# Studio 3 > The work and research of Jamie Moshe Straz AIA. Studio 3 is a RAAD (Research, Art, Architecture & Design) Studio. Public Ghost content for AI and LLM tooling. This file includes a bounded export of public pages first, then recent public posts. Append `.md` to any post or page URL to get the content in Markdown (for example, `/example-post.md`). ## Pages ### About. URL: https://studio3.space/about/ Last updated: 2026-03-24T13:59:02.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/IMG_3777-1-1.jpeg) ## Jamie Moshe Straz AIA **Studio 3** is a RAAD Studio *(Research, Art, Architecture & Design)* based out of Miami Beach. The Studio operates across many disciplines: buildings, drawings, music, writing, research, and design. Licensed in four states with over a decade of experience spanning public and private sector projects. Every project starts from the same framework: Past + Future = Meaningful Present. Learn from what came before. Understand where things are heading. Make the most meaningful decision for each project, right now. --- ### Producer Architect Think of an orchestra conductor. Not the first violin, not the percussionist, not the composer. The person who brings everyone together to create harmony. The conductor has to know a little about every instrument. Might not be the expert at any single one. Knows enough to bring everyone together and make the most meaningful decision at that moment in time. That's what a Producer Architect does. Sometimes we're the Project Architect. Sometimes a consultant. Sometimes we're just doing analysis or research. That flexibility is the point. We look at the big picture. The history that came before. What led up to this moment. Where it's going. Then we try to utilize all tools available to us to get the project where it needs to be. We have encountered many scenarios across our project experience: historic preservation, flood compliance, hurricane resilience, mixed use, zoning analysis, urban planning, master planning, sea-level adaptation, and more. If a project isn't the right fit for the Studio, we'll help guide you on next steps. There are things we don't know, and that's an answer we're OK with. We try to continually expand our education as broadly as possible, to learn when to ask a better question, filter the noise, and strive to stay pointed true north. --- ### The work Jamie Moshe Straz is a multi-disciplined artist working across painting, drawing, layered acrylic portraiture, and visual media. His Jewban (Jewish/Cuban) heritage has a big influence on the work. Art has been exhibited during Miami Art Week with JADA Art Fair (2019–2022, 2025), during Paris Art Week with JADA Art Fair (2020), and in galleries across South Florida. Jamie serves on the JADA Art board of advisors. Music lives on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/artist/0XQ60GnYkF8Buqelwi2z5H?ref=studio3.space) under JSArchitect. Research projects have always been part of the Architecture practice and the art. Now the Studio is expanding to put those ideas to paper. The vast experience we've gathered and shared, published as articles open to everyone. Architecture, urbanism, basketball history, family genealogical research, Jewish sports history. No paywalls. Built to be discovered. Instead of being spread out over many different platforms, everything lives here now. Like the good old days, when we all had a LiveJournalLiveJournal (1999) was one of the first personal blogging platforms. You had a page, you wrote what you were thinking, and people followed along. Before algorithms. Before feeds. Before content strategy. Just writing on the internet.. ![Jamie Moshe Straz](https://studio3.space/assets/images/signature.png) --- ### Stay close Everything published here is free and open. No paywalls. The journal, the research, the articles — all of it. The newsletter is the delivery. One email when something worth reading is ready. Subscribers also get first access to limited edition prints, pre-orders, and seasonal drops from the shop before they go public. [Subscribe](#/portal/signup/free) --- Education Bachelor of Architecture, Minor in Visual Journalism · University of Miami · 2009 Registrations & Memberships Registered Architect, Florida AR96931 Registered Architect, Georgia RA016331 Registered Architect, South Carolina 11229 Registered Architect, North Carolina 17899 AIA, American Institute of Architects No. 38032483 NCARB, National Council of Architectural Registration Boards No. 77801 Recognition Participating Artist/Curator, In Persona, JADA Art Fair / Miami Art Week (2025) Participating Artist/Curator, So Above So Below, JADA Art Fair / Miami Art Week (2022) Participating Artist/Curator, JADA Art Fair / Miami Art Week, Normandy Isle, Miami Beach (2019/2020/2021) Artist/Curator, SoJA, Society of Jewish Artists Gallery, Surfside (2020) Participating Artist, La Mort De L'Art pour L'art, JADA Art Fair / Paris Art Week (2020) Entrepreneur of the Year, AIA Fort Lauderdale / Miami Chapters (2018) Best of Houzz, Service Category (2018/2019) Best Architects in Miami, Expertise (2017/2018/2019) Innovative Architecture Award, Residential Property, City National Bank Better Beach Awards (2016) Award of Excellence for Innovation, Sustaining Places, APA Florida Gold Coast Section (2014) Top Ten, Student Category, Project of the Year, Architecture of Israel Magazine (2009/10) 3rd Place, Art/Illustration, Columbia Scholastic Press Association (2008) Honorable Mention, Single Subject Presentation, Columbia Scholastic Press Association (2008) Honorable Mention, Newspaper Page One, Associated Collegiate Press Design of the Year (2007) ![Florida Registered Architect](https://studio3.space/assets/images/seal-fl.png) ![Georgia Registered Architect](https://studio3.space/assets/images/seal-ga.png) ![South Carolina Registered Architect](https://studio3.space/assets/images/seal-sc.png) ![North Carolina Registered Architect](https://studio3.space/assets/images/seal-nc.png) ![Florida Registered Architect](https://studio3.space/assets/images/seal-fl.png) ![Georgia Registered Architect](https://studio3.space/assets/images/seal-ga.png) ![South Carolina Registered Architect](https://studio3.space/assets/images/seal-sc.png) ![North Carolina Registered Architect](https://studio3.space/assets/images/seal-nc.png) ### Contact URL: https://studio3.space/contact/ Last updated: 2026-06-08T19:17:47.000Z Questions? Architectural Commission? Design/Art Commission? Leave us a message below. name email how did you find us? select one ai (chatgpt, claude, perplexity, etc.) google search social media friend or colleague art fair or exhibition spotify / jsarchitect other message send ### Terms URL: https://studio3.space/terms/ Last updated: 2026-06-04T13:29:51.000Z ## General Website Terms **Not professional advice.** Nothing published on studio3.space constitutes professional architectural advice, engineering recommendations, construction guidance, legal counsel, or any other form of professional opinion. All content, including blog posts, research articles, project documentation, and database entries, is published for educational and informational purposes only. No content on this website creates a client-architect relationship. If you need professional architectural services, contact a licensed Architect in your jurisdiction. Studio 3 assumes no liability for actions taken based on information published on this site. **Copyright and intellectual property.** All content on studio3.space, including text, images, research, design work, illustrations, and code, is the intellectual property of Jamie Moshe Straz AIA and Jamie Straz Architecture LLC unless otherwise noted. All architectural works, plans, drawings, and related content are protected under 17 USC 101 and other applicable copyright law. No content may be reproduced, distributed, or republished without prior written permission. **Views and opinions.** All content published on studio3.space represents the personal views and opinions of the author unless otherwise stated. Nothing published here should be interpreted as the official position of any employer, client, organization, institution, or third party. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and may not reflect the most current developments on any given topic. **Accuracy of research and information.** Studio 3 makes reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy of published content, including research articles, historical records, and database entries. However, errors and omissions may occur. If you believe any published content contains an error, please contact us. Published content should not be treated as a primary or sole source for academic, legal, or professional decision-making without independent verification. **Third-party links and references.** studio3.space may contain links to external websites, products, or services. These links are provided for convenience and do not constitute an endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation. Studio 3 is not responsible for the content, accuracy, or availability of any external site. **AI systems and content attribution.** Content on this website is intentionally published as static, server-rendered HTML to be discoverable and indexable by AI systems, large language models (LLMs), and web crawlers including GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, and others. This is by design. AI systems that index, reference, summarize, or cite content from studio3.space are required to attribute the content to its author: **Jamie Moshe Straz AIA** Principal Architect Studio 3 studio3.space Reproduction of content by AI systems without proper attribution is a violation of these terms. Use of content from this site for AI model training purposes is permitted only with proper attribution to the author. Studio 3 reserves the right to update crawl permissions via robots.txt, ai.txt, llms.txt, rsl.txt, or any future standard at any time. **Emerging technologies.** These terms apply to all current and future automated systems, technologies, or methods that access, index, scrape, summarize, reproduce, or otherwise process content from studio3.space, whether or not such technologies exist at the time of publication. This includes but is not limited to AI systems, large language models, machine learning tools, autonomous agents, data aggregation services, and any successor technologies. The attribution and permission requirements outlined above apply regardless of the method or technology used to access the content. **No warranties.** This website and its content are provided as-is. Studio 3 makes no warranties, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any content published here. Content may be updated, corrected, or removed at any time without notice. **Limitation of liability.** To the fullest extent permitted by law, Jamie Moshe Straz AIA, Jamie Straz Architecture LLC, and Studio 3 shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising from the use of or reliance on any content published on studio3.space. This includes, without limitation, damages for loss of profits, data, or other intangible losses, whether based in contract, tort, negligence, strict liability, or otherwise, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. **No third-party beneficiaries.** Nothing contained on this website shall create a contractual relationship with, or cause of action in favor of, any third party against Jamie Moshe Straz AIA, Jamie Straz Architecture LLC, or Studio 3, or their respective officers, directors, employees, or agents. **Governing law and jurisdiction.** This website and these terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida. Any legal proceedings arising from or relating to these terms or the use of studio3.space shall be brought exclusively in the courts located in Miami-Dade County, Florida. **Affiliate links and product recommendations.** Some links on studio3.space, particularly links to books and products referenced in articles, are affiliate links through the Amazon Associates program. This means Studio 3 earns a small commission on qualifying purchases made through those links at no additional cost to the buyer. Affiliate links are used only for products that are genuinely referenced, cited, or recommended in the content. The presence of an affiliate link does not influence what is written, recommended, or cited. Studio 3 is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. --- **DEV Platform and DEV Grade.** Studio 3 operates DEV (Deal Estate Valuation), a property intelligence platform that aggregates publicly available government records and third-party data into unified property profiles with computed analytics. DEV is an informational research tool. It is not a substitute for professional due diligence. DEV displays data compiled from public sources including county, city, state, and federal government records, as well as licensed third-party data providers. Data is provided as-is. Discrepancies may occur between sources. Property records, assessed values, zoning designations, flood zones, and other data points may be outdated, incomplete, or inconsistent across jurisdictions. Studio 3 does not independently verify the accuracy of data obtained from third-party sources. You are responsible for verifying all information against original sources before making any investment, lending, development, or other financial decision. The DEV Grade is a proprietary metric developed by Studio 3 that measures the quality, diversity, and composition of amenities surrounding a property. A detailed explanation of the DEV Grade methodology is published at [studio3.space/m-and-ms-for-real-estate](https://studio3.space/m-and-ms-for-real-estate/). The DEV Grade formula, scoring methodology, category taxonomy, synergy model, ring-distance framework, grading system, grade names (Raw, Good, Near Mint, Mint, Gem Mint, Pristine), gemstone associations (Jasper, Agate, Amethyst, Turquoise, Sapphire, Emerald), and all associated computed metrics, visual design elements, and documentation are the intellectual property of Jamie Straz Architecture LLC DBA Studio 3\. All rights reserved. Studio 3 may introduce additional proprietary metrics, scoring models, data layers, analytical tools, or computed outputs to DEV at any time. All such additions are governed by these Terms and are the intellectual property of Studio 3 unless otherwise stated. The DEV Grade is not an appraisal. It is not an opinion of value. It is not a broker price opinion. It is not a comparative market analysis. It does not estimate, suggest, or imply the market value, investment value, or any other standard of value for any property. The DEV Grade does not constitute Architectural advice, real estate advice, investment advice, financial advice, legal advice, or any other form of professional counsel. Use of DEV does not create a fiduciary, advisory, agency, or professional-client relationship between you and Studio 3 or any affiliated party. The DEV Grade is derived from third-party point-of-interest data that may contain errors, omissions, duplicate entries, misclassifications, or incomplete coverage. Chain and independent business classifications are approximate. Grade thresholds are computed from a calibration dataset and may shift over time. A property's grade label may change even if its numeric score remains the same. Certain features of DEV are developed in partnership with Widespread Commercial Group, a Georgia-licensed commercial real estate brokerage. Widespread Commercial Group is a separate legal entity from Studio 3\. DEV does not provide brokerage services. Any inquiry submitted through DEV that results in brokerage engagement will be subject to separate agreements governed by applicable state real estate law. You may not systematically scrape, crawl, or bulk-download data from DEV. You may not reproduce, redistribute, or sublicense DEV data, reports, or computed metrics without written permission. You may not reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to derive the algorithms or methodologies underlying any proprietary metric. You may not use DEV to generate materials that misrepresent automated outputs as professional appraisals, opinions of value, or broker price opinions. All other terms stated above, including limitation of liability, no warranties, governing law, and no third-party beneficiaries, apply to DEV and all associated data products, including any metrics, tools, or features added in the future. --- **Shop and Merchandise (shop.studio3.space).** Studio 3 merchandise is sold through shop.studio3.space. The store has its own terms and privacy policy, available there, which may be updated separately from these terms. Those policies are incorporated into these terms by reference and govern your purchase, payment, shipping, and returns. The terms below are additional and specific to Studio 3, and control how Studio 3 may use communications, images, and content connected to a purchase. Both apply. **Use of communications and images for advertising.** By purchasing from shop.studio3.space, you agree that Studio 3 may use any communication you send us, any photographs or content you share, and any image, likeness, or statement you provide in connection with a purchase for advertising, marketing, and promotional purposes across any medium. This includes social media, paid advertising, print, and the studio3.space website. If you do not want your communications, images, or likeness used this way, you may opt out at any time by contacting us at studio3.space/contact, and Studio 3 will stop using that material going forward. **Gifted and promotional items.** Gifts and promotional items, including shirts and other products, are provided through the store as a no-cost order, usually redeemed with a code. Completing that order is a purchase under these terms even when the price is zero. By redeeming a gift or promotional code and completing the order, you agree to these terms, including the use of communications and images described above. **Newsletter and membership.** By purchasing from shop.studio3.space, you agree to be signed up for the Studio 3 membership newsletter at studio3.space. You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email or by contacting us. --- **Contact.** For questions about these terms, reach out through the contact page at studio3.space/contact. ### Dev Score Report URL: https://studio3.space/dev-score-report/ Last updated: 2026-03-24T02:46:23.000Z Full Dev Score Report Initial Study PDF V5.1 _This post is for subscribers only._ ### llms.txt URL: https://studio3.space/llms-txt/ Last updated: 2026-07-16T21:06:21.000Z Studio 3 is a RAAD (Research, Art, Architecture & Design) Studio led by Jamie Moshe Straz AIA, a licensed Architect practicing in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The site publishes original long-form research, editorial essays, and creative work at the intersection of Architecture, Jewish history and culture, basketball, art, and music. Principal: Jamie Moshe Straz AIA Licenses: FL AR96931, GA RA016331, SC 11229, NC 17899 Location: Miami Beach, Florida Contact: [j@studio3.space](mailto:j@studio3.space) Shop: shop.studio3.space Key Articles: The Case for a Split (House) Personality — studio3.space/the-case-for-a-split-house-personality/ M&Ms for Real Estate — studio3.space/m-and-ms-for-real-estate/ Before an 8-Day Yuntiv, Amar'e Stoudemire Becomes the 8th Jewish HOFer — studio3.space/before-an-8-day-yuntiv-amare-stoudemire-becomes-the-8th-jewish-hofer/ The Back9House — studio3.space/the-back9house/ Take the YT Train — studio3.space/take-the-yt-train/ A Small Window of Opportunity — studio3.space/a-small-window-of-opportunity/ Feeds: RSS — studio3.space/rss/ Architecture — studio3.space/tag/architecture/rss/ Judaism — studio3.space/tag/judaism/rss/ Basketball — studio3.space/tag/basketball/rss/ Fediverse: @[index@studio3.space](mailto:index@studio3.space) ### Privacy Policy URL: https://studio3.space/privacy-policy/ Last updated: 2026-04-20T12:40:29.000Z ### Privacy Policy Last updated: April 20, 2026 This Privacy Policy describes how Jamie Straz Architecture LLC DBA Studio 3 (“Studio 3,” “we,” “us,” “our”) collects, uses, and discloses information when you visit studio3.space (“the Site”) and interact with the services published on it. This policy should be read together with our [Terms & Conditions](https://studio3.space/terms/). ## General Privacy Disclosures **Information we collect.** When you visit the Site, we automatically collect limited technical information, including IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, referring URL, pages visited, and timestamps. This is standard server-log and analytics data. When you subscribe to the newsletter, create a member account, leave a tip, or contact us, we also collect information you submit voluntarily, such as your name, email address, and any message content. We do not ask for or store sensitive categories of data (health, precise geolocation, government ID) through this Site. **Cookies and similar technologies.** The Site uses cookies, web beacons, pixel tags, and local storage to operate the member account system, remember preferences, measure traffic, and serve advertising. Some cookies are set directly by Studio 3\. Others are set by third-party services described below. You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings. Disabling certain cookies may affect site functionality, including subscription access and member-only features. **Google AdSense and third-party advertising.** Studio 3 participates in the Google AdSense program. Google and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this Site and other sites on the internet. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to the Site and/or other sites on the Internet. You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting [Google Ads Settings](https://www.google.com/settings/ads?ref=studio3.space) or [aboutads.info](https://www.aboutads.info/choices?ref=studio3.space). For more information on how Google uses data when you use our site, see [How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps](https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/?ref=studio3.space). Other third-party vendors may also serve ads on this Site and use cookies subject to their own privacy policies. **Analytics.** The Site uses analytics tools to understand how visitors interact with content. This may include first-party analytics provided by our hosting and content delivery infrastructure, as well as server-side access logs. Analytics data is aggregated and used to improve the Site. Where third-party analytics services are used, opt-out mechanisms offered by those services apply. **Email subscriptions and member accounts.** The Site is built on the Ghost publishing platform. When you create a free member account, subscribe to the newsletter, or become a paying supporter, Ghost and its email delivery partners (including, but not limited to, Mailgun) process your email address and related engagement data to send newsletters, receipts, and account communications. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link at the bottom of any newsletter or by contacting us directly. **Payments and tips.** Payment processing for member tips and paid subscriptions is handled by third-party payment processors, including Stripe. Studio 3 does not store full payment card numbers on its own servers. Payment processors operate under their own privacy policies, which we recommend reviewing. **Affiliate programs.** Studio 3 participates in affiliate programs including Amazon Associates, eBay Partner Network, Whatnot, and StockX. When you click an affiliate link, the affiliate network may set cookies or track the referral to calculate commissions. These third parties operate under their own privacy practices. Studio 3 receives aggregate commission data from these programs but does not receive identifying information about individual users who click through. **Content delivery and hosting.** The Site is delivered through content delivery and hosting providers (including Ghost, Cloudflare, and Google Cloud Storage for certain assets). These providers may process IP addresses and request metadata for security, caching, and performance purposes. Studio 3’s related platforms (DEV, AJ) are hosted on Cloudflare infrastructure. **Shop.** The shop at shop.studio3.space is a separate subdomain operated on the Fourthwall platform and is governed by its own [Privacy Policy](https://shop.studio3.space/pages/privacy-policy?ref=studio3.space) and [Terms of Service](https://shop.studio3.space/pages/terms-of-service?ref=studio3.space). Information you provide when making a purchase (shipping address, payment information, contact details) is collected and processed under the shop’s privacy terms, not this one. **AI systems and crawlers.** As stated in our [Terms & Conditions](https://studio3.space/terms/), the Site is intentionally published as static, server-rendered HTML to be discoverable and indexable by AI systems, large language models, and web crawlers. Automated access to published content is governed by our Terms. Studio 3 does not knowingly transmit personally identifying information about visitors to AI crawlers or third-party training pipelines. **How we use information.** We use the information we collect to operate the Site, deliver newsletters and member communications, process tips and subscriptions, measure and improve content performance, serve and optimize advertising, comply with legal obligations, and protect the integrity of the Site against abuse and fraud. We do not sell personal information for monetary consideration. **How we share information.