been an honor working with all of you for this past almost year (I started after Sukkot). Thank you for challenging me and letting me grow. Shanah Tovah, Gemar Chatimah Tovah to all of you and your families. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/vayelech.html/ Sat, 15 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/vayelech.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Vayelech. This is the shortest parsha of the Torah and Moshe is basically saying goodbye. As part of his goodbye, he talks about Hakhel which is where, during sukkot every 7 years (Shemita), the king reads sefer Devarim (or selections from it) to the nation. This reminds me of reviewing AWS documentation. While the Torah does not change, it’s good to review the source. In the case of the AWS documentation, it is updated constantly when new features are produced. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/nitzavim.html/ Sat, 08 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/nitzavim.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Nitazavim. In a continuation from last week’s parsha, the curses and blessings are referenced. But this week, we learn that it could be that someone will make a mistake. If one makes a mistake, then there is always the possibility of teshuva. This is a main theme of Rosh Hashanah. In the realm of AWS, it’s like when someone shuts down an EC2, but the load on on their system is too high. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/ki-tavo.html/ Sat, 01 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/ki-tavo.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Ki Tavo. Ki Tavo, when you come into the land that HaShem promised, you should fulfill this mitzvot. The largest section of the parsha is the blessings and curses, if you do what HaShem says, good things will happen and if not, then bad things will happen. In an AWS world, when you come into the cloud (Ki Tavo) then you should be well architected, you should have monitoring, you should have security. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/ki_tezte.html/ Sat, 25 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/ki_tezte.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Ki Tezte. There are a lot of halachot from this week’s parsha, but the thing that stood out to me is how to treat your neighbor’s property. If something is lost, you should return it (this is the first Gemara I ever learned). If you find someone who’s donkey has collapsed from the weight of stuff, you should help. It seems like regular derech eretz, but in our modern fast-paced times, it’s important to see the people around us. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/shoftim.html/ Sat, 18 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/shoftim.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Shoftim (Judges/Referees). One of the interesting halachot in this week’s parsha is around the Cities of Refuge. If you kill someone by accident, then you can run to one of these cities and the family of the person you killed by accident is not allowed to take revenge upon you (by killing you). You are to stay there until either you die or the Kohen HaGadol dies. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/reeh.html/ Sat, 11 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/reeh.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Re’eh, but Shabbat is also Rosh Chodesh Elul. Elul (אלול), as you may know, according to our sages is a acronym for אני לדודי ודודי לי from Shir HaShirim (I am to my beloved and [as] my beloved is to me). The sages tell us that Shir HaShirim is a love letter/poem/message between HaKadosh Baruch Hu and Am Yisrael. Elul is a time of tshuva before Rosh Hashanah. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/eikev.html/ Sat, 04 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/eikev.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Eikev. There are a lot of aspects about land and property mentioned this week. There is the warning against the lure of property, remembering the exodus form Egypt, Aharon’s death and burial, and the goodness of Eretz Yisrael. And almost at the end there is the 2nd paragraph from The Shema that talks about rain for the land at it’s proper time, being banished from the land, and teaching mitzvot to the children when not moving and when moving in order to prolong our days in the land. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/devarim.html/ Sat, 21 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0300 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/devarim.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Devarim. There is a famous story where a businessman came to Rav Kook talking about the pros and cons about making aliyah and how it would affect his family income. Rav Kook answered that when the Bnei Yisrael were on their way to Eretz Yisrael they first killed Sihon Melech Heshbon. Rav Kook told his guest that the Torah is telling us that in the matter of Aliyah, you can’t make Heshbonot, you just have to do it. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/pinchas.html/ Sat, 07 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2018/pinchas.html/ Chevra, this week’s parsha is Pinchas. In addition to Pinchas becoming a priest, there is the second set of censuses (the census of the Israelites and the census of the Levites), the listing of the offerings for all the holidays, Rosh Chodesh and Shabbat are listed. These sections are read on the holidays. In the middle of all of these is the request from Moshe to establish his successor. Just like with the passing down of the kehuna from Aharon to his sons, and the passing of the bringing of water from Miriam to the well coming from the rock, Moshe will not be entering the land and needs a successor. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/untitled.html/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2019/untitled.html/ Tzav Chevra, this week’s parsha is צַו. This week we have more korbanot, but at the end of the parsha we have the consecration of the Kohanim and the inauguration korbanot. In my house this week we started to consecrate my son into the inner secrets of Linux by creating a t3-nano instance for him and giving him access. He is now free to learn on the machine and do what he wants and we can always resort to a daily snapshot. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/reeh.html/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/reeh.html/ Re’eh Chevre, this week’s parsha is רְאֵה (Re’eh). One of the sections this week talks about the prohibition to copy the religious rites of the Canaanites. When Amazonians go for PR Speaker training, we learn about how Amazon does not look at competitors, but only talks to customers. Here, we are told the Torah is God’s word to us and we should do what God says. In this case, with rites and prayers, God is our customer. https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vaetchanan.html/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/articles/2021/vaetchanan.html/ Va’et’chanan Chevre, this week’s parsha is וָאֶתְחַנַן (Va’et’chanan). As part of Moses’ summary in the book of Devarim, this week we have the repetition of the 10 commandments and the start of the Shema. There is an interesting section this week where we are told that when we enter The Land of Israel, we will be living in other people’s houses. During the war, the locals will either flee or be killed in battle and the Bnei Israel will take over their homes. https://www.clouded-torah.org/about/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.clouded-torah.org/about/ Shlomo Dubrowin Has been working with and in technology since his childhood. Starting with a Radio Shack TRS 80 Color Computer 2 running basic and a cassette tape for storage. He graduated later to an IBM Clone XT computer and then a 486. Shlomo went to Roger Williams University (RWU) in Bristol, RI majoring in Computer Information Systems. Upon graduation, he worked for BBN (Bolt Baranek and Newman) / GTE-Internworking / Genuity in the greater Boston area.