Sabbath Delight Multiplication! A quiz, and an Apple Kugel

Then ADONAI said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

"Speak to Bnei-Yisrael and tell them:

When you come into the land which I give you, then the land is to keep a Shabbat to ADONAI.

For six years you may sow your field and for six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits.  But in the seventh year there is to be a Shabbat rest for the land---a Shabbat to ADONAI.

---Leviticus 25:1~2, first lines of Parshat Behar

 It`s  the season between spring green and summer grasses,  and we are in the book of Leviticus.  The 36th day of the counting of the Omer.

I wanted to share a kugel with you in this post.  As I was posting it, with the photos from Shabbat, I started thinking about Shabbat and the Shabbatot (plural of Shabbat) that we are learning about in the recent weeks Parashiot.  And before I knew it, it became a long post!  So I divided it in 3 parts,

1.  the Shabbat Multiplication    2.  A Quiz!  and 3. the Apple Kugel 

I hope you will enjoy it in its entirety, or one by one,  and please try the recipe and the Kugel in part 3!

Blessings and Shalom!

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 1.  The Shabbat Multiplication

In these seven weeks of counting the Omer, we are preparing our hearts in great expectation for Shavout.  In the recent Torah portions ( this week is a double portion and already the end of the book of Leviticus, see "link to weekly readings" on the right sidebar!), we learn about an ever expanding of G-d`s whole plan of Shabbatot.  Not only is there the seventh day weekly Shabbat, but then there are seven weeks, as in the counting of the Omer.  And next, seven years, in the Shemittah, or  Shabbat Year.

Keep on multiplying, with 7`s, as there are also seven times of seven years leading to the Yovel, or year of Jubilee in the 50th year .

 Count

 7 (days)  Shabbat
7 (weeks) 7 X 7 = 49 Counting the Omer, leading to 50th day Shavuot
7 (years)  Shabbat Year  (Shemittah or Sabbatical Year)
7 X 7 (years) =49 years , leading to the 50th year of Jubilee

Repeat

The delight we have in the Shabbat also multiplies as we enter into it and learn a little more each week of what is in G-d`s heart and in His plan.  It is like a spiral as you come closer to heaven in each observance of His appointed days.  It is humbling too, because we see how great is His plan for us on earth. And how huge is His Love.

We learn how included in His plan is rest for the Land, and the understanding that none of it is ours.  All of creation is His.  We have the privilege of being in it and having these laws for rest in the seventh day and in the seven years and in the 7X7 years where everything is returned to its original state and debts are released.  It is a beautiful expression of the whole equation of how to live in equality with each other and in knowing that there is One who is Greater than us exponentially. Whose equations when we live by them add up to living in peace and harmony and genuine relationship with each other and with our very Creator!

Reading the Torah from Genesis to Leviticus over these months, we see the observance of Shabbat and Shabbatot are continually emphasized.  It is impossible to even consider that this is something that doesn`t apply to us in our own lives.   Yet I confess I never considered it and never had any notion of observing the Sabbath until a little over a year ago. 

Oh, Father, it is so, isn`t it, You open the pages to our eyes once we see You and before that we really do not see any of this.  I feel I am writing words that too are invisible, as only with eyes open to see will someone come to You and your Shabbatot.  But why did you open mine?  Oh Father, please open the eyes of someone reading this who hasn`t yet known your Salvation and your Shabbat and the delight it is to see time expanding into the way You designed it.  Hashem Yeshua, in the name of Yeshua, may You be glorified.  May we return to You and your amazing plan for Rest in the Shabbat, Rest for the land, and for our souls to live in freedom and delight in knowing You and doing Your will...

 There is also another part of the equation for the Children of Israel who chose not to walk in His statutes and observe His Mitzvot.  Instead of blessing being multiplied, it is plagues that are multiplied....and I just noticed again there is the number 7.  The plagues are multiplied by seven (Leviticus 26:21).  You can see in the last part of the book of Leviticus, where there is Faithfulness on one side of the equation and Faithlessness on the other.    I encourage you to see the way it all adds up for yourself in Parsha Bechukotai which ends the book of Leviticus. 

Chazak! Chazak! V`nitchazek!*

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These verses from the book of Isaiah speak how delight in Shabbat
equals delight in ADONAI。。。 

"If you turn back your foot from Shabbat,

from doing your pleasure on My holy day,

and call Shabbat a delight,

the holy day of ADONAI honorable,

If you honor it, not going your own ways,

not seeking your own pleasure,

nor speaking your usual speech,

then You will delight yourself in ADONAI,

and I will let you ride over

the heights of the earth,

I will feed you with the heritage

of your father Jacob."

For the mouth of ADONAI has spoken.

---Isaiah 58:13~14

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2.    Now the  quiz!

In 7 clues..., what could it be?

1.  First, it is something I spent my whole life NOT doing (until one year ago!)

2.  Second, it is something that any person native born or otherwise from any nation and any tribe who believes in living a righteous life under the plan of our Creator,  we are commanded to do.

3.  Third, it is something that when we do it we learn soooooo much about our Creator.

4.  Fourth, it is something that is a delight.

5.  Fifth, it is something that makes time into something that we never knew before, a divine and sacred time.

6.  Sixth, it is the opening to all the rest of the Calendar of the King and by being on it and in it we are not only pleasing the King and Creator, but it is what He considers a sign of being His children.

7.  Seventh, it is the Seventh day of the week!

Did you guess?
Yes, it is the Sabbath, or in Hebrew, Shabbat!!!

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3. The Recipe

As promised, the Apple Kugel RECIPE is HERE!!
Thank you to a new blog friend DUTA, for her Post on finding Apple Kugel in a supermarket in Israel (here!).  Her post inspired me to make an Apple Kugel for  Shabbat dessert, as there is no supermarket in Japan that I know of where you can find an Apple Kugel!!

There was  a slice left in the photo above for my daughter`s Shabbat breakfast, and you can see how the whole kugel came out in this photo!
I used Made in Japn dried grapes in place of raisins, and made a half of the recipe.
Please enjoy a piece of the pie (kugel!) after all the math in the post!!


Shalom be upon Israel!   ---Psalm 128:6


Shabbat Shalom! Shavu`a Tov!!

*Be strong! Be strong! And may we be strengthened.
This phrase is said after finishing each book of the Torah.
What does it mean and why do we say it?
This post on a blog I came across answers those very questions.