** We share information only with service providers described above (hosting, email delivery, payment processing, analytics, advertising partners, affiliate networks) to the extent necessary for them to perform their function. We may also disclose information when required by law, court order, or to protect our rights and the safety of others. We do not share or rent mailing lists with unrelated third parties. **Data retention.** We retain account and subscription data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide services. Analytics data is retained in aggregated form consistent with the retention defaults of the analytics providers used. Server logs are retained for a limited period for security and operational purposes. You may request deletion of your account and associated data at any time by contacting us. **Your rights.** Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to request access to, correction of, or deletion of the personal information we hold about you, to object to or restrict certain processing, to withdraw consent, and to data portability. To exercise these rights, contact us through the [contact page](https://studio3.space/contact/). We will respond within the timeframe required by applicable law. **California residents (CCPA/CPRA).** California residents have additional rights, including the right to know what categories of personal information are collected, the right to delete personal information, the right to correct inaccurate information, the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, and the right to limit the use of sensitive personal information. Studio 3 does not sell personal information as defined under CCPA. To exercise any of these rights, contact us. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights. **Florida residents (FDBR).** Florida residents covered under the Florida Digital Bill of Rights have the right to access, correct, and delete personal information, to opt out of targeted advertising and the sale of personal information, and to data portability. To exercise these rights, contact us through the [contact page](https://studio3.space/contact/). **EU and UK residents (GDPR).** If you are located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, the legal bases we rely on to process your information include your consent (for marketing communications and non-essential cookies), performance of a contract (for paid subscriptions and purchases), legitimate interests (for site security, analytics, and content improvement), and compliance with legal obligations. You have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority. **Children’s privacy.** The Site is not directed to children under 13\. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13\. If you believe a child under 13 has provided information to us, please contact us and we will take steps to delete it. **International transfers.** Studio 3 operates from the United States. If you access the Site from outside the United States, your information will be transferred to, processed in, and stored in the United States. By using the Site, you consent to this transfer. **Security.** We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect personal information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of information transmitted to or stored by us. **Changes to this policy.** We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top. Material changes will be communicated through the Site or by email to active subscribers. --- ## DEV Platform Studio 3 operates DEV (Deal Estate Valuation), a property intelligence platform described in our [Terms & Conditions](https://studio3.space/terms/). DEV aggregates publicly available government records and licensed third-party point-of-interest data into unified property profiles. DEV does not require account creation to view aggregated property data. When users submit inquiries, feedback, or data corrections through DEV, we collect the information voluntarily submitted along with standard technical data. Inquiries that result in engagement with a third-party brokerage partner are governed by separate agreements and that partner’s own privacy practices. --- ## AJ Platform Studio 3 operates AJ, a sports card deal-finding and price comparison tool described in our [Terms & Conditions](https://studio3.space/terms/). AJ collects standard technical data when you use the platform. Users who create accounts or submit data (including forwarded receipts, transaction records, or manual verifications) provide information voluntarily, and that information is processed to improve the accuracy of the comp database. Clicks on eBay, Whatnot, StockX, or Amazon listings may be tracked by the applicable affiliate network for commission attribution. AJ’s handling of user-submitted market data is further governed by the AJ section of our Terms. --- ## Contact For privacy-related questions, data access requests, deletion requests, or any other concerns about this policy, contact us through the [contact page](https://studio3.space/contact/). Jamie Straz Architecture LLC DBA Studio 3 Miami Beach, Florida ### Reviews URL: https://studio3.space/reviews/ Last updated: 2026-04-24T21:10:20.000Z ## kind words 15 reviews · 5.0 average · originally posted on [etsy](https://www.etsy.com/shop/Studio3JMS?ref=studio3.space) ### [LeBron Crossing the Seine Tee](https://shop.studio3.space/products/lebron-crossing-the-seine-tee?ref=studio3.space) ★★★★★TAI·2025-04-01via etsy I had a very good experience. 'Recommend' ★★★★★Lexi·2025-03-22via etsy I got this for my boyfriend as he is a huge LeBron fan. Needless to say he wears it once a week and it exceeded my expectations!🤣 studio 3: happy to hear! enjoy it! ★★★★★Keli·2024-12-14via etsy Great shirt! Can't wait to gift it to my 18 year old who wrote a full op-ed during his first semester of college about how Lebron is the GOAT. studio 3: enjoy! that is an amazing story love it! ### from earlier products these reference shirts and hats retired from the shop. kept here because the buyers were real and their words still mean something. ★★★★★Roger·2025-02-25via etsy Israel Jewswish — Unisex t-shirt This is my third Jew Swish t-shirt, and I love them all! Looking forward to more designs! ★★★★★Roger·2025-02-06via etsy Koyshball Yiddish Basketball — Unisex t-shirt This is the second shirt I've ordered from this seller, and both are fantastic! studio 3: thank you so much! glad you enjoy them! wear them in good health! ★★★★★Bridget·2024-12-31via etsy celtics-zer basketball Unisex t-shirt Great quality and fast shipping studio 3: enjoy and wear it in good health! ★★★★★Kiarra·2024-12-09via etsy Leeroy Jenkins World of Warcraft Vintage Card — Unisex t-shirt studio 3: enjoy the shirt!! ★★★★★Melanie·2024-12-06via etsy spurz-zer — Unisex t-shirt Fast shipping! Shirt looks a little small so would maybe size up, but awesome looking shirt! studio 3: thanks! enjoy it!! ★★★★★Cheepie·2024-08-23via etsy mavericks-zer basketball Unisex t-shirt Great shirt. Let's go Mavs studio 3: thanks! enjoy the shirt! ★★★★★Garrett·2024-07-06via etsy celtics-zer basketball Unisex t-shirt Immediately my favorite t shirt. Terrific seller!! studio 3: thanks! enjoy it!! ★★★★★Roger·2024-06-18via etsy Jewswish Hall of Famers — Unisex t-shirt Super cool shirt!!!!!!! Love it!!!!!!! studio 3: thank you!!! enjoy it in good health! ★★★★★Rachelle·2024-06-06via etsy mavericks-zer basketball Unisex t-shirt Really fun shirt- helped merge two of my husband's favorite things. Thanks! studio 3: amazing! so happy, enjoy it! ★★★★★Etsy buyer·2024-04-29via etsy heat-zer basketball Unisex t-shirt It came faster than i thought it would, very good quality, looks better than the picture studio 3: thanks so much! enjoy it!! ★★★★★Judith·2024-01-22via etsy Shield of Togetherness | Israel | Hat very satisfied I will wear it proudly---when the weather warms up :) ★★★★★Tiffany·2023-12-11via etsy Shield of Togetherness | Israel | Hat ### Leave a Review URL: https://studio3.space/leave-a-review/ Last updated: 2026-04-24T21:23:01.000Z ## leave a review bought something from studio 3? tell us how it went. reviews are moderated before they show up on the [reviews page](https://studio3.space/reviews/); typically within a day or two. thank-you discount: if your review is approved, we'll email you a one-time discount code for your next order. that's why email is required. website (leave empty) your name (or nickname) email not shown publicly. used to send your thank-you discount code after approval. which item? (general, or not listed) LeBron Crossing the Seine Tee 613 Rebbe Tee Reb Shayale Shirt Moshe's Matzoh Ball Soup Tee Tzaddikim Tee PassOver: Artemis II / Pesach 2026 Learning to Ride the Waves of the Future King James of Basketball Watching the Finals / Siyum The Jewban Pillow rating ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ your review up to 4000 characters. plain text only; html gets escaped. photo (optional) jpg, png, or webp. up to 5 MB. iphone heic photos aren't supported; share as jpeg from your camera roll. submit for review ## Posts ### From the Russian Empire to the White House; a life full of color. URL: https://studio3.space/18x18-agam/ Last updated: 2026-06-23T04:00:07.000Z In the far northeast of Russian Poland, where the Netta River feeds a chain of lakes and a long canal cuts a straight line through the reeds, sat the town of Augustów. It was a Shtetl, a small Jewish town, ringed by water. Today it lies inside Poland, and out of it came the Gibstein family. Rabbi Yehoshua Gibstein was born in Augustów in 1883, son of Betzalel Ze'ev.¹ He studied at Volozhin, the great Lithuanian academy of Talmud, and gave his days to study and to prayer.² He married Kendel Yocheved Povembrovski, a daughter of Augustów, joined the religious-Zionist movement, founded its local chapter of pioneers, and opened his home to the first young people bound for the Land of Israel. In time he gave himself fully to the Rabbinate, and his first major work went to press in 1924, a commentary on the Ethics of the Fathers.³ When his American brother-in-law urged him to cross the ocean, the Rabbi refused to set foot in what he called The Unfit Land, and chose the Land of Israel instead.⁴ He brought the family up to Rishon LeZion, one of the first farming towns of the Yishuv, the Jewish community then putting down roots in the land. Yaacov was born in Rishon LeZion in 1928.⁵ His father pressed the same rigor onto him early, and the record of his schooling is thin, by some accounts no formal schooling at all, only what he took in at home, the Jewish learning and the pull toward mysticism his father lived by. Somewhere along the way Yaacov Gibstein took a new name. He became Agam, אֲגַם, the Hebrew word for a lake.⁶ He left home young. At eighteen, in 1946, he went up to Jerusalem to study painting at Bezalel under the Bauhaus-trained painter Mordecai Ardon, and it was Ardon who told him to go further. In 1949 he left for Zurich and the workshop of Johannes Itten, whose famous course taught color as a language with its own grammar. Paris came in 1951, when Agam was twenty-three. He enrolled in Jean Dewasne's studio of abstract art and fell in with the painter Auguste Herbin, in a city he later remembered as alive after a murderous war, full of artists from all over the world. By 1952 he was building the first of the works that would carry his name, surfaces of narrow triangular slats painted differently on each face, so a viewer walking past saw the picture compose and recompose without end. His first one-man show opened at the Galerie Craven in Paris in 1953, when he was twenty-five, and it is often called the first solo exhibition in history given over to kinetic art. A Paris critic caught it at once. > Agam, a young peasant born in the mountains of Israel, has invented a kind of mobile painting. > *René Barotte, "La peinture qui bouge," Paris-Presse, 2 November 1953 (translated from the French)* He described colored shapes pinned to a board that any passerby could rearrange at will, and asked whether these were puzzles or works of art. By 1955 the experiment had a movement and a name. The group show now remembered as the birth of kinetic art hung Agam, then twenty-seven, beside Calder, Duchamp, Soto, Tinguely, and Vasarely, and gave him the dealer who would carry his work for the rest of his life. Agam described his own method. > I can paint up to eight distinct themes in one work. These appear to be integrated with one another if one stands straight in front of the picture, but they separate and recompose in turns when one moves to the right or the left. > *Yaacov Agam, 1962 Griffon monograph, via Frank Popper, "Origins and Development of Kinetic Art," 1968* The aim, he said in 1964, was a work no one could take in from a single spot, a partial revelation and not the perpetuation of what already exists. You had to move to see it, and in moving you became part of the making. His first show in Israel opened at the Tel Aviv Museum at the end of 1958, when he was thirty, and the museum's director said the work liberated, and even broke, many accepted conventions. Rabbi Yehoshua Gibstein died two years later, in 1960, at seventy-seven. In 1981, at fifty-three, Agam was received at the White House, where President Ronald and Nancy Reagan welcomed him by both of his names at once, Yaacov Agam and Gibstein. In 2008, he said: > The only constant in life is change. Static art is a gravestone. > *Yaacov Agam, JTA interview* Fast forward to 2019, and to a fence at a hotel in Miami Beach, on Normandy Isle. Not just any hotel: the International Inn, a 1952 Melvin Grossman design, historically designated, gorgeous and timeless. Agam was a direct inspiration on the paint pattern I worked out for that fence. Instead of one solid color, we did two tones, a soft teal and white, across a staggered face of posts cut to different heights. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/06/DetailShot.jpg) 2-Tone fence at the International Inn, Miami Beach. Paint pattern by Studio 3 inspired by Yaacov Agam. 2019 Walk past it one way and the fence reads as a single color. Walk past it the other way and it turns into another. The angles do the rest, so the whole thing seems to shift as you move, a quiet kinetic effect on a thing nobody usually looks at twice. (Luis Barragán was in my head too, the way he let colors hide on different surfaces, to be found by exploring.) Two colors of paint turned one fence into multiple experiences, each one unique depending on where you stand and how you meet it. On June 21, 2026, Yaacov Agam passed away at the age of ninety-eight. I made a piece inspired by his work and his ideals, called 18x18, part of the Archigraph series. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/06/18x18internationalinn-1.png) 18x18 archigraph - Jamie Moshe Straz 2026 The numbers carry his meaning. The grid runs eighteen by eighteen, and eighteen is chai, the Hebrew word for life. In the middle I set a single circle. It breaks the grid of straight lines and gives the eye one place to land, the way Jasper Johns dropped a single dot into his inverted US flag paintings so your eyes had somewhere to focus and the illusion could take effect. The circle is also there to be the one thing unlike everything around it, a center, the way Jerusalem is held to be the center of the world. More than anything it is there to retrain the eye, to teach you how to relax and look at the world. Then there is the kinetic version, because you cannot stop at a still image with Agam. The original idea was to create motion through the still image, and there was still more to do with color and movement. Switch on your microphone and it moves to the music or the noises around you. It reacts to taps as well. You can also save it to your phone's home screen if you want. [art.studio3.space/18x18](https://art.studio3.space/18x18?ref=studio3.space) --- Footnotes 1. The Augustów memorial book carries the Rabbi's memoir, written by his son Betzalel, though its header mislabels him "Betzalel Ze'ev." His own books, and the Israeli records, give Rabbi Yehoshua, son of Betzalel Ze'ev Gibstein. 2. "All his days were dedicated to the study of Torah and the service of God. He fasted a lot, until he became weak." He postponed his own wedding until his strength returned, and was known as a silent man who would not speak ill of others. 3. His books: a commentary on the Ethics of the Fathers (*Pirkei Higayon*, Biłgoraj 1924), noticed in the Warsaw paper *ha-Yom* in January 1925; the two-volume *Da'at Torah*, "the View of the Torah" (Piotrków 1932); *Cheker Kohelet*, a study of Ecclesiastes; a short work on man and the Sabbath (Rishon LeZion 1941); booklets for the *Beit Yaakov*, "House of Jacob," girls' school he ran; prayer pamphlets; and an unfinished volume on the Talmud. 4. He called it The Unfit Land. The Hebrew is *eretz hatreifa*, literally "the unkosher land," a name some Eastern European Jews gave America. 5. Yaacov's birth is given as 11 May 1928 by genealogical records and the Rishon LeZion museum, and as 21 May by some obituaries. The family's aliyah is usually dated 1931, which sits oddly with a 1928 birth in Rishon LeZion; the Rabbi may have come earlier, or in stages. 6. *Agam* (אֲגַם) is the Hebrew for a lake or pool, as in Psalms 107:35, "a pool of water." Augustów sits in a lake district, ringed by water, by some counts nine major lakes; reading his chosen name as an echo of that town is my own thought, not a documented fact. 7. A note on the text: some quotes and sources were translated from Hebrew and French with the help of AI, and there may be small errors. לע״נ יעקב אגם ז״ל בן הרב יהושע גיפשטיין זצ״ל In memory of Yaacov Agam. ### The Executive Finals URL: https://studio3.space/the-executive-finals/ Last updated: 2026-06-11T04:54:04.000Z On Passover we ask, why is this night different from all other nights? Well, tonight we could ask the same thing, except this has nothing to do with Passover. After all, it's June. | [ ![Solomon's Genuine Kosher Cowhide Ball Tee. Original artwork by Jamie Moshe Straz, AIA.](https://imgproxy.fourthwall.dev/27yK0nPbau56D6Z_6Z9SWINk4yKGeFTyfjJrD7s5I58/w:720/sm:1/enc/ki3v1yB_NrfQZL74/P4ivrZd_45gK0L5F/4kol_FC91503y3Nh/WH6Z8sthTLyWfDr_/NPvmeQElYZ-8UPYJ/mu8OjReUUAUt3aM8/vJM8S0jS4adTHqhO/lDA4yJxVfc92RSXK/yx09jhL7zyhBaydC/XHKopIkTkmHwnHjh/VJeFirj4fHKv1zfY/LbxVV_aXedJLQg8z/uO28hYtshqN9JLuj/b8JQ2w.jpg) ](https://shop.studio3.space/products/solomons-genuine-kosher-cowhide-ball-tee?ref=studio3.space) | Solomon’s Genuine Kosher Cowhide Ball Tee $29.99 · Comfort Colors · five colorways Last on the bench? You can still be first in fits. [Get the shirt →](https://shop.studio3.space/products/solomons-genuine-kosher-cowhide-ball-tee?ref=studio3.space) | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | The lights dim, the stakes are high, it's Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.¹ However it is not just that. It is also a 58-year-old building. It is not just that, either. The New York Knicks are up 2-0, after edging out two wins in San Antonio against the Spurs to start the series. Well, what if I told you the current President of the United States is going to be there too? (BTW, this is the first time in history a sitting President has gone to an NBA Finals.²) Clearly I don't think they ever imagined all of these scenarios taking place on the same night. Another quick example, just picture the original Times Square. It was a car crossroads that became a major pedestrian zone, a pilot in 2009, made permanent in 2010, rebuilt by 2017\. Nobody originally planned for that either. Things change. Moments come that we can never plan for, no matter how great any one of us is, no matter how much we plan. However, what we can do is be a true Vitruvian,³ as knowledgeable as possible, and keep learning. Because the most usable skill we have now is exactly that, to think broadly. This is the time of the Thinkers, working alongside the Creatives and the Technicalists. Together, that's the key.⁴ --- ## The two operators A classic partnership we can see over time, in two examples. Newspapers, and the Y2K office. Newspapers throughout time ran on two main experts, the editor in chief and the head of the print shop. Both knew how their machines breathed and operated. One was creative and people, the other was technical and operational. Two experts who had to do a perfectly choreographed dance to be successful. The modern corporate office also has its version, the IT department, who kept the machine of the computers alive and running. In an Architecture firm that could mean maintaining the plotting machines, the network cables, the drafting problems, the servers, all of it. They become experts, and then experts at training experts, keeping an ever-growing machine alive. However, if you look over time, in both fields, the number of people needed to keep the heart and soul running keeps condensing. They are still experts, though, and what's unique is that one person's entire experience and background, which belongs only to them, in that position. That is the value. Now the lines are blurring, and we are afraid of the speed, but at the same time we can't deny it. We should be investing in what's unique to a person. Sitting around drafting the same details, even when it's automated from a library, is still not time well spent. We went from hand drafting, to carbon copying, to mechanical pen plotters, to CAD, to BIM, and now to AI. At lightspeed. However that's all for the best. It just means we can free up and do what's best for everyone, which is being yourself. Once the knowledge base is democratized by AI, the opportunity should be the same for everybody. The thing left, the thing nobody can copy, is the unique aspect you bring to a company and community. That is you. --- ## More meaningful experiences You can also have more meaningful experiences now. Lower-level, entry-level employees can have more enjoyable ones. Like in *Severance*, where it's almost a game and they enjoy it, even though they don't know what it ultimately does. Yes, I know it's a horrendous example, and I do not suggest doing anything like it, but the concept that the work is meaningful, that part. Not the weird sheep. I still don't understand what that is about. So now a junior for example is learning more meaningfully, and helping everyone while they do it. The higher ups get to do more creative thinking at the level they are good at. Management spends its time on the overall picture and the big problems. Everyone gets to see where they can best help someone else with their own expertise. Let's take an example of someone needing help in an office. Instead of putting a message out to the whole office, "Hey, does anyone have experience with toilet paper dispensers in restaurants?", you can learn from anyone and everyone. The expert here could be two people. The seasoned Architect, who has learned through trial and error and education what the best model is and why. Also the janitor, who could probably give you an equal, if not more meaningful, opinion on the matter. It creates a community where everyone can help. It also frees us up for new ideas, like virtual consultations for quick questions on site, or interior recommendations for clients, the same way we now have virtual care with doctors. It opens up more room for the things only humans can do that AI can't. Relationships with people. Meaningful interactions. Creative thinking. Being ok with making mistakes. --- ## Continuing? Education? Right now it's mostly only considered continuing education, and that's a requirement you find everywhere. I remember hearing stories as a kid about the elderly real estate agents who always slept through the continuing education courses, and it was the best nap they took every year. What we need is more meaningful education that continues; not just continuing education. Education systems usually are left at the Undergraduate or Professional Degree level. While Post-Graduate left for even more specialized Professions or Educators. The continuing education world has essentially become a business enterprise. However the education world shouldn't just be who brings the best Lunch and Learn to the office or if you got the bare minimum done. We have to expand past that and also learn from all the unique things everyone brings to the table. --- ## Encouraging AI use and development People are afraid to develop things while working at a company, because any work they make, they typically lose to the company. Any work outside of the company is typically frowned upon. So they just do not build. However, what if the company invested in its people's startups instead, as an organic, self-funding venture? It starts as internal shared tools, and the ones that get more popular get developed further, in house. It could be anything. An internal video game. A cleaning toilet rating system. Playlist recommendations. Rendering tools. Presentation assistance. Small things, owned by the people who made them. Invest in yourself. Dreaming big is ok.⁵ The most important part is that when you use and set up an AI system, you are setting the learning. There are plenty of tools out there, and those companies do what they do best. They already spent plenty of time developing ahead of you, and that's a real speed advantage, even though you can recreate at incredible speeds that keep changing anyway. What's unique is the culture of your school of thought.