The Blogs: While You Were Sleeping…

Jan 23-24, 2026 • 6 Shevat 5786 • Va’eira (Exod 6-9).

Do you know how many days until Tu B’Shvat and Purim?

In case you missed last week’s snow crystal message….

Or perhaps you read it but missed clicking on the pic (they’re always clickable)…

The link was to this remarkable little book, Ken Libbrecht’s Field Guide to Snowflakes.

Libbrecht is the Cal Tech physics professor who may possibly not be the world’s foremost snowflake expert, but anyone who can say, “I’m a Cal Tech physics professor and I study snow crystals” should probably be taken seriously.

Based literally on his credentials and the cover, I bought his book this week. I didn’t even bother reading the jacket text, which promises:

The next time the forecast calls for snow, you can be prepared with this fun, informative pocket-sized guide to the amazing world of snowflakes. This guide will not only explain the science behind these one-of-a-kind natural masterpieces, but showcases their delicate beauty through amazing microphotography of real snow crystals. You ll also learn about the most common types of snowflakes, their structures and patterns, when the most beautiful crystals are likely to fall, and how you can best observe and even photograph them.

How, you ask, does a professor in Pasadena, California, become the world’s greatest snowflake expert?

For one, he grew up in Fargo, North Dakota.

For two, he makes them from scratch in his lab.

For three, as he tells in his book, he apparently knows the way to LAX, because his little book is full of gorgeous photos of snowflakes that he personally found in places like Ontario and Vermont.

He also provides a chart of the 35 major snow crystal (proper name for a snowflake) types and pictures and short explanations of how each type is formed.

He also has tips on collecting and photographing snowflakes that anyone can try.

Now, what if you live in a place like Pasadena but don’t know the way to LAX? What if you have no access to snow?

Yet another reason for making Aliyah?

BTW, fun fact: Remember these snowflake US stamps from 2006?

Those ain’t drawings.

They’re photos that Prof. Libbrecht personally took.

(Not in his lab.)

(And if you click on it, it will take you to another Libbrecht book that won several awards.)

He also holds an official Guinness World Record for the largest snowflake ever documented – 10mm! Check out this beauty!

(BTW, lest anyone think he’s a flaky guy, he also studies the sun, gravitational waves, and other heavy-duty physics stuff.)

The beauty and uniqueness of snowflakes, combined with their fragility, prompted last week’s question, Are you a snowflake?

This week, since snowflakes are the stuff snowstorms are made of, we’ll ask: In what two ways are current events like a snowstorm?

And for a bonus round, here’s a trivia question which perhaps alludes to a third answer to the snowstorm question: What color is snow? (hint: not white)

Shabbat Shalom