The Canvas

Two navy tiles represent the two Great Commandments. Each has a gold hook at its base. The deck on the right holds all 613 tiles — the Ten Commandments and 603 laws of Moses, ordered by their appearance in Scripture. Use the search bar and book filter at the top of the deck to find tiles quickly. Click the header bar at any time to read the full passage and add your own reflection on it.

Hanging & Chaining Tiles

Drag any tile from the deck toward a hook — it glows gold when you're close. Release to hang it. Each commandment tile (I–X) also has a hook at its bottom, so laws can chain from commandments. Drag a placed tile to move it; its entire subtree moves with it.

To remove a tile, hover over it and click the trash icon in the bottom-right corner. If the tile has children, a panel appears with three options: Return to deck (tile and all descendants go back to the deck), Reconnect children to parent (tile is removed and its direct children are re-attached to the grandparent, preserving their subtrees), or Remove with subtree (tile and all descendants are returned to the deck). If the tile has no children it returns to the deck immediately.

Reordering Tiles

When you drop a tile onto a hook it is automatically selected (gold ring). Use the Left and Right arrow keys to move it among its siblings — one position per keypress. You can also Shift+click to select multiple siblings that share the same parent, then press Left or Right to move the entire group together as a unit. The tile stays selected after each move so you can continue pressing the arrow key.

Reading & Reflecting

Click any tile (without dragging) to read its full text and write a personal note. A small note icon appears in the tile's bottom-left corner whenever a reflection has been saved. Notes persist automatically.

Color Legend

The Legend panel (top-left of the canvas) lets you assign a label to each highlight color. Click the color swatch on any tile to cycle through colors — options include Blue, Green, Rose, Lavender, and more, all in soft pastel tones; the legend updates live. Click a legend label to rename it — names save automatically and are included when you publish. Use the eye icon on any legend row to hide all tiles of that color from view without removing them from your workspace — their children collapse up to the nearest visible ancestor. Click the eye again to restore them. The legend can be collapsed with the chevron at its top.

Exporting

Click the download icon in the header bar to save your canvas as a PNG image. UI chrome (deck, legend, controls) is hidden from the export automatically. Use the legend's eye toggles beforehand to compose exactly what you want captured.

Sharing & Publishing

Click Publish in the header bar to create a permanent, shareable link to your canvas. Optionally add a name, church, welcome message, and final reflection. Check List in the directory to appear in the Directory — a browsable collection of published workspaces. Check Allow editing to let collaborators unlock and sync changes back using a shared edit code.

When viewing a shared workspace, click Start from Here to copy that layout into your own personal workspace as a starting point.

Your Progress

Everything saves automatically — placement, zoom, pan, notes, colors, and legend labels. To start fresh, use the reset icon (bottom left, above zoom controls).

Navigating the Canvas

Highlight & Reorder Multiple Tiles at Once

Hold Shift and click tiles to select more than one. A gold ring marks each selected tile. Click any selected tile (without Shift) to open the bulk color panel and apply a highlight to all of them in one click. When multiple tiles sharing the same parent are selected, press ← or → to move the whole group left or right among their siblings.

Filter by Color Before Exporting

Use the eye icons in the Legend to hide colors you don't want in your export. Only visible tiles appear in the downloaded image — great for sharing a focused subset of your work.

How do I keep my own workspace?

Your workspace saves automatically to your browser as you work — every tile placement, color, note, and zoom position. As long as you return to Sorting Torah in the same browser on the same device, your progress will be there. To back it up permanently, click Publish to create a shareable snapshot you can always return to.

How do I manage multiple workspaces?

Your browser holds one local workspace at a time, but you can maintain as many saved workspaces as you like using publishing. For each workspace you want to preserve:

1. Click Publish and leave List in the directory unchecked — this keeps it private and unlisted.
2. Check Allow editing and set an edit code so you can update it later.
3. Save the URL — bookmark it or store it somewhere safe. That URL is your permanent link back to that workspace.

To work on a saved workspace, open its URL, then click Unlock to Edit and enter your edit code. When you're done, hit ↑ Sync to save your changes back. Repeat for as many workspaces as you need.

How do I collaborate with others?

When you publish a workspace, check Allow editing and set an edit code — a private passphrase you share with your collaborators. Anyone with the link and code can:

1. Open the shared URL and click Unlock to Edit in the header bar.
2. Enter the edit code to enable editing.
3. Make changes — move tiles, add colors, write notes.
4. Click ↑ Sync to push their changes back to the shared workspace.

Everyone working on the workspace sees the same published state. If two people edit at the same time, the last person to sync wins — coordinate with your group to avoid overwriting each other's work.

One Law, Many Cases

The Torah is often thought of as a book of rules — a long list of do's and don'ts. But a closer look reveals something more sophisticated. Many of what we count as single laws actually contain multiple applications within them, each addressing a slightly different scenario while expressing the same underlying principle. Think of it like a master key that opens several different doors — the key is one, but its usefulness is demonstrated across many situations.

Law or Instruction?

We commonly call these rules "laws," but that label may mislead us. The Hebrew word Torah itself means teaching or instruction — not law in the modern sense. The Torah reads less like a statute book and more like a court drama — God as the ultimate judge, Moses as the mediating advocate, and the people as a community receiving practical guidance for real situations. With that in mind, the word instruction is arguably more faithful to what the text is actually doing than law, which imports connotations of rigid codification that the Hebrew never intended.

A Simple Example

In Exodus 22:1, the Torah states that a thief who steals and sells an ox must repay five oxen, while a thief who steals a sheep must repay four. One instruction, two cases, two different penalties. Neither cancels the other — they operate independently. This pattern repeats hundreds of times across property law, purity law, agricultural law, and personal injury. Scholars estimate as many as a third of all 613 commandments contain this multi-case structure.

Rather than stating broad abstract principles, the Torah walks through concrete scenarios — different animals, relationships, degrees of negligence — each with its own ruling. The result is a framework that is both principled and precise, accessible to ordinary people while remaining rigorous enough for the most demanding legal minds.