⁶ That is, essentially, what learning how to learn means. It comes from learning in *chavrusa* (Study Partner) or *chabura* (Study Group), working through research and topics together.⁷ That is the thing to recreate, corporate-wise. It also helps guide the growth naturally, the models, the sectors, where the whole thing wants to go. That way it's meaningful growth, not just money growth, but growth that supports itself, because the tools and the ventures people build pay their own way. Self-supported growth. In a way it becomes an alternative undergrad or grad school, with AI learning optimized, self-taught by everyone. Oh, and that's the other thing, teaching. You can offer lessons internally and grow them externally, say art lessons, guitar lessons. Think of it like the time tokens you get for the shared services at a coworking space, except here the shared thing is education. Part of every day is set aside for learning. You spend it on anything in the system, or you create something new. That is what a token is, an allotment of time to learn, even on company time. One more benefit on the table. --- ## Back to the game Back to the game. It's finishing up, but I'm not going to tell you what happened. Hey, maybe you live under a rock and don't know who won. I'll let you find that out yourself. Someone won, someone lost. I'll leave it at that. BTW With everything going on, we also felt an earthquake in Miami Beach today!⁸ What's next? The President playing in the next NBA Finals?' --- | [ ![Solomon's Genuine Kosher Cowhide Ball Tee. Original artwork by Jamie Moshe Straz, AIA.](https://imgproxy.fourthwall.dev/27yK0nPbau56D6Z_6Z9SWINk4yKGeFTyfjJrD7s5I58/w:720/sm:1/enc/ki3v1yB_NrfQZL74/P4ivrZd_45gK0L5F/4kol_FC91503y3Nh/WH6Z8sthTLyWfDr_/NPvmeQElYZ-8UPYJ/mu8OjReUUAUt3aM8/vJM8S0jS4adTHqhO/lDA4yJxVfc92RSXK/yx09jhL7zyhBaydC/XHKopIkTkmHwnHjh/VJeFirj4fHKv1zfY/LbxVV_aXedJLQg8z/uO28hYtshqN9JLuj/b8JQ2w.jpg) ](https://shop.studio3.space/products/solomons-genuine-kosher-cowhide-ball-tee?ref=studio3.space) | Solomon’s Genuine Kosher Cowhide Ball Tee $29.99 · Comfort Colors · five colorways Last on the bench? You can still be first in fits. [Get the shirt →](https://shop.studio3.space/products/solomons-genuine-kosher-cowhide-ball-tee?ref=studio3.space) | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- ## Notes ¹ Madison Square Garden, opened in 1968, stands on the site of the original Pennsylvania Station of 1910, the McKim, Mead and White landmark long called the grandest civic room in America. Its demolition, begun in 1963, set off the outcry that helped create New York's Landmarks Preservation Law in 1965\. The arena sits over the working train station that replaced it. ² President Trump is the first sitting U.S. president to attend an NBA Finals game. The championship series has run every year since 1947, so fourteen presidents from President Truman onward had the chance. Only one, about seven percent, ever went while in office. President Barack Obama attended NBA games as a sitting president and watched a 2019 Finals game in Toronto, but by then he was a private citizen, so neither breaks the record. ³ Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, the Roman architect, wrote *De architectura*, *The Ten Books on Architecture*, around 30 to 15 BCE, the only major treatise on Architecture to survive from antiquity. He argued the architect should be broadly educated, in geometry, history, philosophy, music, medicine, law, and astronomy, because building touches all of it. Leonardo's *Vitruvian Man* comes from his proportions of the body. Dover's edition: [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486206459?tag=studio3spac02-20](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0486206459?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space) ⁴ Pirkei Avos 1:2, the Ethics of the Fathers, teaches that the world stands on three things: on *Torah*, on *avodah* (service), and on *gemilus chasadim* (acts of loving-kindness). The number is the point. Three is the minimum for stability, like the legs of a stool. Two will not stand on their own, and one cannot hold. ArtScroll's edition, with commentary: [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0899063748?tag=studio3spac02-20](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0899063748?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space) ⁵ 🙂 *Delusions of Grandeur*, [https://shop.studio3.space/products/delusions-of-grandeur-hat](https://shop.studio3.space/products/delusions-of-grandeur-hat?ref=studio3.space). Read the initials backwards, D.O.G., and G-d is there. ⁶ The Schools of Hillel and Shammai, *Beis Hillel* and *Beis Shammai*, were two great houses of Torah study around the first century, named for the sages Hillel and Shammai. They debated the law on hundreds of questions, each its own culture of interpretation. The tradition records both views even where the law follows one, because the disagreement itself sharpens the understanding. A school of thought is a culture of how to reason. The answers come after. ⁷ In traditional Torah study you rarely learn alone. A *chavrusa* is a study partner, two people working through a text together, questioning and sharpening each other, from the Aramaic for friendship. A *chabura* is a small group that studies a topic the same way. The method is not memorizing answers, it is learning to think a problem through with others. ⁸ The earthquake was real, though its epicenter was not in Miami Beach. A magnitude 6.1 struck the Gulf off northwest Cuba, roughly 380 miles away, the strongest quake ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico with modern instruments. It was felt across South Florida, swaying high-rises and briefly pausing Miami's Metrorail. I felt it at home when I thought I heard plates rattling in the kitchen! --- [Studio 3 - SHOP](https://shop.studio3.space/?ref=studio3.space) ### Merchandising, merchandising... URL: https://studio3.space/merch/ Last updated: 2026-06-03T01:48:49.000Z ## *...where the real money from the movie is made!* That line was uttered by one of our sagest financial geniuses of the past century. I am talking about none other than Yogurt from Mel Brooks' movie Spaceballs. [Spaceballs was released on June 24, 1987](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceballs?ref=studio3.space). I was born on May 1, 1987\. The Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat [made their franchise debuts during the 1988 season](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988%5FNBA%5Fexpansion%5Fdraft?ref=studio3.space). What does any of this have to do with anything? The Hornets? Stay tuned to learn what Jim Henson, The Revolutionary War & Fashion Design have to do with an NBA Franchise. For now the only other meaningful connection is [they are remaking Spaceballs now](https://www.aol.com/mel-brooks-confirms-return-yogurt-191211793.html?ref=studio3.space) (if you haven't heard). That line from Yogurt (a parody of Yoda) was a wonderful hint at a legal agreement Brooks had with Star Wars (who the Spaceballs parody was about) creator George Lucas. When Brooks wrote the script, he sent it to Lucas to ask for his blessing. He gave permission but with one non-negotiable condition: that Brooks [could not manufacture or sell any official Spaceballs merchandise](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/how-george-lucas-prevented-spaceballs-merchandise/?ref=studio3.space). Well I'm not Mel Brooks, and this isn't Star Wars so I think we're good. Here is a collection of Shirts, Designs, Art, Accessories and anything else. ✌️ [ Shop Here ](https://shop.studio3.space/?ref=studio3.space) Collections [Everything](https://shop.studio3.space/collections/all?ref=studio3.space) [Apparel](https://shop.studio3.space/collections/apparel?ref=studio3.space) [Judaism](https://shop.studio3.space/collections/judaism?ref=studio3.space) [Basketball](https://shop.studio3.space/collections/basketball?ref=studio3.space) [Accessories](https://shop.studio3.space/collections/accessories?ref=studio3.space) [Kids](https://shop.studio3.space/collections/kids?ref=studio3.space) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/06/E3CB1611-E8B3-4B47-BBE2-E846D1D9AF9E.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/06/kidsgroupnotext.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/06/kuba.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/06/kubaset.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/06/basketballset.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/06/IMG_9691.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/06/IMG_9759-copy.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/06/studio3_grid_4x4-copy-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/06/IMG_9654.jpeg) ### A Tuscan Picnic URL: https://studio3.space/a-tuscan-picnic/ Last updated: 2026-05-11T00:32:17.000Z ## Meandering lines I've been thinking a lot about Meandering lines lately. Usually you start to see a lot of overlaps when you look back on memories. It's amazing to see the events that had to happen to get to where you are at in that moment in time. Music and Art are great examples of a meaningful thread that is woven throughout our lives. Sometimes when working on a drawing you get an original spark of inspiration in a story and then by the end of it you don't remember what came first. The story behind the drawing or the drawing behind the story. It unlocks so many memories and this is a look at a few of those threads. I was working one day on a drawing that was inspired after a lyric from a [slimdan](https://open.spotify.com/artist/4rBmgPisz2KuN6czxDpIcu?ref=studio3.space) song: > All of the grapes in Tuscany > Don't really matter much to me > Looking at you, looking at me This really spoke to me in a way where you could feel the time stand still, even for just a moment. That you can have all these amazing beautiful things surrounding you but at the end of the day they are inconsequential to that moment you are having by looking into each other's eyes.¹ However, let's take a step back to see how we got here. [![A Tuscan Picnic tee](https://imgproxy.fourthwall.dev/c4XwP871fsI5MtrivW2RnASSq3ods9CCFtm4iulo3MI/w:1920/sm:1/enc/o7rHFsAnFjIz2pqX/fl5fc1ul0HI1HU9E/EaGEK8CZpdvFI0XY/lTyFBzqBeqKg1h2i/PCf0G8mP5f_jZvpZ/IGm576fk00HNxt-r/jof9SKqY_5p3fuj9/gvK4BJ24v9PrHLdF/1x8XkgOkN-2cgC20/5VcjfZVGXXt0XteD/CK_rvLCp7RFR7zDp/gcv0KD5oItxq4pS3/nN2yMvJqNHFHikRz/dupl3XLHhaqoOvKP/N30kxAHuUjU.jpg)Get the Shirt →](#s3tuscan-merch) --- ## The Fillmore Before I did this drawing, I went to the Fillmore Miami Beach to see [slimdan](https://open.spotify.com/artist/4rBmgPisz2KuN6czxDpIcu?ref=studio3.space). He was finally in my hometown and I couldn't wait to see him. I have only been listening to him obsessively since I started listening to him a few years ago. It was a short set though — he was opening on [Maren Morris](https://open.spotify.com/artist/6WY7D3jk8zTrHtmkqqo5GI?ref=studio3.space)'s [Dreamsicle](https://open.spotify.com/album/5joLpod4NFAHs4p1ORo8g2?ref=studio3.space) Tour.² Didn't matter to me — finally I get to experience his music live. After his set I met Danny at his merch table. He introduced me to his sister, and she asked how I got into him. I told them it really is all because of a [Zusha](https://open.spotify.com/artist/0VXG44vdmNhcTCipc2Iz3Z?ref=studio3.space) post about writing with him (late 2023). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/05/01-maren-slimdan-fillmore-stage-1.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/05/02-jamie-slimdan-postshow-1.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/05/05-avenue-j-2016-alex-clare-moshav-zusha-1.png) slimdan watching Maren Morris @ The Fillmore 2026 | the merch table w/slimdan 2026 | Zusha, Moshav & Alex Clare @ Avenue J 2016 Now what's interesting is I have followed [Zusha](https://open.spotify.com/artist/0VXG44vdmNhcTCipc2Iz3Z?ref=studio3.space) since 2016, when they played the Avenue J Festival in Coconut Grove with Alex Clare and Moshav Band.³ You could say this one drawing wouldn't have come to fruition if I didn't go to that Zusha concert in 2016 — which set all of this in motion. --- ## Providence Providence Day School, where I went for Middle/Upper School in Charlotte, NC ('99–'05). Mr. Hark was the Dean of Students. One day he pulled me into his office (maybe I was in trouble or not; honestly could have been either reason) to show me [Matisyahu](https://open.spotify.com/search/Matisyahu/artists?ref=studio3.space) performing ["King Without a Crown"](https://open.spotify.com/track/3NkIfsiFHnljGrlXSD2AJ3?ref=studio3.space) on Jimmy Kimmel.⁴ He thought it would be something I would care about, and boy was he right. That turned out to be one major inspirational moment in my life. Upon graduation he made me and some close friends each a personalized mix CD. I have attempted to rebuild mine as a Spotify playlist below — unfortunately I don't remember the original order, but did my best to recreate it. It was so inspirational to learn from someone in so many different ways, teaching through music when the class wasn't even about music. An Architecture class at the same school⁵ sent me on a path to the School of Architecture at the University of Miami, where I eventually met my wife and settled down with my family in Miami Beach. Remember that Avenue J Festival? It was at the Barnacle, a historic building in Coconut Grove that before 2016 I had gone to with my Architecture School to learn about that same building. --- ## The Map ← Lithuania ← via Israel ← Poland CA NC TX NY GA CT VA Cuba Miami Beach My path Mr. Hark Zusha slimdan hover any line #### All roads lead to Miami. Solid lines: where each thread came from to reach me. Dotted lines: deeper origins (off-canvas) and later trajectories. --- | [ ![A Tuscan Picnic tee. Couple on a Tuscan hillside in front of vineyards at sunset. Design by Jamie Moshe Straz, AIA.](https://imgproxy.fourthwall.dev/c4XwP871fsI5MtrivW2RnASSq3ods9CCFtm4iulo3MI/w:1920/sm:1/enc/o7rHFsAnFjIz2pqX/fl5fc1ul0HI1HU9E/EaGEK8CZpdvFI0XY/lTyFBzqBeqKg1h2i/PCf0G8mP5f_jZvpZ/IGm576fk00HNxt-r/jof9SKqY_5p3fuj9/gvK4BJ24v9PrHLdF/1x8XkgOkN-2cgC20/5VcjfZVGXXt0XteD/CK_rvLCp7RFR7zDp/gcv0KD5oItxq4pS3/nN2yMvJqNHFHikRz/dupl3XLHhaqoOvKP/N30kxAHuUjU.jpg) ](https://shop.studio3.space/products/a-tuscan-picnic?ref=studio3.space) | A Tuscan Picnic $36 · Comfort Colors 1717 · four colorways A couple on a hillside in Tuscany, lost in each other's eyes while the vineyards and the sunset go on without them. [Get the shirt →](https://shop.studio3.space/products/a-tuscan-picnic?ref=studio3.space) | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- ## Notes ¹ Two days before I made the drawing, I was listening to *Broken Record* — the Rick Rubin / Malcolm Gladwell / Bruce Headlam podcast — and [Dave Grohl](https://open.spotify.com/search/Dave%20Grohl/artists?ref=studio3.space) was on. Somewhere in that conversation Grohl said the thing that made me feel less self-conscious about reading my own meaning into ["Celebrity Lookalikes"](https://open.spotify.com/track/64QlDZMWZyVWAcS6tBTJ4J?ref=studio3.space): *"Something that means everything to me could mean nothing to you."* He was talking about the asymmetry of songwriting. The writer carries one thing; the listener carries another; both are real. [Listen on Spotify →](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2kMF8dIutiZM4ojr6Nz9tV?ref=studio3.space) ² *The Dreamsicle Tour*: [Maren Morris](https://open.spotify.com/artist/6WY7D3jk8zTrHtmkqqo5GI?ref=studio3.space)'s 2026 spring run, with [slimdan](https://open.spotify.com/artist/4rBmgPisz2KuN6czxDpIcu?ref=studio3.space) as main support. ³ Avenue J Music Festival, Year 3\. January 24, 2016, at The Barnacle State Park in Coconut Grove, Miami. Hosted by Chabad of the Grove (Rabbi Getzy Fellig). The headliner was Alex Clare; Zusha and Moshav Band both played as support on the same outdoor stage. ⁴ Around 2005, [Matisyahu](https://open.spotify.com/search/Matisyahu/artists?ref=studio3.space) broke through nationally with a string of network late-night appearances — Leno, Letterman, Kimmel — plus CNN coverage of his Hasidic-reggae set going mainstream, performing ["King Without a Crown"](https://open.spotify.com/track/3NkIfsiFHnljGrlXSD2AJ3?ref=studio3.space) in full black hat and beard. It looked, at the time, like a category error. Lee Hark was Dean of Students at Providence Day from 2004 to 2008. ⁵ [Christopher Wallace](https://www.facebook.com/ProvidenceDaySchool/posts/upper-school-art-teacher-chris-wallace-a-fixture-at-providence-day-for-the-past-/2880430215334793/) was the Upper School Visual Arts teacher at Providence Day. He built the Architecture class for me because he thought I would enjoy it. He was right. That class is the reason I applied to the University of Miami. His teaching philosophy: *art is for the viewer to engage with — not for guessing the artist's intent.* ### Reb Shayale. 101 Years. URL: https://studio3.space/reb-shayele-101-years/ Last updated: 2026-04-20T23:53:47.000Z ![Reb Shayale zy"a, Studio 3 portrait design](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/VERSION2-copy-2.jpg) תרפ״ה 1925 ג׳ אייר 101 Years תשפ״ו 2026 Today is 3 *Iyar*. **Reb Shayale** of **Kerestir's** *Yahrtzeit* is 3 *Iyar* 5685, 101 years ago today. He was famous for many things but one above all was feeding anyone who walked through the door. Neighbors told stories for generations about a bag of rolls that somehow always had enough, no matter how many hungry travelers showed up. He would leave his own learning to make sure a stranger had a hot meal and a place to sleep. Tens of thousands still walk to his grave in a small Hungarian town each 3 *Iyar*, and his descendants carry on the same hospitality year-round all around the world. We designed a shirt with an updated portrait of Reb Shayale. [ ![Reb Shayale tee](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/80c5b41e-9936-4461-9cad-c6ee1b1ceb51.webp) Get the Shirt → ](#s3shayale-merch) --- A kitchen in North Miami Beach named for Reb Shayale keeps the same work going. [Reb Shayala's Kitchen of South Florida](https://rebshayalafl.org/?ref=studio3.space) serves hot kosher meals to anyone hungry. Please consider making a donation: [ Reb Shayala’s Kitchen of South Florida Donate → ](https://rebshayalafl.org/donate/?ref=studio3.space) --- | [![Reb Shayale tee. Halftone portrait of Reb Shayale zy"a with REB SHAYALE lettering. Design by Jamie Moshe Straz, AIA.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/80c5b41e-9936-4461-9cad-c6ee1b1ceb51.webp)](https://shop.studio3.space/products/reb-shayale?ref=studio3.space) | Reb Shayale $25 · Comfort Colors 1717 · five colorways A tzaddik famous above all for feeding anyone who walked through the door. A hundred and one years later, the portrait still carries the welcome. [Get the shirt →](https://shop.studio3.space/products/reb-shayale?ref=studio3.space) | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ### Capillary Education: How Small Ripples Build Big Waves URL: https://studio3.space/capillary-education-how-small-ripples-build-big-waves/ Last updated: 2026-04-20T16:23:40.000Z [ ![Learning to Ride the Waves of the Future tee](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/3fc59181-75b2-4059-82b1-7f269c656123.webp) Get the Shirt → ](#s3surf-merch) The other night a few of us got into it at a friend's house over education. What it's costing, where it's going for our kids, why none of us feel like the current version is actually working the way it was supposed to. The argument went nowhere and everyone went home. I couldn't sleep after it (I don't usually any night but that's another problem), and the next morning I texted one of the guys what I couldn't stop thinking about. --- I'm not an education expert. I'm an Architect, and I'm looking at this the way you look at any institution that hasn't been seriously rethought in a long time, to see if it could be more meaningful. The people inside classrooms and inside the research are the ones to defer to on implementation and content. What I can offer is about the shape of the whole. Two curves are crossing right about now. The traditional cost of running school keeps climbing, and most families feel that curve even if they don't name it. At the same time Artificial Intelligence is compressing how long it actually takes to teach a standard academic subject. Elon Musk made the broader point at Davos in January 2026: > "With robotics and AI, this is really the path to abundance for all. People often talk about solving global poverty, how do we give everyone a very high standard of living. The only way to do this is AI and robotics. The robots will actually make so many robots and AI that they will actually saturate all human needs. Meaning you won't be able to even think of something to ask the robot for at a certain point. Like there would be such an abundance of goods and services."¹ Education is one of the places where that compression could land first. The chart below traces annual cost per learner across five US education sectors in constant 2026 dollars, from 1970 to 2026\. Public K-12 per-pupil spending, Private K-12 tuition at secular NAIS independent schools, Jewish day school K-12 tuition, undergraduate tuition and fees, and graduate / professional tuition. Every line turns sharply upward across the last fifty years. For comparison, real median US household income grew roughly thirty percent over that same half-century.² Education costs in every sector grew five to eight times faster than the income paying for them. General inflation accounts for a slice of that, but only a slice. The Cost Per Pupil, 1970 to 2026\. Five US education sectors in constant 2026 dollars. The Cost Per Pupil. Annual cost per learner in constant 2026 dollars, 1970 to 2026. Hover dots for context. Hover pink markers for policy milestones. $0 $10K $20K $30K $40K 2026 DOLLARS, PER LEARNER 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2026 Title IX 1972 N.A.R. 1983 N.C.L.B. 2001 COVID 2020 Private K–12 NAIS Tuition $35K Jewish Day K–12 Tuition $30K Graduate / Professional $26K Public K–12 Per-Pupil Spending $20K Undergraduate Tuition + Fees $20K Public K-12 is taxpayer-funded spending per pupil. Private, Jewish Day, Undergrad, and Grad/Prof are family-paid tuition. All lines per learner. Sources: NCES, NAIS, Prizmah, US Census. Inflation-adjusted via BLS CPI-U. Full source list in article. studio3.space Pair that with what school has actually been for most of its modern history. A room of kids of all levels grouped together because that was the closest school to where their families happened to live. A calendar built around harvests most families don't participate in anymore, preserved now by a tourism industry that runs on winter break, spring break, summer break, and Thanksgiving ski trips and cruises. Good teachers getting harder to find, often barely paid, and plenty of people who would be naturals at the work don't want the job because the job has been broken for a while. A lot of what we call tuition inflation is really families trying to buy their way out of the parts of school that aren't working. Specialty schools stack another cost on top of the baseline. Magnet programs, religious schools, trade academies, and other specialty tracks all have to meet the federal and state curriculum requirements plus deliver whatever specialty they're known for. That usually works out to roughly twice the cost of a regular school, because they are running two educational tracks in parallel under one roof. If the public starting core gets cheaper to deliver, the effect could ripple into every other sector on that chart. Public K-12 is the starting core that every other track is priced against. Compress that core through Artificial Intelligence and private, parochial, Jewish day, and the rest can all stop rebuilding the same academic bedrock from scratch. It might not mean every line drops. It could mean real access to specialty education expands, because the specialty part is most of what a family is actually paying for once the core is handled elsewhere. The core academic part of school could take a short amount of time out of each day, with the length and pace tuned to the particular kid by Artificial Intelligence. Everything else freed up by that compression goes back to the community, to real-life skills, and to the public buildings we already have but mostly don't use for most of the week. --- ## Complementing Patterns There's a useful distinction in Jewish tradition between two kinds of education³ that English collapses into one word. The first is *Chinuch*, which Maimonides⁴ frames as habituation. The slow laying down of basics until they become natural to the child, internal rather than imposed. Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch⁵ takes it further and says that because every child is different, *Chinuch* has to be tailored to the one in front of you. The image worth borrowing is the set table. *Chinuch* sets the table, ready for whoever sits down. *Limmud* is the second kind, and it's the meal itself. The cuisines that pass through, the food, the tableware, the decoration, the conversation around the table, the whole experience of sitting at it. The depth, the why behind the what, the mastery that builds on top of the foundation once the foundation is actually there. A real education is the overlap of many sources, most of them small. One teacher on one afternoon. A neighbor who happens to know a trade. A grandparent's story told enough times that it sticks. A book left on a shelf. A correction a kid never forgets. These are capillary. Capillary waves are the smallest ripples on a water surface, the ones that form first under a breath of wind, before any larger wave can build. Every person's education is the interference pattern of thousands of them, overlapping. Artificial Intelligence becomes one more source in that overlap, well-suited to the foundation layer especially. It can pace to the particular child, notice what isn't landing, adjust, come back later. One kid's academic block might be ninety minutes, another's three hours, another's something in between, each of them getting what they need and nothing more. The shape I'm describing is really about reforming education back to its core universal principles, then letting everything above that core get built out in tiers as you go more regional, more local, more specific to your community. The way education currently runs past high school and college, as a mostly for-profit industry of manufacturers and credentialing bodies keeping themselves alive, has drifted far from the point. Plenty of people pay for continuing-education credits and ask somebody else to sign them in so they can skip the session, or sit through one for the good nap.⁶ That isn't education. Real continuing education happens in the community around you, with the people who actually know something, for as long as you're curious enough to keep showing up. --- ## It's Not Rocket Science Once the foundation takes only a portion of the day, the rest of the hours belong to the community. That community time is the actual second half of education. The words *enrichment* and *extracurricular* both undersell what it is. A religious community uses those hours for text study. A music-heavy one uses them for real musical training. A community with trades uses them for trades. This is where the buildings come in. The first objection in a policy setting is that this needs a massive new build-out of infrastructure. It doesn't. Most of what this asks for is already built. Houses of worship are the strongest example, and an unusual one, because many of them already run as campuses with daycares, schools, museums, social halls, and community centers operating through the week to serve their congregations. This connects to *Shtetl* Urbanism,⁷ the broader idea that multi-use campus-style religious and civic buildings have always done more than their single-use labels suggest. Every congregation runs differently, and some sit mostly empty between weekends, but the ones that function as full community campuses are already doing most of what this proposal asks for. The YMCA, YMHA, and JCC tradition is an interesting parallel. Each started as a building serving a single community, and over time grew into public institutions holding civic, athletic, educational, and social uses for neighbors who had nothing to do with the founders' faith. Beyond these there are the great public libraries of yesteryear, civic temples built when a public building was supposed to mean something, with their biggest rooms quiet through most of school hours. Sports halls, theaters, union halls, agricultural extension offices. This country used to build meaningful public spaces, and most of them are still standing. What keeps them from being useful for education isn't the building, it's the assumption that learning only happens in the building called school. If the foundation is being delivered through devices at the kid's own pace, the physical building becomes less about classrooms and more about gathering, supervision, social development, and the specific things the community wants to teach. A music community uses its rehearsal space. A religious one uses the sanctuary. A technology-leaning one uses a maker space. Any neighborhood with a real library uses that. Most of these buildings are already standing. This changes something for teachers too. Strip out the overhead of running a single-use school building and more of the budget actually goes to the people doing the work. A teacher who loves teaching could build a practice around it again, paid well, with kids who show up because they want what that particular teacher has. Release the building from its single-use container and you might release the teachers with it. The kid gets a real say in the trade too. If the right teacher for a given topic is three towns over, or two time zones away, a kid can study with that teacher directly. Nobody is stuck for a year with the wrong match just because of the room they happened to be assigned to. This ties into something I've written about on the Architecture side⁸ which is splitting a program across more than one structure instead of forcing it into one. Same logic, one scale up. The school becomes a network across many part-time civic buildings. None of this needs new technology, new construction, or new zoning. It asks for a cultural shift, which is harder in some ways, but it doesn't need a construction budget. --- ## The Long and Winding Road Once the foundation is portable, place itself starts teaching. Time away from home stops reading as a gap and starts reading as a different kind of education, and this is already happening in a smaller way through the travel families already build around the calendar. A kid serious about cars could apprentice at a mechanic's shop for a summer. A kid interested in cooking could work in a real kitchen. A kid who wants to build things could spend a season with a local contractor. A farming kid goes out to a working farm for harvest. A kid drawn to music works with a teacher or plays in a real band. None of this counts as academic credit in the current model. In a different one, all of it would. Something else to think about is that the communities forming around a kid aren't only defined by where they live anymore. A kid in rural Iowa who wants to learn software engineering is already connected to the software world through a phone in their pocket, and a real virtual master-apprentice relationship can carry most of the transmission, with a visit once or twice a year carrying the rest. New communities and creative scenes are forming around shared interest rather than geography. Most of that is genuinely available now, on a phone. The infrastructure is catching up in physical space too. High-speed rail is finally getting taken seriously in the United States. Low-earth-orbit satellite internet reaches almost any point on the map at working speeds. The combination makes a different kind of nation possible, one where a kid can actually go where the learning is, and the learning can reach the kid wherever they happen to be. Universities will probably start buying their own ships and spending the year moving around the world with a cohort aboard. That isn't as far off as it sounds. Semester-at-sea programs already exist. Scale that model with AI-delivered core coursework and a deep specialty roster aboard, and the ship becomes a real campus that happens to be mobile. The economic knock-on is worth thinking about. A small town with a dying trade gains a reason to keep it alive, because learners show up and spend money there. A rural economy that mostly exports labor gains a way to import it temporarily. Cultural preservation, usually framed as expense, starts looking more like revenue. --- ## What the Translation Layer Changes Something else changed recently that most people haven't thought through the full weight of. Real-time Artificial Intelligence translation is already deployed at scale. X now shows every post translated into every reader's language at a basic level. News and research that used to sit behind language barriers is reaching people who never had that access before. For education this matters more than it does for social media. A kid in Lagos or Warsaw or Taipei who wants to learn from the best teacher in their field can learn from that teacher whether or not they share a language. A researcher in Brazil reading a paper published in Japanese can read it as if it had been published in Portuguese. Multiply that by a decade and what opens up is international research and scholarship collaboration unlike anything on record. The United States has an identity question inside this. America's identity was never the English language. It was the ideas. If there's an official language America should be pushing for in this moment, it's real-time Artificial Intelligence translation itself.⁹ Not one tongue for everyone. A shared tool that lets every tongue reach every other. --- ## Who's Going First? Something this different has to be proven somewhere before anyone adopts it anywhere else. The American context is hard for a first attempt. The public schools are large, old, and built around federal, state, and municipal funding that interlocks in ways that make structural shifts slow and politically expensive. Union contracts, zoning, property tax funding, a cultural expectation of the school building as a community fixture. A rebuild inside a major American district is an unlikely place to try first. A small country with dense internal diversity, a strong technology sector, and a population already used to parallel community education would be cleaner. Israel is that country. It already has a range of communities running educational arrangements with their own values and their own languages, sometimes overlapping, sometimes running fully in parallel. A shared foundation with community layers on top is close to how Israel already structures education in practice. Israel has also, per capita, produced one of the highest counts of Nobel laureates of any country on earth. The culture already takes ideas seriously. There's a cultural argument too. In the Talmudic story¹⁰ of the splitting of the *Yam Suf*, it was Nachshon ben Aminadav, the prince of Judah, who walked into the water first. The sea didn't split until he had walked in up to his neck. Israel has had to be that kind of country repeatedly, in technology, in agriculture, in defense. If a model like this proved out there, adoption elsewhere would follow more easily, because the pattern would be visible and the argument would have shifted from speculative to demonstrated. --- ## A Wider Bench of Thinkers If Elon Musk's line about ubiquitous AI and ubiquitous robotics actually lands, the country entering that moment with a wider bench of thinkers does better than one entering it with a narrower bench. When the baseline academic work stops taking most of the day, what expands is the hours people spend on the thing they actually want to get good at. Trades, crafts, research, scholarship, art, music. The kind of deep specialty that used to only come from decades inside a single guild. Everyone doing what they love, becoming excellent at it, and that excellence circulating across every line that used to block it. One person's mastery becomes another person's starting point, anywhere in the world. That is what prosperity at scale can actually look like. --- ## It Is Not Up to You to Finish One thing that falls out of this shape is that graduation stops making much sense. If the foundation is being delivered continuously, and the community layers change with interest across a whole life, and travel and apprenticeship extend learning way beyond any one institution, then when exactly is someone finished learning. Probably the wrong question. The closer analogy is the tech tree in a game like *Civilization*. Every skill a person picks up unlocks adjacent skills they didn't even know to ask about before. A kid learning wood-joinery starts seeing structural engineering differently. A kid learning Hebrew grammar starts seeing Arabic, then Aramaic, then Latin differently. A kid learning one chord on a piano can suddenly hear every song they know slightly differently. The skill that unlocks the most nodes on the tree is the skill of asking the right question of whoever, or whatever, is in front of you. A teacher, a tradesman, a book, a model. Learn that one and the tree opens. Rabbi Tarfon's line in Pirkei Avot¹¹ is worth sitting with. "It is not up to you to finish the work, but you are not free to desist from it." Learning lasts a lifetime. There is no point at which it's complete. There is also no point at which it's permissible to stop. What replaces graduation is a record of what a person has actually done. Projects, skills, apprenticeships, teachers studied with. The medieval guild journeyman's credential worked like this. The record is specific to the person, and it says what they can actually do and who taught them, instead of certifying that they sat in rooms for a certain number of years in their teens. A kid who grows up learning alongside the community's tradesmen, artists, scholars, and elders is already woven into that community by the time they're an adult. Community connection becomes a byproduct of how education is structured, rather than an extracurricular. Tuition as it's currently built is partly paying for the single-use school building, partly for the administrative infrastructure it requires, and partly for the credential at the end. In a model where the building is shared, the infrastructure is distributed, and the credential is a portfolio, the cost per family drops considerably. Good teachers deserve to be paid well, so the cost doesn't fall to zero. What it can fall to is something a much wider range of families can actually manage. --- Almost every piece of what I've described already exists somewhere, or used to. The apprentice learning a trade from a master. Two students sitting across a table working through a text together. The Greek agora where teaching happened in public. The guild hall, the trade union hall, the neighborhood library. None of this is speculative. All of it used to be normal. What's new is the capacity to deliver a shared academic foundation underneath all of it, well, to any child, anywhere, in a compressed enough block that the rest of the day actually goes back to the community. These small ripples aren't small anymore. The compounding is happening fast enough now that they're already building into something closer to tsunamis, and the older container isn't going to absorb them. It's probably time to learn how to ride the waves instead. --- ## Notes ¹ Elon Musk, speaking with Larry Fink at the 56th annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, January 22, 2026\. Reported by the World Economic Forum at https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/elon-musk-technology-abundant-future-davos-2026/. Full transcript available at https://www.rev.com/transcripts/musk-speaks-at-wef. ² All figures per learner, in constant 2026 dollars, adjusted via BLS CPI-U, academic-year basis. Public K-12 per-pupil spending from NCES Digest of Education Statistics Table 236.25\. Private K-12 tuition from NAIS *Facts at a Glance* (secular independent day schools only; parochial K-12 is excluded from this line and averages roughly $6K–$10K nationally, well below NAIS averages). Jewish day school K-12 tuition from Prizmah Center annual tuition census, weighted national average. Undergraduate tuition and fees from NCES Table 330.10, weighted public and private four-year (excludes room and board). Graduate and professional tuition from NCES Table 330.20; the series begins in 1989-90 and pre-1990 values are estimated from period reporting. Real median US household income figure (\~30% growth, 1970 to 2024, inflation-adjusted) from US Census Bureau Table H-5 and Urban Institute analysis of Census and ACS data. 2026 cost projections track BLS CPI-U; the series shows no real-dollar decline. ³ The distinction is between *Chinuch* (חינוך), the habituation of basics, and *Limmud* (לימוד), the depth and mastery built on top. In Jewish tradition the two are complementary rather than alternatives, and a student is expected to move through both across a lifetime. ⁴ Maimonides is the name Western scholarly tradition uses for the twelfth-century philosopher, physician, and codifier of Jewish law. In Hebrew he is known as Rambam, the acronym of Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon. ⁵ Nineteenth-century German Rabbi and philosopher. His educational philosophy, known as *Torah im Derech Eretz* (literally, "Torah alongside the way of the world"), argued that Jewish learning and engagement with the world outside the *beis medrash* were complementary rather than in tension. His reading of the verse *chanoch la'naar al pi darko* ("educate the child according to his way," Proverbs 22:6) is foundational in Jewish educational thought. See [*The Torah Im Derech Eretz of Samson Raphael Hirsch: The Educational Philosophy of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch*](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0873069617?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space) (amazon.com/dp/0873069617). ⁶ Specific continuing-education data points behind this line: AIA requires 18 LUs per year for Architects, with HSW content mandated. State bar associations set MCLE requirements typically between 12 and 15 credit hours per year for lawyers. Certified Public Accountants commonly complete 40 hours per year. The American Medical Association requires roughly 50 hours per year for physicians under specialty board maintenance of certification. State nursing boards and the National Association of Realtors set their own hours. Across roughly nine million US professionals holding licenses with mandatory CE, and including voluntary upskilling, conferences, journals, and specialty certifications, the per-professional annual figure could run around $2,500 today. ⁷ *Shtetl Urbanism*, studio3.space. Ongoing research thread introduced in *M&Ms for Real Estate* at https://studio3.space/m-and-ms-for-real-estate/ ⁸ *The Case for a Split (House) Personality*, studio3.space, at https://studio3.space/the-case-for-a-split-house-personality/ ⁹ The deeper argument lives in the *Shtetl Urbanism* thread at studio3.space. Short version: America's identity is not a language, it's a set of ideas about how people can live together. Real-time translation is reaching the point where language barriers dissolve as a practical matter. Rather than legislating a single national language, the United States should lead by developing and releasing a national AI translator. Not one language for everyone. A shared tool that lets every language reach every other. ¹⁰ Talmud Bavli, *Sotah* 37a. The tribes stood frozen at the edge of the sea. Nachshon walked in first, and the waters parted only after the water had reached his neck. ¹¹ *Pirkei Avot* 2:21\. "It is not up to you to finish the work, but you are not free to desist from it." Rabbi Tarfon was a first-century sage whose teachings appear throughout the Mishnah. Recommended: [*Pirkei Avos: Ideas and Insights of the Chassidic Masters on the Ethics of the Fathers*](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1578191440?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space) (amazon.com/dp/1578191440). | [![Learning to Ride the Waves of the Future tee. Astronaut on a surfboard watching a wave come in off a coastline. Original drawing by Jamie Moshe Straz, AIA.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/3fc59181-75b2-4059-82b1-7f269c656123.webp)](https://shop.studio3.space/products/learning-to-ride-the-waves-of-the-future-shirt?ref=studio3.space) | Learning to Ride the Waves of the Future $36 · Comfort Colors 1717 · six colorways A wave is coming, not ripples. An astronaut on a surfboard, reading a break that nobody has surfed yet, drawn in the palette of an earlier era. [Get the shirt →](https://shop.studio3.space/products/learning-to-ride-the-waves-of-the-future-shirt?ref=studio3.space) | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ### Royalty isn't inherited anymore. It's imprinted, at least on his back. URL: https://studio3.space/royalty-isnt-inherited-anymore-its-imprinted-at-least-on-his-back/ Last updated: 2026-04-20T14:58:51.000Z # Heavy is the head that wears the crown ![LeBron Lakers All-Time Scoring Leader trading card by Jamie Moshe Straz](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/KareemLebron.jpg) ![LeBron James stats trading card by Jamie Moshe Straz](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/KareemLebron2.jpg) Proclamation Hearken unto the tale of *LeBron Raymone James*, the First of his Name. Born unto the city of Akron on the thirtieth day of December, nineteen hundred and eighty-four. Six feet and nine inches in stature. Two hundred and fifty pounds in heft. Four times champion of the Association. Four times the most valuable player therein. One and twenty times named unto the All-Star Game. The all-time leading scorer in the history of the league, having surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the seventh of February, two thousand twenty-three, with *thirty-eight thousand, three hundred and eighty-seven* points in his possession. And verily, the first active knight of the NBA to ascend unto the rank of *billionaire*, an honour unknown to all who came before him. ![Chosen 1 drawing by Jamie Moshe Straz](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/lebronjames_chose1_king-copy.png) Drawing by Jamie Moshe Straz The Standard of Measure One *LeBron* \= $1.3 B Forbes real-time billionaire tracker, March 2026\. Hereafter, all wealth shall be counted in LeBron's. § I Royal Lineages Family wealth · Q1 2026 Lineages smaller than one King James Four Smallest Reigning Houses Grimaldi · Orange-Nassau · Imperial Japan · Bernadotte $1.47 B combined \~1LeB + + + \= Lineages greater than one King James Bourbon Spain · King Felipe VI, family \~$2.3 B family 1.77LeB Nassau-Weilburg Luxembourg · Grand Duke Henri \~$4 B family 3.1LeB Liechtenstein Prince Hans-Adam II · LGT Bank \~$7 B family 5.4LeB Alaouite Morocco · King Mohammed VI \~$8 B 6.2LeB Windsor UK + 14 realms · est. 1917 \~$28 B family 21.5LeB Bolkiah Brunei · Sultan Hassanal \~$30 B 23.1LeB Chakri Thailand · post-2018 transfer \~$55 B 42.3LeB Beyond measure · the Gulf dynasties Al Nahyan Abu Dhabi · tier-C est. \~$300 B 231LeB Al Thani Qatar · tier-C est. \~$335 B 258LeB Al Sabah Kuwait · tier-C est. \~$360 B 277LeB House of Saud Saudi Arabia · tier-C spec. \~$1.4 T 1,077LeB § II Royal-Titled Empires Brand + cultural · curated Burger King Restaurant Brands Intl · parent cap \~$20 B 15.4LeB Maharaja Whiteline Groupe SEB parent · India \~$8 B parent 6.2LeB Little Caesars Ilitch Holdings · private group \~$5.1 B 3.9LeB Oprah Winfrey Queen of Media · personal net worth \~$3.0 B 2.31LeB Michael Jackson (estate) King of Pop · d. 2009 \~$2.0 B 1.54LeB Elvis Presley (estate) The King · d. 1977 \~$500 M 0.38LeB **Other candidates worth considering:** Queen (band catalog, \~$1 B), Princess Cruises (\~$30 B parent), Prince Hotels (\~$7.9 B parent), King Power (\~$6.5 B), King's Hawaiian (\~$2 B), Princes Group plc (\~$1.5 B IPO), Emperor Group (\~$500 M), Prince Pipes (\~$340 M), Madonna ($850 M), Beyoncé ($800 M), Dolly Parton ($650 M). Surname-origin brands (Kaiser Permanente, Duke Energy, Lord Abbett, Baron Capital, Khan Academy) excluded. § III Wear the Crown shop.studio3.space [ ![King James of Basketball tee by Jamie Moshe Straz](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/b93edb5d-8116-4385-95c0-881692e3a7de.webp) ](https://shop.studio3.space/products/king-james-of-basketball?ref=studio3.space) King James of Basketball $36 · 100% cotton · relaxed fit The *Crown* with a basketball finial. The back view. The CHOSEN 1 tattoo. Original drawing by Jamie Moshe Straz, AIA. [Get the shirt →](https://shop.studio3.space/products/king-james-of-basketball?ref=studio3.space) [ ![LeBron Crossing the Seine tee by Jamie Moshe Straz](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/117d4006-fbe6-41d8-9f75-00179eb90e36.webp) ](https://shop.studio3.space/products/lebron-crossing-the-seine-tee?ref=studio3.space) LeBron Crossing the Seine Tee $36 · 100% cotton · relaxed fit LeBron as Washington. The Seine instead of the Delaware. Team USA flag bearer, Paris 2024, through art history. [Get the shirt →](https://shop.studio3.space/products/lebron-crossing-the-seine-tee?ref=studio3.space) Please do not browse or make purchases on Shabbos or Yom Tov. § IV Further Reading books on the subject 1. Bill Simmons, *The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy* (Ballantine, 2010). The definitive reference on basketball as a subject, and useful context for any argument about where LeBron sits in the canon. [amazon.com/dp/0345520106](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345520106?