parsha bit: Matot - Mas'ei

This week's parsha describes the cities of refuge where accidental killers are exiled. The rabbis compare the exile of the accidental killer to the exile of Adam from Gan Eden. Adam was told that the punishment for eating from the tree was death, but the Holy One Blessed Be He showed compassion and exiled him instead. So too, we are to show compassion to the accidental killer rather than putting him to death, and are to help him reach a city of refuge. (Numbers Rabbah 23:13)

togetherness

This degree of togetherness is pretty unusual:

( two pictures )

Erik and Baldur always stand while eating, while Embla always sits. (This feels like the beginning of a logic puzzle: standers always lie, and... no, never mind.) I wonder why that is. Is it a gender thing? An individual-cat thing? Random but consistent for a given cat? Usually random and my cats are weird in their consistency?