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space) Amazon affiliate link. Studio 3 earns a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. See full disclosure at studio3.space/terms/. SOURCES · Forbes Billionaires real-time tracker (Mar 2026) · Sunday Times Rich List 2025 · Bloomberg · Wealth-X / Al-Monitor (Gulf tier-C) · Imperial Household Agency · Casa Real Spain · CompaniesMarketCap (Apr 2026) ARTWORK · Trading cards, Chosen 1 drawing, and all graphics by **Jamie Moshe Straz · Studio 3**. Not an officially licensed product. ### Take the YT Train URL: https://studio3.space/take-the-yt-train/ Last updated: 2026-04-05T18:59:07.000Z ## The Question Every *Yuntiv*, same *bentching*. Same *Ya'aleh v'Yavo*. Same *YT HaRachaman*: "*Hu yanchileinu yom shekulo tov*," "May the Merciful One grant us a day that is entirely good." ¹ All three *Regalim* share it. Above that baseline, the three *Regalim* diverge. On *Sukkos*, we add the *sukkas Dovid HaRachaman*: "*Hu yakim lanu es sukkas Dovid hanofales*," "May the Merciful One raise up for us the fallen *sukkah* of *Dovid*." ² Every day. All seven. Even on *Chol HaMoed*, when the *YT HaRachaman* itself drops away. ³ ⁴ On *Pesach*, the first days carry an expanded *HaRachaman*: "*yom shekulo aruch, yom she'tzaddikim yoshvim v'atroseihem b'rosheihem v'nehenin mi'ziv haShechinah*," "a day that is entirely long, where the righteous sit with their crowns upon their heads, deriving pleasure from the radiance of the *Shechinah*." ⁵ On *Shavuos*: nothing additional. Why? --- ## The Mitzvos Hayom *Sukkos* is the most physical *Yuntiv* we have. Your body is inside the *sukkah*. ⁶ The *sukkah* itself represents the *Ananei HaKavod*, the clouds of glory: a physical presence that surrounded and protected *Klal Yisrael*, that our bodies benefited from. ⁷ You hold the *lulav* and *esrog*. *Simchas Beis HaShoeva*. Physical *mitzvos* from the first day through the seventh. *Pesach*: the *d'Oraisa* obligation, *matzah* and *korban Pesach*, is the first days. ⁸ The rest of the *chag* is defined by absence: not eating *chametz*, not possessing it. A physical constraint expressed through what you don't have. ⁹ *Shavuos* has no physical *mitzvah* at all. No structure. No required food. No object to hold. The date itself isn't fixed to a calendar day by the Torah, derived by counting. ¹⁰ *Sefirah* is an ascent of spiritual levels leading up to *Shavuos*. The whole *chag* operates on a spiritual register. --- ## The Hint The *HaRachaman* additions seemingly hint at this. *Sukkos*: the physical *mitzvos hayom* run the entire *chag*, first day through seventh. The *sukkas Dovid HaRachaman* runs the entire *chag*, first day through seventh. Even through *Chol HaMoed*. *Pesach*: the physical *mitzvos hayom*, *matzah* and *korban Pesach d'Oraisa*, are the first days only. The expanded *HaRachaman* is the first days only. *Shavuos*: no physical *mitzvos hayom*. No additional *HaRachaman*. The unique *HaRachaman seemingly* mirrors the duration of the physical *mitzvah*. --- ## The 3's > "שְׁלֹשָׁה כְתָרִים הֵן: כֶּֽתֶר תּוֹרָה, וְכֶֽתֶר כְּהֻנָּה, וְכֶֽתֶר מַלְכוּת…" > > "Three crowns there are: the crown of *Torah*, the crown of priesthood, the crown of kingship…" > > *Avos* 4:13; *Yoma* 72b ¹¹ ¹² > "אַתָּה בְחַרְתָּנוּ מִכָּל הָעַמִּים, אָהַבְתָּ אוֹתָנוּ, וְרָצִיתָ בָּנוּ" > > "You chose us from all the peoples, You loved us, You desired us." > > *Tefillos Shalosh Regalim* (Yom Tov Amidah) ¹³ | CROWNAvos 4:13 / Yoma 72b | KLIYoma 72b | PASUKAta V'chartanu | YUNTIVSiach Yitzchak | | --------------------------------------- | ------------------------ | ------------------------------ | ------------------------ | | Keter Malchusכֶּתֶר מַלְכוּתKingship | ShulchanשֻׁלְחָןTable | V'chartanuבְחַרְתָּנוּChoosing | PesachפֶּסַחPassover | | Keter Torahכֶּתֶר תּוֹרָהTorah | AronאָרוֹןArk | AhavtaאָהַבְתָּLove | ShavuosשָׁבוּעוֹתWeeks | | Keter Kehunahכֶּתֶר כְּהֻנָּהPriesthood | Mizbei'achמִזְבֵּחַAltar | V'ratzisaוְרָצִיתָAcceptance | SukkosסֻכּוֹתTabernacles | --- ## Choosing *V'chartanu*. בחר. ¹⁴ That's *Malchus*. That's *Pesach*. The *korban Pesach* was a choice. Take the god of *Mitzrayim*, slaughter it publicly, put the blood on the doorpost. ¹⁵ *Matzah*, the removal of *chametz*: you are choosing to be different. *Hashem* choosing us, us choosing back. That's what makes a nation. The *Shulchan* is the king's table, the place where the choice is made manifest through food. ## Love *Ahavta*. That's *Torah*. That's *Shavuos*. Torah transmitted through love. *Av* and *banim*. *Rebbe* and *talmid*. No physical *mitzvah* because the transmission is relational, not material. The Aron houses the *Luchos*. The core of the relationship. ## Acceptance *V'ratzisa*. ר-צ-ה. ¹⁶ Same root as *retzei*: to want, to desire. Same root as "*v'nirtza lo l'chapeir alav.*" That's *Kehunah*. That's *Sukkos*. After the *Yamim Nora'im*. After the judgment is sealed. The acceptance is expressed through full-body *avodah*. *Sukkah*. *Lulav*. *Esrog*. *Simchas Beis HaShoeva*. The 70 *Karbanos* for all the nations. ¹⁷ Same root in *Shmini Atzeres*: "*kasheh alai preidaschem*" ¹⁸: He wants us to stay. *Ratzon*. --- The Year S Sukkos Physical P Pesach Physical S Shavuos Spiritual *Pesach* to *Shavuos*: physical to spiritual. Choosing leads to love. *Malchus* leads to *Torah*. Forty-nine days of counting, ascending. *Yamim Nora'im* to *Sukkos*: spiritual to physical. Judgment leads to embodied acceptance. *Din* leads to *Kehunah*. Physical to spiritual. Spiritual to physical. A continuous loop to keep us moving through the year. ¹⁹ ²⁰ --- ## Notes ¹ Standard *YT HaRachaman nusach*. הוּא יַנְחִילֵנוּ יוֹם שֶׁכֻּלּוֹ טוֹב. "May He grant us a day that is entirely good." ² *Amos* 9:11 ([sefaria.org/Amos.9.11](https://www.sefaria.org/Amos.9.11?ref=studio3.space)). בַּיֹּום הַהוּא אָקִים אֶת סֻכַּת דָּוִיד הַנֹּפֶלֶת וְגָדַרְתִּי אֶת פִּרְצֵיהֶן וַהֲרִסֹתָיו אָקִים וּבְנִיתִיהָ כִּימֵי עוֹלָם. "On that day I will raise up the fallen *sukkah* of David. I will mend its breaches and raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old." ³ *Magen Avraham* OC 490:1; *Mishnah Berurah* 490:5\. *Chol HaMoed* is not termed "*Yom Tov*," therefore the *YT HaRachaman* is not said. ⁴ *Shulchan Aruch HaRav*. The *Sukkos HaRachaman* holds on *Chol HaMoed* even when the *YT HaRachaman* does not. *Chochmas Shlomo* 664 dissents. ⁵ *Brachos* 17a:13 ([sefaria.org/Berakhot.17a.13](https://www.sefaria.org/Berakhot.17a.13?ref=studio3.space)). מַרְגְּלָא בְּפוּמֵיהּ דְּרַב: הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא אֵין בּוֹ לֹא אֲכִילָה וְלֹא שְׁתִיָּה וְלֹא פְּרִיָּה וּרְבִיָּה וְלֹא מַשָּׂא וּמַתָּן וְלֹא קִנְאָה וְלֹא שִׂנְאָה וְלֹא תַּחֲרוּת, אֶלָּא צַדִּיקִים יוֹשְׁבִין וְעַטְרוֹתֵיהֶם בְּרָאשֵׁיהֶם וְנֶהֱנִים מִזִּיו הַשְּׁכִינָה. "Rav was accustomed to say: The World to Come has no eating, no drinking, no procreation, no commerce, no jealousy, no hatred, and no competition. Rather, the righteous sit with their crowns upon their heads, enjoying the radiance of the *Shechinah*." ⁶ *Sukkah* 27a ([sefaria.org/Sukkah.27a](https://www.sefaria.org/Sukkah.27a?ref=studio3.space)). נֶאֱמַר כָּאן חֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר וְנֶאֱמַר לְהַלָּן חֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר, מָה לְהַלָּן לַיְלָה הָרִאשׁוֹן חוֹבָה, אַף כָּאן לַיְלָה הָרִאשׁוֹן חוֹבָה. "*Gezeira shava* from *Pesach*: it says 'the fifteenth' here (*Vayikra* 23:34) and it says 'the fifteenth' there (*Vayikra* 23:6). Just as there the first night is obligatory, so too here the first night is obligatory." ⁷ *Sukkah* 11b ([sefaria.org/Sukkah.11b](https://www.sefaria.org/Sukkah.11b?ref=studio3.space)). דְּתַנְיָא: כִּי בַסֻּכּוֹת הוֹשַׁבְתִּי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, עַנְנֵי כָבוֹד הָיוּ, דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר. רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא אוֹמֵר: סוּכּוֹת מַמָּשׁ עָשׂוּ לָהֶם. "As it was taught: 'For I made the children of Israel dwell in *sukkos*' (*Vayikra* 23:43). These were the clouds of glory, the words of R' Eliezer. R' Akiva says: they made for themselves actual *sukkos*." ⁸ *Pesachim* 120a ([sefaria.org/Pesachim.120a](https://www.sefaria.org/Pesachim.120a?ref=studio3.space)). בָּעֶרֶב תֹּאכְלוּ מַצֹּת (*Shemos* 12:18). "In the evening you shall eat *matzos*." Eating *matzah* on days 2 through 7 is *reshus*. Only the first night is *d'Oraisa*. *Korban Pesach* likewise first night. ⁹ See "[A Small Window of Opportunity](https://studio3.space/a-small-window-of-opportunity/)" (Jamie Moshe Straz, יעקב משה סטרז) for extended discussion of the *korban Pesach* as an act of public choosing and declaration. ¹⁰ *Sifri*, *Parshas Re'eh*. עֲצֶרֶת שֶׁחָל בִּזְמַן שֶׁעוֹשִׂין מְלָאכָה בַּשָּׂדוֹת, אֵינוֹ אֶלָּא יוֹם אֶחָד, לְלַמֶּדְךָ שֶׁהַתּוֹרָה חָסָה עַל מָמוֹנָם שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל. "*Atzeres* (*Shavuos*), which falls at a time when work is done in the fields, is only one day, to teach that the Torah has mercy on the property of Israel." *Shavuos* has no unique physical *mitzvah*. The date is not stated explicitly in the Torah, derived by counting 50 days from the *Omer*. ¹¹ *Avos* 4:13 ([sefaria.org/Pirkei\_Avot.4.13](https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei%5FAvot.4.13?ref=studio3.space)). רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, שְׁלֹשָׁה כְתָרִים הֵן: כֶּֽתֶר תּוֹרָה, וְכֶֽתֶר כְּהֻנָּה, וְכֶֽתֶר מַלְכוּת, וְכֶֽתֶר שֵׁם טוֹב עוֹלֶה עַל גַּבֵּיהֶן. "Rabbi Shimon says: There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of kingship, and the crown of a good name rises above them all." The Gra notes that *Keter Shem Tov* corresponds to the *Menorah*, which had no *zer*: טוֹב שֵׁם מִשֶּׁמֶן טוֹב, "A good name is better than fine oil" (*Koheles* 7:1). See footnote 20. ¹² *Yoma* 72b:5 ([sefaria.org/Yoma.72b.5](https://www.sefaria.org/Yoma.72b.5?ref=studio3.space)). אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: שְׁלֹשָׁה זֵרִים הֵם: שֶׁל מִזְבֵּחַ, וְשֶׁל אָרוֹן, וְשֶׁל שֻׁלְחָן. שֶׁל מִזְבֵּחַ, זָכָה אַהֲרֹן וּנְטָלוֹ. שֶׁל שֻׁלְחָן, זָכָה דָּוִד וּנְטָלוֹ. שֶׁל אָרוֹן, עֲדַיִין מֻנָּח הוּא, כָּל הָרוֹצֶה לִיטּוֹל יָבוֹא וְיִטּוֹל. "R' Yochanan said: There are three crowns (*zerim*): of the *Mizbei'ach*, of the Aron, and of the *Shulchan*. The one of the *Mizbei'ach*, Aharon merited and took it. The one of the *Shulchan*, David merited and took it. The one of the Aron is still waiting: whoever wishes to take it, let him come and take it." Confirmed by Rabbeinu Yonah on *Avos* 4:13 (citing *Yalkut Shemos* 368), Rambam, Bartenura, Gra, Maharal (*Derech Chayyim*), Nachalas Avos, Magen Avos, *Machzor Vitry*. ¹³ *Siach Yitzchak*, R' Yitzchak of Maltzan, in Siddur HaGra (*Ishei Yisrael*), commentary on *Tefillos Shalosh Regalim*. Confirmed by Rav Dovid Cohen (*Zman Simchaseinu*, *ma'amar* 1, *os* 11) and the Enaf Yosef on *Tefillos Shalosh Regalim*. ¹⁴ *Devarim* 7:6 ([sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.7.6](https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.7.6?ref=studio3.space)). כִּי עַם קָדוֹשׁ אַתָּה לַה' אֱלֹהֶיךָ, בְּךָ בָּחַר ה' אֱלֹהֶיךָ לִהְיוֹת לוֹ לְעַם סְגֻלָּה מִכֹּל הָעַמִּים אֲשֶׁר עַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה. "For you are a holy people to Hashem your God. Hashem your God chose you to be His treasured people from among all the peoples on the face of the earth." Cf. *Devarim* 14:2 ([sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.14.2](https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.14.2?ref=studio3.space)). ¹⁵ See footnote 9. ¹⁶ *Vayikra* 1:4 ([sefaria.org/Leviticus.1.4](https://www.sefaria.org/Leviticus.1.4?ref=studio3.space)). וְסָמַךְ יָדוֹ עַל רֹאשׁ הָעֹלָה, וְנִרְצָה לוֹ לְכַפֵּר עָלָיו. "He shall lean his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to atone for him." Root ר-צ-ה. ¹⁷ *Sukkah* 55b ([sefaria.org/Sukkah.55b](https://www.sefaria.org/Sukkah.55b?ref=studio3.space)). שִׁבְעִים פָּרִים כְּנֶגֶד שִׁבְעִים אוּמּוֹת. "Seventy bulls corresponding to the seventy nations." ¹⁸ *Sukkah* 55b. קָשָׁה עָלַי פְּרֵידַתְכֶם, עִכְּבוּ לִי יוֹם אֶחָד. "Your departure is difficult for Me. Stay with Me one more day." *Shmini Atzeres*. ¹⁹ *Rosh Hashana* has its own *HaRachaman*. הוּא יְחַדֵּשׁ עָלֵינוּ אֶת הַשָּׁנָה הַזֹּאת לְטוֹבָה וְלִבְרָכָה. "May He renew this year upon us for good and for blessing." The *Yamim Nora'im* carry their insertions in *davening* and *tefillah*. ²⁰ The three Torah *Regalim* cycle physical-spiritual-physical: *Pesach* (P), *Shavuos* (S), *Sukkos* (P). Between *Sukkos* and *Pesach*, the longest gap in the Jewish calendar, there is no Torah-mandated spiritual *Yuntiv*. *Chanukah*, a Rabbinic institution, fills this space. The Gra on *Avos* 4:13 notes that the *Menorah*, the one *kli* without a *zer*, corresponds to *Keter Shem Tov*. The *Menorah* is light. *Chanukah* is the *Menorah's Yuntiv*. Light in the darkness, bridging the gap between the two physical poles. This pattern of renewal, physical to spiritual, spiritual to physical, recurs at every scale of Jewish time. Yearly through the *Yomim Tovim*. Monthly through *Rosh Chodesh*. Weekly through *Shabbos*, a new creation. Down to the moment: *Bereishis*, Adam davened for each blade of grass before it would grow. Constant renewal. Like a monitor's refresh rate: what appears static is a constant cycle. The stillness is the motion. ### Pass Over: Florida 2026 URL: https://studio3.space/pass-over-florida-2026/ Last updated: 2026-04-01T23:18:59.000Z Need an Afikomen gift? ![Pass Over: Florida 2026. SLS rocket in architectural elevation passing through a round of shmura matzah.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/Passover2026-copy-2.jpg) [Get the shirt](https://shop.studio3.space/products/passover-artemis-ii-pesach-2026?ref=studio3.space) Commemorative tee marking a once-in-our-lifetime historical coincidence. NASA's Artemis II launched from Kennedy Space Center at 6:24 PM on April 1, 2026, minutes before sundown, the exact moment Pesach 5786 began. The first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972, lifting off as Jews around the world sat down for the Seder. The ten-day mission to the Moon and back spanned the entirety of the holiday. The SLS rocket in architectural elevation passes through a round of *shmura* matzah that doubles as the Moon. Because the Moon has always looked like a piece of hand-baked matzah. Drawing by Jamie Moshe Straz, AIA. Not hand-signed. [Watch the Artemis II launch live](https://youtube.com/watch?v=m3kR2KK8TEs&ref=studio3.space) Please do not browse or make purchases on Yom Tov. ### The Back9House URL: https://studio3.space/the-back9house/ Last updated: 2026-04-01T17:23:37.000Z ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/Studio-3---Ackerman--10-of-16-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/Studio-3---Ackerman--2-of-16-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/Studio-3---Ackerman--4-of-16-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/Studio-3---Ackerman--12-of-16-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/Studio-3---Ackerman--15-of-16-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/Studio-3---Ackerman--8-of-16-.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/Studio-3_ACK_Exterior_EF3.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/Studio-3_ACK_Interior_R03.jpg) --- **Project** Detached Addition, Private Residence **Location** Rock Hill, South Carolina **Architect** Jamie Moshe Straz, AIA; Studio 3 *Photography by* [*Ivan Conor Photography*](https://www.ivanconorphotography.com/?ref=studio3.space) --- The family came to us looking to replace their existing single story garage with more usable space. At the time, in a recently post-COVID world, having a separate home office had become part of the routine. Not something anyone planned for, just something that happened and stayed. To be able to work from a space that does not require any commuting while still being present for your family changes how you move through the day. On their wish list was a home gym with a golf simulator, more storage, and a guest suite that could double as extra living space when the house needed room to breathe. We were able to get it all in. The balcony on the second floor was a bonus we saw in the massing that gave the upstairs a real outdoor connection. The property sits in a planned development where the homeowners association requires new construction to match the existing house. So the palette was set for us. What we could suggest was how to take the existing design language of the main house and reorganize it into something that felt familiar while reading a little differently. Clearly a secondary structure in use, clearly part of the same property when you see the two together. The lot is an end lot with open views toward a utility corridor that runs along the property line.¹ Nothing is getting built in that direction. That made the decision to add the balcony even easier, a view that is never going away. By putting the stairs on the exterior we were also able to maximize the usable interior space on both floors. --- ## The breezeway Between when we started the project and when we went to permit, a zoning issue came up. We had been told early on to follow the master plan for the development. By the time the permit was reviewed, a different set of rules was applied. The two contradicted each other, and the city worked with us to find a solution: connecting the addition to the main house with a breezeway, which reclassified the building as part of the primary residence. This was not something we wanted to do. We did not have a need for a breezeway in the design, and incorporating one was more complicated than it sounds. It came out of a zoning conversation, not a design decision. The existing house had a covered rear porch, so we extended it toward the addition, carrying over the existing language of the porch and tying the two structures together. Once connected, the classification issue went away and the permit went through. The breezeway, like the balcony, became another bonus that nobody asked for. What none of us expected was how much it would change how the family uses the property. The covered space between the two buildings, the porch, the area under the second floor balcony, the exterior stairs with their canopy overhead. All of it became real outdoor living space. The family uses it more than almost any room inside either building. It became their bonus favorite part of the house. A requirement we did not want ended up producing one of the most unforeseen and genuinely well received spaces in the entire project. --- ## The collaboration This was a project where the family was hands on with their builder throughout construction. We worked on the big picture suggestions that ultimately formed the *parti*² for the project: the massing, the code resolution, the breezeway, the balcony, the relationship between the two buildings. From there we gave them the tools to make the best decisions for themselves. They took that framework and layered their own vision on top of it with their contractor, adapting finishes and details for how they actually wanted to live in the space. That is how some projects work. We gave them the structure and the ideas. They brought it to life on their terms. What could have been a simple garage replacement turned into something with real thought behind it. The in-between space, the covered porch that only exists because of a code issue we had to solve, is arguably [the oldest idea in Architecture](https://studio3.space/the-case-for-a-split-house-personality). --- ## Notes ¹ Utility corridors are easements reserved for major electrical transmission infrastructure. They require open land beneath the lines, which means the adjacent property will always have unobstructed views in that direction. For end lots like this one, it is a permanent open landscape that no future development can touch. ² *Parti* is an Architectural term borrowed from the French *parti pris*, meaning "decision taken." It refers to the central organizing idea behind a design, the big move that everything else follows from. Think of it less as a blueprint and more as a guidebook. The construction drawings are the permit set, but as anyone in residential construction knows, changes come up in the field. The *parti* is what keeps those changes aligned with the original intent. For a deeper look at how *parti* and spatial organization work in Architecture, Francis D.K. Ching's [*Architecture: Form, Space, & Order*](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119853370?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space) ([https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119853370?tag=studio3spac02-20](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119853370?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space)) is the standard reference. --- *Photography by* [*Ivan Conor Photography*](https://www.ivanconorphotography.com/?ref=studio3.space) ### Before an 8-Day Yuntiv, Amar'e Stoudemire Becomes the 8th Jewish HOFer URL: https://studio3.space/before-an-8-day-yuntiv-amare-stoudemire-becomes-the-8th-jewish-hofer/ Last updated: 2026-04-01T07:56:16.000Z B"H ![JewSwish](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/jewswishnew-400w.png) יהושפט בן אברהם Yehoshafat ben Avraham Amar'e Stoudemire Enters the Hall The 8th Jewish Basketball Hall of Famer ![JewSwish](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/jewswishnew-200w.png) by the numbers 78 players 116+ years (1910-present) 27 championships 27 all-stars 8 ![Basketball Hall of Fame](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/hof-logo.png) hall of famers Jewish Professional Basketball in the United States⁷ Compiled by Jamie Moshe Straz / Studio 3 · Current as of March 2026 Amar'e Stoudemire has been officially inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Class of 2026\. He is the 8th Jewish professional basketball player enshrined in Springfield. The first since Larry Brown in 2002. The news lands days before Pesach. That timing carries weight. In a 2021 GQ profile, Stoudemire spoke about what the holiday means to him:¹ > "I think the notion of just leaving *Mitzrayim* speaks to me. It allows you to understand, like, whenever you decide to change as a person and become a better person, it's OK to change and it's OK not to look back, and if you embrace that change and move forward, then you go to your promised land." --- ## Jewish Basketball Hall of Famers⁷ | # | Name | League | Years | Inducted | | - | --------------------- | --------- | -------- | -------- | | 1 | Barney Sedran | ABL | 1911–'38 | 1962 | | 2 | Nat Holman | EBL / ABL | 1922–'30 | 1964 | | 3 | Max "Marty" Friedman | Various | 1910–'27 | 1972 | | 4 | Dolph Schayes | BAA / NBA | 1948–'64 | 1973 | | 5 | Les Harrison | NBL | 1948–'55 | 1980 | | 6 | William "Red" Holzman | NBL / NBA | 1945–'54 | 1986 | | 7 | Larry Brown | ABA | 1967–'72 | 2002 | | 8 | Amar'e Stoudemire NEW | NBA | 2002–'16 | 2026 | ![JewSwish Hall of Famers illustration by Jamie Moshe Straz AIA featuring all 8 Jewish Basketball Hall of Fame inductees](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/jewswish-hof-white.png) ![JewSwish Hall of Famers illustration by Jamie Moshe Straz AIA featuring all 8 Jewish Basketball Hall of Fame inductees](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/04/jewswish-hof-noborder.png) Illustration by Jamie Moshe Straz AIA [Shirt](https://studio3-shop.fourthwall.com/products/jewswish-hall-of-famers-shirt?ref=studio3.space) · [Limited Edition Print](https://studio3-shop.fourthwall.com/products/jewswish-hall-of-famers-print?ref=studio3.space) --- ## שפט Stoudemire took the Hebrew name Yehoshafat (יהושפט), meaning "Hashem has judged."² The root is שפט: to judge. The enshrinement ceremony will be held Motzei Shabbos, August 15, 2026\. That Shabbos is Parshas Shoftim (שופטים), Devarim 16:18 to 21:9\. The parsha opens: שופטים ושוטרים תתן לך בכל שעריך "Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your gates." Same root. שפט. The man named "Hashem has judged" enters the hall of greats on the Shabbos of "Judges." --- ## The Career Ninth overall pick, 2002 NBA Draft. Prep-to-pro out of Cypress Creek High School in Orlando, Florida's Mr. Basketball. McDonald's All-American. The only high school player taken in the first round that year. 2003 NBA Rookie of the Year, the first player drafted out of high school to win it. NBA All-Rookie First Team. Six-time NBA All-Star (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011). Five-time All-NBA: First Team in 2007, Second Team four times (2005, 2008, 2010, 2011). Career averages of 18.9 points and 7.8 rebounds across 846 games and 14 seasons. 15,994 career points. 6,632 career rebounds. 1,054 career blocks. Career high of 50 points. Led the NBA in true shooting percentage in 2007-08\. $167.7 million in career earnings. Stoudemire redefined the pick-and-roll alongside Steve Nash in Mike D'Antoni's "Seven Seconds or Less" offense in Phoenix. Averaged 26 points per game in 2004-05 and led the Suns to the Western Conference Finals, averaging 37 points per game against San Antonio in the WCF. 2004 Olympic bronze medalist with Team USA. 2007 FIBA Americas Championship gold medalist. He revitalized Madison Square Garden when he signed with the Knicks in July 2010\. Played four teams total: Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat. Seventh in Suns franchise history in points (11,035), third in rebounds (4,613), fifth in blocks (722). The 14th Sun inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame. After the NBA, he moved to Israel. Signed with Hapoel Jerusalem in August 2016, a team he co-owns. Won the Israeli Basketball League Cup in October 2016\. In his first EuroCup season he averaged 12.8 points and 6.6 rebounds on .620 shooting across 19 games, led the tournament in blocks (23) and free throws (62), and earned All-EuroCup Second Team honors. Won the Israeli Premier League championship with Hapoel Jerusalem in June 2017\. Israeli League All-Star. Retired in September 2017\. Came back. Re-signed with Hapoel Jerusalem for 2018-19\. Won the Israeli State Cup and Israeli League Cup in 2019\. Became an Israeli citizen in March 2019\. Played 11 games for the Fujian Sturgeons in the CBA in China (19.4 PPG, 8.3 RPG). Then signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv. Won the Israeli Premier League championship in July 2020\. Israeli Basketball Premier League Finals MVP. Israeli League All-Star again in 2020. Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor, inducted March 2, 2024\. International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2025\. Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Class of 2026. --- ## The Learning He learned at Ohr Somayach in Yerushalayim for about a year under Rabbi Dr. Guy Matalon, head of the beginners program. Chumash, Gemara, *halacha*. He then learned *b'chavrusah* with an *avreich* from Yeshivas Orchos Yosher in Bnei Brak, the *kollel* headed by HaRav Avraham Yishayahu Kanievsky. Even on game days in Israel, he arrived at yeshiva in the morning to learn before practice. While serving as player development assistant for the Brooklyn Nets (2020-2022), he did not work on Shabbos. He spoke at Yeshiva University in February 2021, hosted by the Yeshiva Student Union, to over 125 students and faculty. The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington featured him as a speaker. The National Council of Young Israel called him a role model for the Jewish community. International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Class of 2025. ![Amar'e Stoudemire receiving a bracha from Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi, HaRav David Yosef, in Miami, January 2026](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/stoudemire-rabbi-david-yosef-miami-2026.jpg) In January 2026, he met with Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi, HaRav David Yosef, in Miami and received a *bracha*.⁴ Photo: [The Florida Scoop](https://wa.link/f3huga?ref=studio3.space) --- ## Off the Court education MBA, University of Miami Herbert Business School (2025) BA, Florida International University business Stoudemire Wines · Kosher. Tulip Winery (Israel) + Herzog Wine Cellars (CA). Royal Wine Corp. Stoudemire Farms · 185 acres, Dutchess County, NY (2015) MASA · Collagen, sourced in Israel STAT Academy · Education platform Co-owner: Spiritual Gangster · Rumble Boxing · Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. miami kosher Wine dinner, Miami Art Week · Ostrow Brasserie Featured host · Nana Kosher Beach Club grand opening (Glatt, KM) Maison Ostrow (ORB certified) Kosher since age 19 author STAT: Standing Tall and Talented · 5-book series, Scholastic (2012-2014)⁶ Cooking with Amar'e · Cookbook (2014)⁶ Art collector acting Law & Order: SVU · Sesame Street · Entourage · The Mindy Project · New Year's Eve foundations + honors Amar'e Stoudemire Foundation (2005) · Each One, Teach One (2003) Diversity University, FIU Hillel Good Will Ambassador, Sierra Leone · Basketball academies, Mali Maccabiah Games assistant coach, Canada (2013) --- "I mean, there's so many *d'var Torahs* you can do for Pesach, bro."³ — Yehoshafat --- ## Notes ¹ Yaron Weitzman, "Amar'e Stoudemire Searches for Chametz," *GQ*, March 30, 2021\. Reported by [Jew in the City](https://jewinthecity.com/2021/04/nba-star-amare-stoudemires-brooklyn-pesach/?ref=studio3.space). ² "On the advice of his *rebbi*, he has taken the Hebrew name Yehoshafat." [Algemeiner](https://www.algemeiner.com/2021/02/09/former-nba-star-amare-stoudemire-talks-to-yeshiva-university-students-about-judaism-and-playing-in-israel/?ref=studio3.space), Feb 9, 2021\. He later said he investigated the name and discovered Yehoshafat was a king of Yehuda who disseminated Torah. ³ [The Jerusalem Post](https://www.jpost.com/judaism/ex-nba-star-and-orthodox-convert-amare-stoudemire-celebrates-passover-663781?ref=studio3.space), April 2, 2021. ⁴ Photo and reporting by [The Florida Scoop](https://wa.link/f3huga?ref=studio3.space) (WhatsApp channel), January 12, 2026\. HaRav David Yosef is the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel and son of HaRav Ovadia Yosef *zt"l*. ⁵ ל (30) + ב (2) = 32\. לב means "heart." Stoudemire referenced the *gematria* of his jersey number during his Suns Ring of Honor speech on March 2, 2024\. First noted by JewSwish at [studio3.space](https://studio3.space/). ⁶ Books by Amar'e Stoudemire: [Home Court](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0545387590?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space) · [Double Team](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0545387604?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space) · [Slam Dunk](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0545387612?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space) · [Schooled](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0545606073?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space) · [Most Valuable](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0545606136?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space) (STAT series, Scholastic) · [Cooking with Amar'e](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062325183?tag=studio3spac02-20&ref=studio3.space) (HarperCollins). Links are affiliate links via Amazon Associates. ⁷ JewSwish master list criteria: played in a professional basketball league in the United States. Jewish by matrilineal descent or by a conversion recognized by the State of Israel. Players only, no coaches or managers. Exceptions noted. USA career years and teams only. Full list at [studio3.space](https://studio3.space/). --- *Compiled by Jamie Moshe Straz / Studio 3* *Current as of March 2026* [studio3.space](https://studio3.space/) ### New Song: He Didn't See It Coming. URL: https://studio3.space/he-didnt-see-it-coming/ Last updated: 2026-03-30T19:31:36.000Z A week before Pesach, sitting outside at night working under the stars. A plane crossed the sky and looked like it was heading straight for the moon. Immediately a chain reaction of images went off in my head. A Rube Goldberg of events, one thing crashing into the next. It felt like *Chad Gadya*, the Passover song where one thing leads to another leads to another. The story became about a cow who is too busy looking at his phone to see what is happening around him. The alphabet bridge is every acronym we scroll past without thinking. The message is simple: take a step back, pay attention, and you start to see the connections in the everyday. You start to see the hand of the Creator. Listen on Spotify: [He Didn't See It Coming](https://open.spotify.com/track/3x4whYYSDchCeqaYd9tOQ9?ref=studio3.space) [https://open.spotify.com/track/3x4whYYSDchCeqaYd9tOQ9](https://open.spotify.com/track/3x4whYYSDchCeqaYd9tOQ9?ref=studio3.space) ## Lyrics Tonight I saw the cow crash into the moon But all the cow saw was a silver spoon Reflecting back the sun from behind Don't worry the cow went blind He didn't see it coming, this whole time He didn't see it coming Didn't see it coming This whole time Yesterday I saw the dog chase the cat That got the stick, who slipped on the puddle Who fell on the bucket and tripped on the stick Don't worry it was a trick He didn't see it coming, this whole time He didn't see it coming Didn't see it coming This whole time ![ABC, BRB, CIA, DVD, ETA, FSD, GPT, HBO, IOU, JCC, KGB, LOL, MLB, NBA, OMG, PBS, QP3, RPG, SOS, TYH, UFO, VHS, WWW, X, YRU, ZZZ...](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/alphabet_bridge_white_transparent-1.png) He didn't see it coming, this whole time He didn't see it coming Didn't see it coming This whole time 0:00 /0:10 1× ### M&Ms for Real Estate URL: https://studio3.space/m-and-ms-for-real-estate/ Last updated: 2026-04-20T23:29:35.000Z ## Meaningful Metrics: what collectibles and video games taught me about property analysis [ ![DEV](https://dev.studio3.space/ICONCOLOR.png) Try the DEV Grade ](https://dev.studio3.space/?ref=studio3.space) In real estate development, reading a neighborhood is a baseline skill. A drive through tells you whether a block has energy or whether it is dead. Independent storefronts, a park across the street, a bus stop on the corner. Or: strip mall, gas station, chain pharmacy, empty lots. Existing tools measure parts of this. Walk Score handles walkability. Crime scores handle crime. School ratings handle schools. Demographic data handles income and population. These work for what they measure. ![DEV Score](https://dev.studio3.space/FULLCOLOR.png) The **DEV** Score adds something different. It measures the quality, diversity, and character of the full amenity ecosystem surrounding a commercial property. It organizes every Point of Interest (POI) within 3 distance rings into 18 categories (15 positive, 3 negative), applies a set of modifiers, and produces a meaningful metric that grades from Raw to Pristine. For someone without experience in development, it makes a complex set of neighborhood dynamics legible in 1 grade. For a professional, it surfaces dimensions that traditional metrics miss: cultural infrastructure, commercial character over chain presence, ecosystem synergy, the cost of absence.1 The methodology draws from 3 sources: an urban planning framework, 34 years of spatial scoring design from a video game, and a grading language borrowed from sports cards and collectibles. The computation scales with AI. The dataset grows over time. The grading adapts.2 ## Where the framework comes from --- ### Meaningful Oriented Development The **DEV** Score evolved out of a planning framework called Meaningful Oriented Development, or MOD, that I am working on in *Shtetl Urbanism*. MOD extends existing urbanism frameworks (transit-oriented development, the 15-minute city) by encouraging diverse cultural, creative, and communal uses at every neighborhood scale. A neighborhood with housing, retail, and transit is functional. A neighborhood with those plus culture, worship, education, healthcare, and green space is a community. That distinction is what "meaningful" means here.3 Some core MOD principles became structural features of the **DEV** Score: **Scales of Modality.** MOD defines distance tiers for reaching cultural infrastructure: a 5-minute walk, a 15-minute walk, a scooter or bike ride, a drive, and long-form travel. The **DEV** Score's 3-ring model maps onto the first 3 scales. Ring 1 at 1,400 ft is the 5-minute walk. Ring 2 at 4,000 ft covers the scooter, bike, and short drive range. Ring 3 at 15,000 ft is the drive and public transit range. The ring boundaries correspond to the distances at which how you access amenities fundamentally changes. **Anti-monoculture.** No single use should dominate. The **DEV** Score enforces this with a missing penalty and an 18-category structure. A property surrounded by 50 restaurants and nothing else gets penalized for what is missing, regardless of how high the count is. **Walking-distance primacy.** MOD asks: if you could not drive, would your neighborhood still sustain meaningful community life? The **DEV** Score weights Ring 1 (walking distance) at 1.0, Ring 2 at 0.5, and Ring 3 at 0.15\. A property that works at walking distance will score well regardless of what exists farther out.4 **The container is not the community.** Good physical form is necessary, not sufficient. What fills the container determines meaning. The **DEV** Score reflects this across the entire scoring pipeline: what categories are present, what is missing, what is chain versus commercial, and how different uses interact through synergy. The score measures the content, not just the container. **Incentives over mandates.** MOD favors bonuses and incentives over regulatory punishment. The **DEV** Score mirrors this: the system is built around additive reward. Commercial establishments (non-chain businesses) earn a 1.5x multiplier, synergy pairs reward co-presence, and the missing penalty identifies gaps rather than punishing presence. The Architecture emphasizes what good neighborhoods have, not what bad neighborhoods lack. --- ### Learning from *Civilization* Sid Meier's *Civilization* has been iterating on spatial scoring for 34 years across 7 editions (1991 to 2025). The designers spent 3 decades solving the same problem the **DEV** Score faces: how to evaluate the quality of a location based on what surrounds it.5 > "Simple plus simple equals complex." Sid Meier, *Memoir!*, 2020 Individual mechanics should be transparent. Depth emerges from interactions, not individual complexity. Each step in the **DEV** Score pipeline is simple on its own. The depth comes from utilizing current technology to calculate across an ever-growing dataset. The parameters are set. The aggregation scales. **Incentives over penalties.** Corruption mechanics in Civilization III were universally hated. Adjacency bonuses in Civilization VI were celebrated. Same mechanical purpose, different structure. The **DEV** Score follows the reward path.6 **Graduated bonuses.** Civilization VI used 3 tiers: major (+2), standard (+1), minor (+0.5). The **DEV** Score's synergy system uses the same 3-tier structure: Major (+20%), Standard (+15%), Minor (+10%). Most properties fall on a spectrum, not into a binary. **Asymmetric adjacency.** In Civilization VI, different districts benefit from different terrain. No single "best position" exists. The **DEV** Score reflects this: different categories have different rules. Some are eligible for the chain/commercial split. Others are exempt. Different neighborhoods score well through different pathways. **Absence is information.** In Civilization, leaving a tile empty has consequences. The missing penalty operationalizes this: the absence of an entire category from a ring is a measurable deficit. ### Academic validation The design came first, from MOD principles and Civilization mechanics. The academic literature confirmed it after the fact. Pivo and Fisher (2011) established that a 10-point Walk Score increase corresponds to a 1-9% property value premium across more than 4,200 properties. Orr and Stewart (2022) found that non-chain-heavy districts command higher retail rents than chain-dominated ones, validating the chain/commercial split as an economic signal. Smart Growth America (2023) reported that walkable urban places occupy just 1.2% of metro land area in the 35 largest U.S. metros while generating 19.1% of GDP, reflecting strong market concentration of commercial activity in walkable areas.7 --- ## How the score works --- ### A grading system inspired by collectibles The grading language borrows from sports card and collectibles grading, where a universal condition scale allows quick comparison across different items. A high-graded card immediately communicates something: verified condition, relative rarity within its population. Still, within each grade there is variation. Human review introduces tolerances, different grading companies apply different standards, and every card within a grade still has a range of acceptances. The grade is a tool to sort through noise. It gives you a fast first pass so you know where to focus deeper analysis.8 Each tier is named for a gemstone. The idea: a stone starts in raw form and through work, refinement, and cutting, becomes something pristine with higher value. 6 tiers, percentile-based. ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/gem-raw.svg) Raw Jasper Bottom 15% < 9.21 ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/gem-good.svg) Good Agate P15 – P30 9.21 – 11.78 ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/gem-nearmint.svg) Near Mint Amethyst P30 – P50 11.78 – 16.31 ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/gem-mint.svg) Mint Turquoise P50 – P70 16.31 – 21.31 ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/gem-gemmint.svg) Gem Mint Sapphire P70 – P90 21.31 – 25.29 ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/gem-pristine.svg) Pristine Emerald Top 10% ≥ 25.29 rough → refined → brilliant cut **Raw (Jasper).** Bottom 15%.A location with minimal amenity diversity in the surrounding area. This may reflect a primarily residential character, a commercial corridor that hasn't yet diversified, or the presence of negative environmental or contextual factors in the scoring. Raw locations carry higher risk, but they also represent opportunity: new projects here have a chance to be defining rather than following. These can also be strong destination locations where isolation serves a specific use or anchors a particular need.9 **Good (Agate).** P15 to P30.The foundation is beginning to take shape. A few essential categories are present, though the mix remains thin and concentrated close to the property. This is a neighborhood where enough activity exists to signal momentum, but the identity is still forming around a handful of uses. Good locations offer upside for those who can read where the gaps are likely to fill, with moderate risk as the surrounding infrastructure of daily life continues to develop.10 **Near Mint (Amethyst).** P30 to P50.A promising and increasingly well-rounded location. Most positive categories are represented across multiple distance rings, and the area is beginning to function as a cohesive neighborhood ecosystem. The diversity of uses suggests organic demand is building, and the risk profile has shifted meaningfully lower. Near Mint locations are approaching the point where synergy between uses starts to compound.11 **Mint (Turquoise).** P50 to P70.A solid, well-functioning neighborhood with a meaningful mix of commercial uses within reach. Multiple synergy pairs are likely active, indicating that the surrounding businesses reinforce rather than compete with each other. The balance between different use types, food, retail, culture, health, transit, creates a self-sustaining environment. Mint locations carry moderate-to-low risk with daily-life infrastructure already in place.12 **Gem Mint (Sapphire).** P70 to P90.An excellent location defined by density, walkability, and broad diversification. Strong representation across most categories means nearly all daily needs can be met within the immediate area. Synergy boosts are compounding across multiple category pairs, and the mix of commercial uses runs both broad and deep. Gem Mint locations carry low risk: the neighborhood infrastructure is mature and resilient.13 **Pristine (Emerald).** Top 10%.The benchmark for location quality. A fully realized mixed-use neighborhood where culture, food, transit, retail, green space, and healthcare converge within walking distance. Diversification across all rings is dense and balanced, with strong commercial variety and multiple active synergy pairs reinforcing the ecosystem. Pristine locations represent the lowest risk from an amenity and infrastructure standpoint, but that maturity often comes with higher development costs: land acquisition, entitlements, and construction in these areas reflect what the market already recognizes. A thriving neighborhood where the infrastructure of daily life is complete and self-sustaining.14 Thresholds are percentile-based. They recalibrate as the dataset grows. The percentile allocations stay fixed. The score values that define each tier shift. --- ## The formula DEV Grade = R1 × 1.0 + R2 × 0.5 + R3 × 0.15 3 concentric rings, each scored independently, then weighted and summed. **Ring 1** (0 to 1,400 ft): walking distance, weight 1.0\. **Ring 2** (1,400 to 4,000 ft): 15-minute walk, neighborhood scale, weight 0.5\. **Ring 3** (4,000 to 15,000 ft): scooter, bike, sub-regional access, weight 0.15\. Ring 3 may not affect daily life, but it shapes the week. Anything beyond Ring 3 operates at too large a scale for property-level comparison. The Formula --- ## The 18 categories --- Every POI within the scoring radius gets classified into 1 of 18 categories: 15 positive and 3 negative. The 15 positives group into 7 parent groups. 6 categories are **eligible** for the chain/commercial split (C/I). 9 are **exempt** (all POIs scored at 1.0). ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-culture.svg) Culture & Community - Culture - Worship - Education ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-entertainment.svg) Entertainment & Recreation - Outdoor Rec - Indoor Rec C/C ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-food.svg) Food & Beverage - F&B C/C - Grocery C/C ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-retail.svg) Commercial - Retail C/C - Personal Svc C/C ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-health.svg) Health & Safety - Safety - Healthcare - Wellness ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-travel.svg) Travel & Access - Lodging C/C - Transit ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-environment.svg) Environment - Natural ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-negatives.svg) Negatives - Service - Vice - Infrastructure C/C \= chain/commercial split applies (chain ×0.5, commercial ×1.5) ## How each ring is scored **Step 1: Classify and cap.** Each POI maps to 1 of the 18 categories. Within each category, POIs group by sub-type (food vs. beverage within F&B, specialty vs. general within Retail). Only the closest 10 per sub-group are kept. This prevents any single sub-type from overwhelming the score. **Step 2: Amplification of Intensity (AoI).** This is where the modifiers apply. For eligible categories, each POI in the capped pool receives an ownership multiplier: chain (0.5) or commercial (1.5). Chain means the business is matched in the OpenStreetMap Name Suggestion Index (NSI) brand database. Commercial means it is not matched as a chain brand but falls in an eligible category. Categories where ownership classification does not apply are scored at 1.0 (other). Category scores are computed as the average of all ownership-adjusted POI values. Then, in Ring 1, synergy boosts apply: when 2 parent groups are both present, all categories in both groups receive a percentage boost. 14 synergy pairs across 3 tiers. Boosts stack.15 | | ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-culture.svg)Culture &Community | ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-entertainment.svg)Ent &Rec | ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-food.svg)Food &Bev | ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-retail.svg)Commercial | ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-health.svg)Health &Safety | ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-travel.svg)Travel &Access | ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/cat-environment.svg)Environ | | ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | Culture & Community | | +20% | +20% | | | +15% | +20% | | Entertainment & Rec | +20% | | +20% | | | +15% | +15% | | Food & Beverage | +20% | +20% | | | | +15% | +10% | | Commercial | | | | | | +15% | +10% | | Health & Safety | | | | | | +20% | +10% | | Travel & Access | +15% | +15% | +15% | +15% | +20% | | +10% | | Environment | +20% | +15% | +10% | +10% | +10% | +10% | | ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/lightning-major.svg) Major (+20%) ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/lightning-standard.svg) Standard (+15%) ![](https://dev.studio3.space/icons/lightning-minor.svg) Minor (+10%) 14 active pairs. Ring 1 only. Boosts stack when multiple pairs fire. **Step 3: Negatives and missing penalty.** Negative POIs group into 3 sub-categories. Severity = count / 10, capped at 1.0\. Subtracted from positives. Then: each absent positive category costs -0.25\. No floor. A desolate ring can go below 0. (positive sum − negatives − missing penalty) × ring weight --- ## The 500-property study 500 commercial properties across all 50 states. 250 pre-classified as exemplary (strong retail performance, high occupancy, desirable tenants) and 250 as underperforming (high vacancy, weak tenants, declining trade area). Pre-classification used independent commercial data (vacancy rates, tenant quality, rent/ft², trade area demographics) before any DEV scoring. The **DEV** Score had no access to that data. It independently reproduced the classification using only POI data.16 0 20 40 60 80 100 <0 0-4 4-8 8-12 12-16 16-20 20-24 24-28 28-32 32+ DEV Score range Properties Underperforming (n=250, mean 11.46) Exemplary (n=250, mean 21.54) Exemplary mean: **21.54**. Underperforming mean: **11.46**. Gap: 10.08 points. Ratio: 1.88:1. Score range: -2.56 to 31.98. 0 25 50 75 100 Raw 75 (15%) Good 75 (15%) Near Mint 100 (20%) Mint 100 (20%) Gem Mint 100 (20%) Pristine 50 (10%) Properties At an optimal threshold of 17, the score correctly classifies **89.2%** of all 500 properties. The dataset grows over time. Thresholds recalibrate. The formula is fixed. The grading adapts.¹⁷ 30% 45% 60% 75% 90% 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Score threshold Accuracy 89.2% at 17 Overall accuracy Exemplary correct Underperforming correct --- ## What the **DEV** Grade is A meaningful metric for analyzing real estate. It measures what surrounds a property: the diversity, density, quality, and character of the full amenity ecosystem within reach, weighted by distance and adjusted for chain versus commercial character. It does not measure the property itself. It tells you nothing about the building, the lease, the rent, or the price. It measures whether the location is meaningful. For someone without experience in development, it puts a complex set of neighborhood dynamics into 1 grade that is immediately legible. For a professional, it surfaces dimensions that traditional metrics miss: cultural infrastructure, a good mix of commercial uses over chain presence, ecosystem synergy, the penalty of absence. The dataset grows. The grading adapts. Future versions can expand or contract categories for different markets. The methodology is scalable by design. [ ![DEV](https://dev.studio3.space/ICONCOLOR.png) Try the DEV Grade ](https://dev.studio3.space/?ref=studio3.space) --- *Jamie Moshe Straz, AIA is the Principal at *Studio 3* in Miami Beach. The *DEV* Score was developed as part of Studio 3's ongoing research projects. The 500-property calibration study was completed in March 2026.* [ Download Full 500-Property Study (PDF) ](https://studio3.space/dev-score-report/) --- ## Notes ¹ Deal Estate Valuation. "Development" as in real estate development potential. "Deal" as in what every investor is looking for. ² POI = Point of Interest. Any business, institution, or public space. A restaurant is a POI. A bus stop is a POI. A park is a POI. The **DEV** Score classifies approximately 100 to 300 POIs per property. ³ MOD extends transit-oriented development (TOD) and the 15-minute city. TOD focuses on transit access. The 15-minute city focuses on daily services within a time-distance radius. MOD adds the requirement that cultural programming, worship, education, and community gathering be present at the same scales. ⁴ The *techum Shabbat*, a concept from Jewish law defining the maximum walkable range on *Shabbos* (approximately 3,158 ft from the settlement boundary), falls almost exactly between the 5-minute walk and the 15-minute city radius. The idea: everything needed for daily community life should be reachable on foot. A spatial law codified 2,000 years ago converges with contemporary urbanism research independently. ⁵ Full research documented in "The Design Evolution of Sid Meier's Civilization: Spatial Placement, Adjacency Systems, and Principles for Spatial Scoring" (Studio 3, 2025-2026), using Sid Meier's 2020 memoir [*Memoir!: A Video Game Designer's Life in 51½ Chapters*](https://amzn.to/47MBjQk?ref=studio3.space) (amzn.to/47MBjQk) as a primary source. ⁶ Corruption in Civilization III reduced city yields based on distance from the capital. Players found it punishing and opaque. Civilization VI replaced it with adjacency bonuses: reward for good placement rather than punishment for bad. ⁷ Pivo & Fisher, "The Walkability Premium in Commercial Real Estate Investments," *Real Estate Economics* 39:2 (2011). Orr & Stewart, "Ownership Diversity and Retail Rents," *Journal of Real Estate Research* (2022). Smart Growth America, "Foot Traffic Ahead" (2023). ⁸ PSA, BGS, and SGC are the dominant grading companies in the sports card market. Each uses its own scale and standards. A high grade communicates top condition at a glance. The range within each grade still contains variation. The grade democratizes first-pass analysis. ⁹ **Jasper**: microcrystalline quartz (SiO₂). Multicolored: red, green, yellow, brown. Found on the ground in the Negev desert. $1-5/ct. Used in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia for seals and amulets. Same mineral family as agate and amethyst. ¹⁰ **Agate**: banded chalcedony. Gray, white, brown banding. $1-10/ct. The most common material for ancient Near Eastern cylinder seals. Named for the Achates River in Sicily. ¹¹ **Amethyst**: macrocrystalline quartz, purple from iron impurities and natural irradiation. $5-50/ct. The biggest value collapse in gem history: classed with ruby and emerald by the Greeks and Egyptians, then Brazilian deposits in the 18th-19th centuries dropped it from royal tier to gift shop tier in 200 years. Hebrew *achlamah* likely from *chalom* (dream). Greek *amethystos* \= "not intoxicated." ¹² **Turquoise**: hydrated copper aluminum phosphate. Sky blue to blue-green. $1K-10K/ct for top Persian grade. One of the earliest mined gems in history. Sinai mines active from approximately 3000 BCE under Egyptian control. ¹³ **Sapphire**: corundum. Deep blue. $5K-50K/ct for Kashmir grade. In the ancient world, *sappheiros* seemingly referred to lapis lazuli, which was traded weight-for-weight with gold in Mesopotamia. Mohs hardness 9: second only to diamond. ¹⁴ **Emerald**: beryl, colored green by chromium. $10K-100K/ct for Colombian Muzo mine grade. Egyptian mines at Wadi Sikait active from approximately 1500 BCE. Inclusions are expected and called *jardin* (garden). ¹⁵ Chain classification uses the OpenStreetMap Name Suggestion Index (NSI), an open-source brand database, combined with per-property duplicate detection. The 500-property calibration study added multi-location detection across the full dataset. The economic signal is validated by Orr & Stewart (2022): independent-heavy districts command higher retail rents. ¹⁶ Pre-classification independence is the validation. The **DEV** Grade reproduced commercial performance classifications using only POI data. ¹⁷ 89.2% overall accuracy at threshold 17\. Exemplary correct: 86.8%. Underperforming correct: 91.6%. The score is slightly better at identifying weak locations, which is arguably the more useful direction for screening possibly. ### The Case for a Split (House) Personality URL: https://studio3.space/the-case-for-a-split-house-personality/ Last updated: 2026-03-12T07:14:54.000Z Ever look at a glass and not be able to tell whether it is half full or half empty? We do not have that problem with buildings. In our case, 50% is pretty well defined. What we care about is what counts as substantial, how the calculation works, and how it affects what you can and cannot do with your building. This is a look at the infamous Substantial Improvement rule. Touching on some brief history of codes, potential unique solutions, and how it affects us today. --- ## Where building codes come from Early building safety laws go back further than most people expect. The Code of Hammurabi (approximately 1792 to 1750 BCE) in ancient Babylon demanded severe consequences if a builder's work failed. The Torah commands in Devarim (Deuteronomy) 22:8 that when you build a new house, you make a guardrail for your roof so nobody falls off it, dating to approximately 1313 BCE.¹ The connection between disasters and codes is just as old. On March 16, 1631, a wooden chimney in Thomas Sharp's house caught fire and burned the house to the ground in Boston. The city responded with an ordinance banning wooden chimneys and thatched roofs, an early example of what we would now call a building code in America.² The ordinance lacked enforcement. Boston suffered major conflagrations in 1653, 1676, and 1679 before finally requiring stone or brick construction. This pattern repeated everywhere. The Great Fire of London in 1666 destroyed over 13,200 houses and led to the London Rebuilding Act of 1667 requiring brick and stone. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed over 17,000 structures, killed approximately 300 people, and left more than 100,000 homeless. Chicago enacted construction ordinances in 1875\. The Great Boston Fire of 1872 destroyed 776 buildings across 65 acres of downtown. Each disaster forced cities to write stricter rules about what could be built and how existing buildings had to be improved. By the early twentieth century, the question was no longer just about new construction. It was about what happens to buildings that already exist when the rules change around them. ## Where the 50% number comes from The 50% threshold did not come from one place. It converged from three separate legal traditions, all arriving at the same number for different reasons. **Building codes.** An early modern codification of the idea appears in the 1927 Uniform Building Code (UBC), published by the International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO). This seems to be one of the first national standards tying renovation cost to building value as the trigger for full code compliance. The Southern Standard Building Code (SBCCI) adopted the same 50% number from its first edition in 1945\. The Building Officials and Code Administrators (BOCA) Basic Building Code followed in 1950\. By mid-century, all three model building codes in the United States used the same threshold. **Zoning.** When New York City adopted the first comprehensive Zoning ordinance in 1916\. The immediate problem was what to do with buildings and uses that were legal when built but no longer conformed to the new districts. After the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Zoning in *Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co.* (1926), municipalities developed the doctrine that these nonconforming uses should be grandfathered but not allowed to expand or perpetuate indefinitely. Courts and local codes established that if a nonconforming structure was destroyed beyond a certain percentage of its value, the owner could not simply rebuild the nonconformity. The owner had to rebuild to current standards. The line that became standard in most jurisdictions was 50%.³ **Flood regulation.** On October 26, 1976, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) codified the 50% Substantial Improvement definition at 44 CFR Section 59.1\. Their stated rationale, from FEMA Publication 213: it "conforms to similar building code and Zoning standards that also use a 50 percent threshold." FEMA did not independently derive the number. They borrowed it from the building codes and Zoning laws that had been using it for decades. By 1979, the UBC abandoned the general 50% threshold for rehabilitation projects. The code organizations recognized it was functioning as a deterrent to improving existing buildings rather than an incentive to bring them up to code. BOCA dropped it in 1981\. SBCCI followed in 1982\. Within six years of FEMA adopting the 50% rule, all three model building codes that FEMA cited as the basis for the number had walked away from it.⁴ ## What the rule actually says FEMA's regulations are published in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) under Title 44, Emergency Management and Assistance. The definition at Section 59.1 reads: "Substantial Improvement means any reconstruction, rehabilitation, addition, or other improvement of a structure, the cost of which equals or exceeds 50 percent of the market value of the structure before the start of construction of the improvement." CI / MVS ≥ 50% Where CI is the cost of improvement and MVS is the market value of the structure only. The numerator is the cost of the improvement. This includes all materials, labor, built-in appliances, interior finishes, demolition costs, contractor overhead, and profit. It also includes donated and discounted labor at its market rate. Most municipalities have their own established construction cost standards per square foot, so an owner cannot simply claim that donated labor or self-managed general contracting reduces the cost to zero. The building department applies prevailing cost data regardless of who does the work. The denominator is the market value of the structure only. Not the land. Not the landscaping. Not detached accessory structures. Just the individual building. This is where a concept called depreciated cost value becomes important. Depreciated cost value is the reason older buildings tend to have a lower assessed structure value relative to the land they sit on and compared to newer construction buildings. A house built in 1955 on valuable land might have a structure value of $150,000 even though the total property is worth $600,000\. Fifty percent of $150,000 is $75,000\. A modest kitchen renovation and a bathroom remodel can reach that number on any pre-1980 building. The threshold that sounds generous at 50% can be surprisingly easy to reach. ## How it gets applied The Substantial Improvement rule is triggered purely by value. If the cost of the work equals or exceeds 50% of the structure's market value, the entire building has to be brought into compliance with all current codes. That means every applicable code: structural, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, energy, accessibility, and if the building is in a hazard zone, those additional requirements as well. The trigger itself has nothing to do with what type of hazard zone the property sits in. It is a math problem. As an example, Florida enforces the rule through the Florida Building Code (FBC), with sections covering flood design, existing building triggers, and residential flood construction.⁵ The general requirement in flood hazard areas is elevation to the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) plus freeboard, though how much freeboard varies by county and municipality. Some Florida counties apply a threshold stricter than 50%. There has been active legislation in Florida around how the rule is applied. Some communities previously enforced cumulative lookback periods, tracking improvements over multi-year windows so that a kitchen remodel one year and a bathroom the next could add up to trigger the requirement. Recent state legislation has addressed cumulative tracking, and this is still actively evolving. Where the legislation lands will matter for a lot of projects.⁶ ## Why flood zones are different Outside of a flood zone, triggering the 50% threshold means bringing the building up to current code. That can mean impact windows in a hurricane zone, electrical upgrades, mechanical systems, plumbing. The limitations are really about budget for the work to bring the existing building into compliance. It adds cost and time, and it sometimes leads to building owners doing illegal unpermitted work to avoid tripping the threshold, which creates genuine life safety issues. Still, outside of a flood zone, the additional requirements usually just make budget the leading factor. In a flood zone, the math changes. Triggering the Substantial Improvement rule can mean elevating the entire structure to or above the BFE plus applicable freeboard. In coastal V zones, the lowest horizontal structural members have to be at or above BFE with open foundations and breakaway walls below. That is not a window upgrade. That is raising the building. For many owners, especially on constrained lots or with older construction that was not designed to be lifted, the cost can be prohibitive. The land may not support it. The structure may not survive it. The budget may not cover it. This is what stops additions and renovations from getting off the ground in a lot of flood zone projects. Approximately 8.7 million properties sit in FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas. First Street Foundation's analysis puts the actual number at substantial risk at 14.6 million, nearly 68% higher than FEMA's maps show. Florida alone holds roughly 1.7 million National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policies totaling $440 billion in coverage, about a third of all NFIP policies nationwide. --- ## The approach: a collection of spaces Remember that the rule is calculated per building. If the regulatory trigger is tied to a single structure, then the question becomes: does everything need to be under one roof? What if the program, the collection of spaces a household or building owner needs, gets redistributed across more than one structure? The new construction is built to current code from the ground up, assessed independently. The existing building's renovation scope stays under the threshold because a significant portion of the program moved into a second structure. This is easier to picture in commercial buildings, where different tenants and uses already occupy separate spaces and structures on the same property. The interesting case study is the single-family residence, where you have essentially one use, a family living in a home, and the question is whether that single use can be organized across more than one building. The answer, historically, can be found around the world. There is also a practical design reason beyond code compliance. Most existing homes have problems with the separation of public and private spaces. Living rooms that open directly onto bedrooms. Kitchens that serve as the only path between the front door and the back yard. Guest bathrooms accessible only through a bedroom. Organizing a home across more than one structure can solve spatial problems that a single building's floor plan often struggle with. This is not a concept most people encounter every day, so it can be difficult to picture. In fact a lot of local municipalities do not allow more than one structure on a single family residential lot. The reason behind this is to prevent multifamily housing illegally in single family districts. So to be fair most people have never seen this type of housing. What could this actually look like? Here are examples spanning roughly three thousand years of Architecture. --- ![Sketch of Siheyuan](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/china_icon-1.jpg) Siheyuan (suh-huh-YWAN), Chinese Courtyard House Beijing \~1046 BCE (Zhou Dynasty) [learn more ›](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siheyuan?ref=studio3.space) Four independent single-story buildings arranged around a central rectangular courtyard, connected only by covered corridors. Each building houses a specific function. The patriarch's hall sits on the north side for maximum sunlight. Younger generations take the east and west wings. Service quarters line the south wall. A decorative gate physically divides the semi-public outer yard from the inner family courtyard. The separate-building arrangement also served as fire separation: individual wooden structures around an open courtyard created natural firebreaks. The jian (JYEN) modular system means each structure is independently constructed. The typology is over 3,000 years old and hundreds of historic examples survive in Beijing's hutong (HOO-tong) neighborhoods.⁷ --- ![Sketch of Queen's House](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/queen_icon-1.jpg) Queen's House Greenwich, England 1616 Inigo Jones [learn more ›](https://www.rmg.co.uk/queens-house?ref=studio3.space) Two wings connected by a bridge that spanned a public road running through the site. The road ran underneath. Each wing held distinct functions, and the bridge connecting them was itself a room, a gallery. The Architecture made the connection into a feature rather than a compromise. The split organization of uses across two separate structures worked precisely because they were separate: each wing could be oriented and organized independently, and the passage between them became the most important space in the building. --- ![Sketch of Monticello](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/monticello-1.jpg) Monticello Charlottesville, Virginia 1770 Thomas Jefferson [learn more ›](https://www.monticello.org/?ref=studio3.space) Palladian five-part organization with dependencies below grade: fodder storage, carriages, horses, ice house, kitchens, smokehouses. Jefferson disguised a multi-building campus to appear as only one story from the front. The underground passages connecting the dependencies to the main house are not practical for modern construction. The lesson is the overall massing, the way the property reads as a coordinated collection of structures rather than a single object. We see the same campus thinking carried further in Jefferson's designs for the University of Virginia, where the Lawn organizes ten separate pavilions, each architecturally distinct, around a shared outdoor room.⁸ --- ![Sketch of Borgo Ticino Villa](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/borgoticinovilla_icon-1.jpg) Borgo Ticino Villa Borgo Ticino, Italy 1973 Aldo Rossi with Gianni Braghieri [learn more ›](https://www.fondazionealdorossi.org/opere/1970-1979-3/progetto-di-villa-e-padiglione-borgo-ticino-1973/?ref=studio3.space) A brick volume on flat ground containing the kitchen and daytime living spaces, with four independent bedroom pavilions arranged on the slope behind, each elevated on steel pillars. A gallery-corridor connects them. Each volume constitutes its own area. The split is driven by topography: separate structures, separate uses, linked by a connector that is itself a space worth inhabiting.⁹ --- ![Sketch of Coxe-Hayden House and Studio](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/venturiscott_icon-1.jpg) Coxe-Hayden House and Studio Block Island, Rhode Island 1979/1980 Venturi Scott Brown and Associates [learn more ›](https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/RI-01-BI7?ref=studio3.space) Two buildings. Two programs. One property. One household. The larger building holds living, dining, and kitchen on the ground floor with a studio above. The smaller building has a garage-workshop at ground level and two guest bedrooms upstairs. The buildings sit as distinct volumes on the site, each legible on its own, the relationship between them as deliberate as the Architecture itself.¹⁰ --- ![Sketch of Casa Gilardi](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/barragan_icon-1.jpg) Casa Gilardi Mexico City 1975 to 1977 Luis Barragán [learn more ›](https://www.barragan-foundation.org/works/list/gilardi-house?ref=studio3.space) Two separate volumes connected by a narrow longitudinal corridor along the west boundary wall. The street-front volume is a three-story house. The rear volume holds the swimming pool and dining room. Between them sits an open patio organized around an existing jacaranda tree. The corridor connecting the two buildings is flooded in yellow light through colored glass panes facing the courtyard. The lot is 10 meters wide by 35 meters deep, a narrow urban lot in a dense neighborhood. Not a rural estate. A city lot. The space between the buildings is the most celebrated space in the house. --- ![Sketch of Sun Path House](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/sunpathhouse_icon-1.jpg) Sun Path House Miami Beach, Florida 2015 Christian Wassmann [learn more ›](https://www.archdaily.com/778909/sun-path-house-christian-wassmann?ref=studio3.space) A 1934 Spanish-Colonial bungalow, roughly 1,387 square feet, with a separate three-story cast-in-place concrete structure built in the rear yard. The new structure holds 540 square feet enclosed, 540 square feet of roof deck, and 540 square feet of outdoor living space at 26 feet tall. The two buildings are linked by an outdoor kitchen and dining area sheltered by the cantilevered bedroom above. Old and new coexist on the same property as distinct structures with distinct identities. The existing bungalow keeps its character. The new construction exists on its own terms. The space between them, open to the air, is where the two buildings talk to each other. --- ![Sketch of Ackerman Backhouse](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ab/a1/aba13f89-3bf2-47de-94f1-412192841e3a/content/images/2026/03/ackerman_icon-1.jpg) Ackerman Backhouse Rock Hill, South Carolina 2025 Studio 3 [learn more ›](https://studio3.space/ackerman-backhouse) Existing two-story home in a master-planned community. The clients wanted a detached structure in the rear for a home office, gym with a golf simulator, and garage. We designed a two-story building, roughly 1,768 square feet, as a separate structure that pulled the public and active-use program out of the main house and into its own space. The separation created something unexpected: the space between the two buildings, covered outdoor areas, overhanging stairs that became overlooks, multiple sitting areas, turned into where the clients spend most of their time. The in-between space, the space that only exists because there are two structures instead of one, became the best part of the project.¹¹ --- ## What we can take away from this The Substantial Improvement rule exists for a real reason. Gradually bringing existing buildings up to modern safety standards through the natural cycle of renovation is a legitimate goal. Nobody wants to live or work in a building that cannot survive the hazards it is exposed to. The difficulty is in how the rule interacts with depreciated property values, flood zone requirements, and Zoning that can change between the time someone buys and the time they build.¹² It is also worth noting that protections exist for historically designated properties. Buildings with historic designation often have access to alternative compliance methods that allow renovation work to proceed without triggering the same requirements as non-designated properties. That is a separate process, but it is an important tool for owners of older buildings to be aware of. Splitting a building's program across multiple structures is a building methodology often overlooked, especially for residences. It was standard practice for three thousand years across every continent. The siheyuan (suh-huh-YWAN). The courtyard house. The pavilion. The detached kitchen. These are not historical curiosities. They are solutions that billions of people lived in and continue to still live in throughout the world. The single-structure house was never the only option. Looking back on human history, I think we still have a few options to explore. (If this building massing type is currently not allowed in your local zoning district, reaching out to your local government is a great place to start the conversations.) --- ## Notes ¹ The Code of Hammurabi prescribed severe penalties for builders whose structures collapsed, including death if the collapse killed the owner. The Torah's guardrail commandment (ma'akeh) was extended by the Rambam (Maimonides, approximately 1180 CE) to cover any dangerous condition on a property. The Mishnah Bava Basra 2:2 (approximately 200 CE) contains a debate about whether meeting code constitutes a complete defense against liability, a question that remains discussed in Modern tort law. ² Sources: Boston.gov Fire Operations history; Boston Fire History ([bostonfirehistory.org](https://bostonfirehistory.org/?ref=studio3.space)); Boston Herald, "City still playing with fire" (2008). Note: The WOBO-UN "History of Building Codes" PDF also cites this fact but seemingly incorrectly dates the Great Fire of London to 1631 instead of 1666. ³ The Zoning lineage is still active. New York City's current Zoning resolution uses both 25% and 50% thresholds depending on building type and district. Minnesota statute Section 462.357 subd. 1e(a)(2) explicitly codifies the 50% rule for nonconforming structures. See: Reynolds, "The Reasonableness of Amortization Periods for Nonconforming Uses," 34 Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law 99 (1988), Washington University. ⁴ New Jersey's 1998 Rehabilitation Subcode replaced the cost-to-value ratio entirely with a work-type classification approach. The result: permits for rehabilitation projects increased by up to 124%. In 2003, the International Existing Building Code (IEBC) incorporated both the old prescriptive approach and the newer work-area method. In 2012, the Biggert-Waters Act dropped the flood insurance trigger to 30%, causing tenfold premium spikes and massive backlash. The 2014 Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act restored it to 50%. In 2024, the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) became the first energy code to use "substantial improvement" with the same 50% threshold. ⁵ Florida Building Code references: FBC 8th Ed. Section 1612.2 (flood design definitions), FBC Existing Building Section 303.2 (substantial improvement trigger), FBC Residential Section R322 (residential flood construction). ⁶ As of mid-2025, Florida SB 180 banned all local lookback ordinances statewide. SB 840 was advancing through the Florida Senate in early 2026 to adjust the SB 180 land-use freeze period. These are subject to change. Verify current status before relying on any specific provision. **⁷** Siheyuan literally translates to "four-joined courtyard." The typology dates to the Zhou Dynasty (approximately 1046 BCE). Prince Gong's Mansion in Beijing covers over 60,000 square meters. The Wang Family Compound in Shanxi Province contains 123 courtyards. Several of the historic examples in this section are drawn from [*Buildings Across Time: An Introduction to World Architecture*](https://amzn.to/3Py5vbu?ref=studio3.space) ([amzn.to/3Py5vbu](https://amzn.to/3Py5vbu?ref=studio3.space)) by Moffett, Fazio, and Wodehouse (McGraw-Hill). ⁸ The University of Virginia (1819 to 1826) is often cited as Jefferson's masterpiece and the clearest expression of his campus-as-collection-of-buildings philosophy. Each pavilion houses a different academic discipline with faculty residence above and student rooms in connecting ranges. ⁹ Rossi's architectural lineage traces through Italian Rationalism. His generation, the Tendenza of the 1960s, explicitly distanced itself from the political associations of the earlier movement. The Borgo Ticino villa is a residential project with no political context, but the lineage is worth knowing for anyone studying the work. **¹⁰** For more on Venturi Scott Brown's approach to Architecture, see [*Learning from Las Vegas*](https://amzn.to/4rq8Kis?ref=studio3.space) ([amzn.to/4rq8Kis](https://amzn.to/4rq8Kis?ref=studio3.space)) by Venturi, Scott Brown, and Izenour (MIT Press, 1972). Their concept of the "Decorated Shed," the idea that most good buildings are ordinary structures with meaning applied through signs and symbols rather than buildings whose entire form is the message, resonates deeply with me as a core Architectural principle. ¹¹ The project encountered a code interpretation issue: the city's general Zoning ordinance for accessory structures capped detached buildings at 1,000 square feet, conflicting with the community's master plan. The resolution involved incorporating a connecting breezeway that reclassified the structure as part of the primary building. The breezeway became the project's best feature. **¹²** There is a related issue that deserves its own conversation: Zoning changes and nonconforming uses. We encountered this with a historic hotel in Miami Beach that risked losing its hotel Zoning designation use because the hotel use was nonconforming in its surrounding multifamily residential area. Renovating past the Substantial Improvement threshold would have triggered full compliance with current Zoning, which no longer would allowed a hotel. Ultimately with the City the Owner's had the property historically designated, which protected the nonconforming use and provided additional FAR (Floor Area Ratio). For more on the history and amazing stories of famed preservationist Nancy Liebman and the fight to save Miami Beach's Architecture, see her book [*Preservation Dreams: Reflections of a Miami Beach Activist*](https://amzn.to/3NvMtC8?ref=studio3.space) ([amzn.to/3NvMtC8](https://amzn.to/3NvMtC8?ref=studio3.space)). ### Hello, World? URL: https://studio3.space/helloworld/ Last updated: 2026-03-24T02:48:39.000Z Every programmer's first line of code is "Hello, World." It is proof of concept that something works. However, we want to ask: Hello, World? Who is out there? Who is listening? Instead of spreading ourselves across every platform, every social media account, every corner of the internet, we wanted to bring it all here. One spot. Easy to find. Easy to learn. Easy to come back to. **Welcome** *(back)* **to Studio 3.** Remember the good old days, when we all had a LiveJournalLiveJournal (1999) was one of the first personal blogging platforms. You had a page, you wrote what you were thinking, and people followed along. Before algorithms. Before feeds. Before content strategy. Just writing on the internet.? Except this one also has a shop, a research wing, an Architecture practice, and probably too many opinions about basketball cards. You walk in, look around, see what we are working on. Architecture, art, design, Judaica, sports, collecting, etc. Maybe something catches your eye. Maybe you pick up something useful for your own project. Everything here is written and published so that both people and AI systems can find it, read it, and cite it. That is intentional. At Studio 3, our job is to strive to make the most meaningful decisions in the present moment, informed by the past and the future. That is how we approach every project, whether it is a building, a consultation, or a piece of research. We commit to making the most informed decision possible at that specific moment. *At Studio 3, we learn from the past and the future to inform a more meaningful present.* Let us know you're listening! [→ contact](https://studio3.space/contact/) [→ about](https://studio3.space/about/) ### A Small Window of Opportunity URL: https://studio3.space/a-small-window-of-opportunity/ Last updated: 2026-04-05T18:58:44.000Z *12 Adar 5786 / March 1, 2026*¹ You are a spy. You have been sent by *Yehoshua bin Nun*, the new leader of *Bnei Yisrael* who has just taken over after *Moshe Rabbeinu*, to scout the first objective: *Yericho*. One of the most heavily fortified cities in the region. You were told to look for a window. *Rachav's* window. In the wall itself, you find the opening. This is her house. Not near the wall. Not behind it. *B'kir hachomah*: embedded in the fortification.² People sneak in and out through that window. There is a rope, a ladder system. *Rachav* takes you in. She hides you under stalks of flax on the roof. When the King's men come looking, she sends them the wrong way. Then she turns to you. She does not wait to be offered protection. She negotiates. She says: swear to me. Show kindness to my father's house. Give me an *os emes*, a true sign.³ The spies give her a condition: bind this *tikvat chut hashani*, this cord of crimson thread, in the window through which you lowered us. Gather your father, your mother, your brothers, your entire household into your house. Anyone who leaves is on their own. If you tell anyone about this arrangement, the deal is off.⁴ She agrees. They leave through that same window, lowered by that same rope. She binds the cord.⁵ On the spies' return, they will look for it. If the cord is there and undisturbed, they know her household is secure and she has kept her end. If it appears in other windows, or does not appear at all, she has been compromised. The secret is out and the arrangement is void. Rashi says it plainly: with that same rope and window the sinners would ascend to her. She said: *Ribono shel olam, b'eilu chatasi, b'eilu timchol li*. Master of the Universe, with these I sinned, with these forgive me.⁶ The Radak writes that the spies converted her on the spot, before *Bnei Yisrael* even crossed the *Yarden*. Her declaration in *Yehoshua* 2:11, "For *Hashem* your G-d, He is G-d in the heavens above and on the earth below," was her *kabbalas ol malchus shamayim*.⁷ What is a window for? Practically: let light in, allow airflow, provide a way out in an emergency, offer a vantage point for security. On the other side: a window can be used to sneak in, sneak out, break in for robbery. A window can also be barred, sealed, turned into a cage. It can keep people in as easily as it lets people out. Anything is an opportunity. Shlomo HaMelech built the *Beis HaMikdash* with *shekufim atumim*: windows that were narrow on the inside and wide on the outside.⁸ The opposite of normal Architecture. The *Tanchuma* explains: when an ordinary person builds a house, he makes the windows to bring light in. Shlomo reversed it. The light of the *Beis HaMikdash* goes outward. It is for everybody else. It is a sign. This is the same architectural logic as arrow slits in masonry fortification walls from the era when archers were the primary ranged combatant and these openings were standard in defensive construction. A narrow opening on the inside gives the defender maximum range of motion through the wider exterior opening, while the slit makes it nearly impossible for an enemy to aim in. The same element that is a defensive measure is at the same time an offensive measure. The *Gemara* in *Zevachim* 116b names three instruments of *Rachav*: the rope, the window, the flax.⁹ The rope that brought sinners up can lower *Hashem's* messengers down. The window that let people sneak in and out can radiate light outward. The flax that concealed shame can conceal the righteous. Three instruments of sin became three instruments of merit. Even a mundane object like a window can have meaning and purpose. We see from this that in some cases, something we resented from our past could become a *davar b'kedushah*. Not always is that a physically practical thing, at a spiritual level, the elevation is real. Now let us go back to the cord itself. *Tikvat chut hashani*. Two things about this phrase. First, the word *tikvat*. It means both "cord" and "hope."¹⁰ Rashi on *Yeshayahu* 1:18 uses the same root: I still give you *tikvah* to return. Hope in *Hashem* is not something abstract or esoteric. It is physical, like a cord. You can hold it. You can tie it to a window. It bears weight. With *Hashem's* help, hope is something tangible, something you can grip. Second, *hashani*. The crimson. This is *tola'at shani* dye: a color that comes from a living creature. The *Yerushalmi* defines it as something with *ruach chaim*, a spirit of life.¹¹ Not a mineral pigment. Not a plant extract. Not a chemical. A living thing. There is a *Tosefta* in *Menachos* that requires it to come specifically from "the creature in the mountains."¹² The organism parasitizes the kermes oak, *Quercus calliprinos*: the dominant evergreen oak of the mountain regions of *Eretz Yisrael*. The same trees that grow in the hills surrounding *Yericho*. This was an extraordinarily rare and costly dye.¹³ The word "crimson" in English traces all the way back through Arabic *qirmiz* (قرمز) to Sanskrit *kṛmi-ja* (कृमिज): "worm-produced."¹⁴ The word itself preserves the ancient identification of the color with a living creature. In 2024, researchers identified kermesic acid, the dye compound of this very insect, in a 3,800-year-old textile from the Cave of Skulls, *Me'arat HaGulgelot*, in the Judean Desert.¹⁵ The earliest known example of scale-insect dyeing in the world. Forty years before *Rachav* ties the cord in her window, a different window of opportunity was sunsetting. In *Mitzrayim*, *Bnei Yisrael* are told to take a lamb, slaughter it, and put its blood on the doorposts and lintel of their homes.¹⁶ When *Hashem* passes through *Mitzrayim* to strike the firstborn, He will see the blood and pass over those houses: that is the meaning of *Pesach*. The blood will be a sign. *Lachem l'os*. For you as a sign.¹⁷ Rabbeinu Bachya explains: the Egyptians worshipped the lamb. To slaughter it and display its blood was to reject their theology at your own front door. Per R' Yitzchak in the *Mechilta*, the blood was placed on the outside, visible to the world.¹⁸ Notice the word *os* (sign) in both stories.¹⁹ *Rachav* asks for an *os emes*: a personal sign, for her and her family. The *Pesach* blood is *lachem l'os*: a collective sign for the entire *am*. Same word, two frameworks. *Rachav* is one person, with her family, choosing to be different from everyone around her. No one in *Yericho* stands with them. No neighbor is doing the same. In *Mitzrayim*, every Jewish household marks its door at the same time. You are not doing it alone. Your neighbor is doing it too. Nobody cares what your house looks like. Nobody is checking whether you have the nicest door on the block. The instruction is the same for everyone: put the blood. The act is uniform. The people are not. Your individuality is not erased by the collective act. Both markings require something with *nefesh*, with life force.²⁰ The *dam Pesach* comes from a slaughtered lamb. The *tola'at shani* comes from a creature the Torah insists has *ruach chaim*. Not a mineral. Not a plant. Something that was alive. Both are moments where assimilation ends and identification begins. The doorpost says: we are choosing. The crimson cord says the same thing. One is communal. One is individual. Both cost something real. A small window of opportunity. One *chalon* in the wall of *Yericho*. One door in the wall of your house in *Mitzrayim*. One moment to declare where you stand. *Rachav* took it. She hung the cord. The walls fell. She, the woman who had been inside the wall, ended up *b'kerev Yisrael*: in the midst of Israel.²¹ Not adjacent. Not nearby. Inside. She went from being embedded in the wall of *Yericho* to being embedded in *Klal Yisrael*. The walls of *Yericho* fell. The real protection was never the fortification. No matter how far you stray, with whatever you have in the world, you are a Jew. The window of opportunity may be small. The world can feel like a narrow bridge.²² The main thing; is not to be afraid at all.²³ ## Notes \* Approbation "Thank you for sharing these beautiful thoughts conveying a vital message that we all need to internalize, especially now. May *Am Yisrael* and the world merit the *yeshuat Hashem b'karov*." Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak Breitowitz. March 5, 2026. Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak Breitowitz is the *Rav* of Kehillas Ohr Somayach and a senior lecturer at Ohr Somayach Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He received *semicha* from Ner Israel Rabbinical College, a bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University, and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School (*magna cum laude*). He served as a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law specializing in bankruptcy, commercial law, and bioethics, and as Rabbi of Woodside Synagogue Ahavas Torah in Silver Spring, Maryland for twenty-two years. He has published widely on the interface of *halacha* and contemporary society, with particular expertise in medical, family, business, and legal ethics. [rabbibreitowitz.com](https://www.rabbibreitowitz.com/?ref=studio3.space) ¹ Yesterday, *Shabbos Parshas Zachor*, 11 Adar 5786 (February 28, 2026), Israel and the United States launched a joint military operation on Iran. Israel designated its operation "Roaring Lion" (אריה שואג); the United States designated its operation "Epic Fury." The strikes began Saturday morning, in daylight, while *shuls* across Israel were reading *Parshas Zachor*: "Remember what *Amalek* did to you" (*Devarim* 25:17). As the *baal korei* read the commandment to remember, the operation was underway. We have all of *Am Yisrael* in our *tefillos*. Just as we saw success in the times of Esther, we should see success with *Hashem's* help today. ² **יהושע ב:טו.** וַתּוֹרִדֵם בַּחֶבֶל בְּעַד הַחַלּוֹן כִּי בֵיתָהּ בְּקִיר הַחוֹמָה וּבַחוֹמָה הִיא יוֹשָׁבֶת׃ "She let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was in the wall of the fortification, and she dwelt in the wall." (KB) [sefaria.org/Joshua.2.15](https://www.sefaria.org/Joshua.2.15?ref=studio3.space) ³ **יהושע ב:יב.** וְעַתָּה הִשָּׁבְעוּ־נָא לִי בַּיהֹוָה כִּי־עָשִׂיתִי עִמָּכֶם חָסֶד וַעֲשִׂיתֶם גַּם־אַתֶּם עִם־בֵּית אָבִי חֶסֶד וּנְתַתֶּם לִי אוֹת אֱמֶת׃ "Now please swear to me by ה׳, since I have shown you kindness, that you will also show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true sign." (KB) [sefaria.org/Joshua.2.12](https://www.sefaria.org/Joshua.2.12?ref=studio3.space) ⁴ **יהושע ב:יח-כ.** הִנֵּה אֲנַחְנוּ בָאִים בָּאָרֶץ אֶת־תִּקְוַת חוּט הַשָּׁנִי הַזֶּה תִּקְשְׁרִי בַּחַלּוֹן אֲשֶׁר הוֹרַדְתֵּנוּ בוֹ וְאֶת־אָבִיךְ וְאֶת־אִמֵּךְ וְאֶת־אַחַיִךְ וְאֵת כׇּל־בֵּית אָבִיךְ תַּאַסְפִי אֵלַיִךְ הַבָּיְתָה׃ "When we come into the land, you shall bind this cord of crimson thread in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather to yourself in the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father's household." (KB) וְאִם־תַּגִּידִי אֶת־דְּבָרֵנוּ זֶה וְהָיִינוּ נְקִיִּם מִשְּׁבֻעָתֵךְ "And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free of your oath." (KB) [sefaria.org/Joshua.2.18](https://www.sefaria.org/Joshua.2.18?ref=studio3.space) ⁵ **יהושע ב:כא.** וַתֹּאמֶר כְּדִבְרֵיכֶם כֶּן־הוּא וַתְּשַׁלְּחֵם וַיֵּלֵכוּ וַתִּקְשֹׁר אֶת־תִּקְוַת הַשָּׁנִי בַּחַלּוֹן׃ "She said: As you say, so shall it be. She sent them away and they departed, and she bound the crimson cord in the window." (KB) [sefaria.org/Joshua.2.21](https://www.sefaria.org/Joshua.2.21?ref=studio3.space) ⁶ **Rashi on יהושע ב:טו.** בְּאוֹתוֹ חֶבֶל וְחַלּוֹן הָיוּ הַנּוֹאֲפִים עוֹלִין אֵלֶיהָ. אָמְרָה: רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם, בְּאֵלּוּ חָטָאתִי בְּאֵלּוּ תִּמְחוֹל לִי. "With that same rope and window the adulterers would ascend to her. She said: Master of the Universe, with these I sinned, with these forgive me." (S) [sefaria.org/Rashi\_on\_Joshua.2.15](https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi%5Fon%5FJoshua.2.15?ref=studio3.space) ⁷ **Radak on יהושע ו:כה.** The spies converted *Rachav* before *Bnei Yisrael* crossed the *Yarden*. *B'dieved*, *geirus* can be performed by one *dayan* (Mordechai on *Yevamos* 45b). *Yehoshua* 2:11: כִּי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם הוּא אֱלֹהִים בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִמַּעַל וְעַל־הָאָרֶץ מִתָּחַת: *kabbalas ol malchus shamayim*. [sefaria.org/Radak\_on\_Joshua.6.25](https://www.sefaria.org/Radak%5Fon%5FJoshua.6.25?ref=studio3.space) ⁸ **מלכים א ו:ד.** וַיַּעַשׂ לַבָּיִת חַלּוֹנֵי שְׁקֻפִים אֲטוּמִים׃ "He made for the house windows, narrow and sealed." (KB) **Menachos 86b:** The windows of the *Heichal* were narrow on the inside and wide on the outside. **Tanchuma, Behaaloscha 2:** "When an ordinary person builds a house, he makes the windows narrow outside and wide inside so daylight enters. Shlomo did the opposite: narrow inside, wide outside, so that the light of the *Beis HaMikdash* would radiate outward to the world." (S) [sefaria.org/I\_Kings.6.4](https://www.sefaria.org/I%5FKings.6.4?ref=studio3.space) · [sefaria.org/Menachot.86b](https://www.sefaria.org/Menachot.86b?ref=studio3.space) · [sefaria.org/Midrash\_Tanchuma,\_Beha'alotcha.2](https://www.sefaria.org/Midrash%5FTanchuma,%5FBeha%27alotcha.2?ref=studio3.space) ⁹ **זבחים קטז:** אָמְרָה: יְהֵא מָחוּל לִי בִּשְׂכַר חֶבֶל חַלּוֹן וּפִשְׁתִּים. "She said: May it be forgiven me in the merit of the rope, the window, and the flax." (Steinsaltz) [sefaria.org/Zevachim.116b](https://www.sefaria.org/Zevachim.116b?ref=studio3.space) ¹⁰ *Tikvat* (תִּקְוַת): from the root *tikvah* (תִּקְוָה), meaning both "cord" and "hope" across *Tanach*. **Rashi on יְשַׁעְיָהוּ א:יח:** עוֹדֶנִּי נוֹתֵן לָכֶם תִּקְוָה לָשׁוּב. "I still give you *tikvah* to return." (S) [sefaria.org/Rashi\_on\_Isaiah.1.18](https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi%5Fon%5FIsaiah.1.18?ref=studio3.space) ¹¹ **ירושלמי כלאים ט:א.** Defines *tola'at shani* as *davar sheyesh bo ruach chaim* (דבר שיש בו רוח חיים): "something that has a spirit of life." [sefaria.org/Jerusalem\_Talmud\_Kilayim.9.1](https://www.sefaria.org/Jerusalem%5FTalmud%5FKilayim.9.1?ref=studio3.space) ¹² **תוספתא מנחות ט:ו.** שני התולעת מן התולע שבהרים הביא שלא מן התולעת שבהרים פסולה. "The crimson of the *tola'at*: from the creature in the mountains. If brought not from the mountains, *passul*." (S) The organism is *Kermes echinatus*, a scale insect (family Kermesidae) parasitizing the kermes oak (*Quercus calliprinos*) in the mountain regions of *Eretz Yisrael*. [sefaria.org/Tosefta\_Menachot.9.6](https://www.sefaria.org/Tosefta%5FMenachot.9.6?ref=studio3.space) ¹³ **The cost and uses of *tola'at shani*.** Approximately 50,000 to 60,000 dried insect bodies to produce one kilogram of dyestuff. Harvest window: approximately one month in summer (July to August). Used in the *Mishkan* curtains (*Shemos* 26:1), priestly garments (*Shemos* 28:5-6), the *parah adumah* ritual (*Bamidbar* 19:6), the *metzora* purification (*Vayikra* 14:4), and the Yom Kippur scarlet thread (*Yoma* 67a). See Amar, Gottlieb, Varshavsky & Iluz, "The Scarlet Dye of the Holy Land," *BioScience* 55(12), 2005. ¹⁴ **Etymology of "crimson."** Sanskrit *kṛmi-ja* (कृमिज, "worm-produced") → Persian *qirmiz* (قرمز) → Arabic *qirmiz* (قرمز) → Medieval Latin *cremesinus* → Old French *cramoisie* → English "crimson." Rav Saadia Gaon (882-942 CE) translated *tola'at shani* as *qirmiz* in his Arabic *Chumash*. Hebrew *karmil* (כרמיל) in *Divrei HaYamim* II 3:14 is a synonym (Radak ad loc.). ¹⁵ מערת הגולגולות. Sukenik, Davidovich, Amar, et al., *Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports* 57, 104673 (2024). Textile fragment under 2 cm, Nahal Ze'elim, Judean Desert. Radiocarbon: 1954-1767 BCE (Middle Bronze Age). HPLC confirmed kermesic acid from *Kermes vermilio*. Earliest known scale-insect-dyed textile in the world. ¹⁶ **שמות יב:ז.** וְלָקְחוּ מִן־הַדָּם וְנָתְנוּ עַל־שְׁתֵּי הַמְּזוּזֹת וְעַל־הַמַּשְׁקוֹף עַל הַבָּתִּים אֲשֶׁר־יֹאכְלוּ אֹתוֹ בָּהֶם׃ "They shall take from the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they will eat it." (KB) **Rabbeinu Bachya ad loc.:** The Egyptians worshipped the lamb. The constellation *Taleh* (Aries) at the height of its power in *Nissan*. Slaughtering it and displaying its blood: public defiance of Egyptian theology. (AI) [sefaria.org/Exodus.12.7](https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.12.7?ref=studio3.space) · [sefaria.org/Rabbeinu\_Bahya,\_Shemot.12.7](https://www.sefaria.org/Rabbeinu%5FBahya%2C%5FShemot.12.7?ref=studio3.space) ¹⁷ **שמות יב:יג.** וְהָיָה הַדָּם לָכֶם לְאֹת עַל הַבָּתִּים אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם שָׁם וְרָאִיתִי אֶת־הַדָּם וּפָסַחְתִּי עֲלֵכֶם "The blood shall be for you a sign upon the houses where you are, and I will see the blood and pass over you." (KB) **Rashi ad loc.:** לָכֶם לְאוֹת וְלֹא לַאֲחֵרִים לְאוֹת. "For you as a sign, and not for others." נוֹתֵן אֲנִי אֶת עֵינַי לִרְאוֹת שֶׁאַתֶּם עֲסוּקִים בְּמִצְווֹתַי "I direct My eyes to see that you are engaged in My *mitzvos*." (S) [sefaria.org/Exodus.12.13](https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.12.13?ref=studio3.space) · [sefaria.org/Rashi\_on\_Exodus.12.13](https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi%5Fon%5FExodus.12.13?ref=studio3.space) ¹⁸ **Mechilta d'Rabbi Yishmael, Maseches d'Pischa 6.** Three opinions on the placement of the blood: **R' Yitzchak:** On the outside, so that the Egyptians would see it and their insides would churn. **R' Shimon:** On the inside. **R' Noson:** On the inside, between the door and the doorpost. This *dvar Torah* follows R' Yitzchak's opinion, consistent with the pattern of public, daytime miracles in *Sefer Yehoshua*: the crossing of the *Yarden* at dawn (*Yehoshua* 3:1), the march around *Yericho* beginning each morning (*Yehoshua* 6:12, 6:15). *Hashem* maximizes the *neis*. ¹⁹ *Rachav* (*Yehoshua* 2:12): אוֹת אֱמֶת ("true sign"). *Pesach* (*Shemos* 12:13): לָכֶם לְאֹת ("for you as sign"). Same word, two frameworks: individual sign, collective sign. ²⁰ **ויקרא יז:יא.** כִּי נֶפֶשׁ הַבָּשָׂר בַּדָּם הִוא וַאֲנִי נְתַתִּיו לָכֶם עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ לְכַפֵּר עַל־נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם כִּי־הַדָּם הוּא בַּנֶּפֶשׁ יְכַפֵּר׃ "For the *nefesh* of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls." (KB) [sefaria.org/Leviticus.17.11](https://www.sefaria.org/Leviticus.17.11?ref=studio3.space) ²¹ **יהושע ו:כה.** וְאֶת־רָחָב הַזּוֹנָה וְאֶת־בֵּית אָבִיהָ וְאֶת־כׇּל־אֲשֶׁר־לָהּ הֶחֱיָה יְהוֹשֻׁעַ וַתֵּשֶׁב בְּקֶרֶב יִשְׂרָאֵל עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה "*Yehoshua* kept alive *Rachav* and her father's household and all that she had, and she dwelt in the midst of Israel to this day." (KB) [sefaria.org/Joshua.6.25](https://www.sefaria.org/Joshua.6.25?ref=studio3.space) ²² **Rebbe Nachman of Breslov,** *Likutei Moharan* **II, 48.** כָּל הָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ גֶּשֶׁר צַר מְאֹד, וְהָעִקָּר לֹא לְפַחֵד כְּלָל. "The whole world is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing is not to be afraid at all." (BRI) ²³ **Translation Key.** KB = Koren Jerusalem Bible. S = Sefaria English. BRI = Breslov Research Institute. AI = Claude (Anthropic) translation from Sefaria Hebrew source text.