Shabbat Candles!

Friday Morning,

A delivery of Shabbat Candles!

Just in time！

Shabbat Shalom!　

　Let there be light!

　＊Genesis 1:3

光があり。  Hikari ga ari.　＊創世紀１：３  in Japanese!

in Hebrew!   בראשית ＊  Yehi'or     ויהי אור

Love    ♡

Shayndel

Daily Bread Postcard!

I was so intrigued with the blossoming staff of Aaron, as you can see in the two posts below, that I chose this scripture for today`s postcard!

This week, one postcard in three languages!

And just to share a discovery in this week--- from being intrigued by the staff and the almond blossoms, I ate a lot of almonds this past Shabbat!  The almond blossoms also led me to look up what an Almond tree in Israel looks like.

They `struck` me as being so similar to the Cherry Blossoms, that I am sure it will lead to a post sometime on Almond trees/blossoms and Cherry trees/Blossoms!  Israel/Japan!

＊

Meanwhile, already well into the book of Numbers,
this weeks readings continue in Parsha Chukat.
If you would like to, please see link on Sidebar or click HERE and find this weeks Parsha Chukat in the list of weekly reading.  This week contains another intriguing connection about Aaron`s Staff.  I learned through teachings on this Torah portion, and then saw when I went back again to read it, that the staff that Moses uses to hit the rock, `The Staff` that ADONAI asked him to take,  was Aaron`s staff. 

Blessings and Shalom!

Shayndel

Aaron`s Blossoming Staff Challah, Part 2, Setting the Table for Parsha Korach

The table is set as the story of this week`s Parsha Korach unfolds ---in Challah!---  to reveal almond flowers from Aaron`s Staff

On Shabbat, our table can become a place to tell the story of the weekly parsha reading, and a way to invite others to enter into the Torah in creative and fun ways.  And maybe even inspire others to read the Torah and hunger for the Word that it contains.

The Parsha this week inspired me to make a Challah to express Aaron`s Blossoming, Flowering  Staff.

 (see Post , Aaron`s Blossoming Staff Challah, Part 1 below )

In this post, I would like to set the table with the Challah and a little more of the story.

When Korach rebels against Moses, which is actually a rebellion against G-d, G-d tells Moses to have the twelve tribes line up their staffs (rods)  in front of the testimony of the Tent of Meeting.

ADONAI spoke to Moses saying, "Speak to Bnei-Yisrael and get a rod from each ancestral house, twelve staffs in all, from each prince according to his ancestral household.  ---Numbers 17:1

He then tells Moses that the staff of the man that He chooses will sprout, and this is how He was to do away with those who are grumbling and rebelling against Moses.  So Moses gathered the staffs and placed them before ADONAI in the Tent of Testimony.

Of course, Aaron's staff blossoms (see post below and read Numbers 17:1 - 12!).

 To keep the surprise for your Shabbat guests, I recommend keeping `Aaron`s Flowering Staff` Challah  covered at first.  This is fitting  because we keep the Challah covered while we recite the blessings over the candles and the wine (explained in a post HERE)!  I used my Second Challah Cover, with the Hebrew names of the Twelve Tribes.    

For a dramatic effect in the telling of the parsha, from under the Challah Cover, you can have the flowers and the top of the staff emerge!

As you tell the story of the Parsha to your Shabbat guests, and uncover the Challah it makes for a memorable surprise and teaching to see how only the staff of Aaron blossomed.  Have almonds scattered on the table, and if possible, use a blossom patterned cloth!

Behind the scenes note:

For the eleven `staffs` of the tribes,  I used `POCKY` sticks.  They are a popular kind of candy in Japan.  I used `almond` variety, and this colorful shower variety.  I bring your attention here to the back of the `Almond` Pocky box.  There were perforations where you could poke the arms out and move them into an embrace.  It just seemed perfect to put the flowering staff into the hands of the boy!  And  do you see how the background has blossoms all around!!

Don`t you find that as our lives get more and more focused on Torah, every little thing around us reflects it too!! Even a Pocky Box! Pocky sticks! And the origami paper that is full of blossoms.  Just roll it and tape it to make a little `flowering Staff` to remind us of Aaron in the story this week of Parsha Korach.

Aaron`s staff is a testimony in perpetuity to us all to NOT rebel like Korah, and to be obedient to the One who G-d chooses as His High Priest.  This story lives on.

ADONAI said to Moses, "Put Aaron's staff back in front of the Testimony to keep as a sign to the sons of rebellion, so that it may put an end to their grumblings against Me, and so they will not die. "  Moses did just as ADONAI commanded him.     --Numbers 17:12

 

Blessings and Shalom!

Love,

Shayndel

note:  I have been using the words `rod` and `staff` interchangeably through these two posts. 

Aaron`s Blossoming Staff Challah!

And behold, Aaron`s staff, from the house of Levi, had sprouted, blossomed, and produced almonds.

---Numbers 17:8

Aaron.

This week`s Parsha, Parsha Korach, in the book of Numbers, has me thinking about Aaron.
And his staff that flowers with almond blossoms!

As some of you who have been reading my blog know, sometimes I make a challah that expresses something from the weekly Torah Reading.  (the link to the weekly readings is on the sidebar, or you can find it HERE!)  For this week`s Shabbat I wanted to express something about Aaron and his flowering rod.

I started with some fresh almonds, and let what was to happen blossom from there...

Next, to roll a long staff, divided into three strands...

Because the rod of Aaron sprouted Almond Blossoms, it is said that it may have been made from the wood from an Almond tree.  So I wanted there to be almonds inside the `staff`.   Homemade almond paste rolled inside the strands was just the thing!

Once the strands were rolled, the flowers had to `sprout` from the staff, so you see what happens here, is that the flowers come from the `rolled` ends of the staff...

Now for the braid...

 here you can see the the strands have `expanded` ! as  the almond paste filling is rolled into the strands

 BUT look what happened, it got so long that it would be too long for the baking sheet.
So another sweet almond flower bloomed from the end!

 Now there were three flowers!

 And flowers made of almond slivers to decorate the challah!

On the Shabbat table, it truly Blossomed!!

 

Shabbat Shalom! 

Psalm 104:36/詩篇104:34

Let my meditation be sweet to Him.

I---I will rejoice in ADONAI.

---Psalm 104:36

私の心の思いが神のみこころにかないますように。

私自身は、主をよろこびましょう。

ー詩篇１０４：３４


Shabbat Shalom!!

He Straightens the Bent

 The LORD upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down.

---Psalm 145:14

 1.

I planted seeds to grow morning glories on our balcony, and got so excited when some of the little green sprouted up from the soil!  I was so excited to watch them grow.  For a few days or so.

Then to my dismay,  I went out to check them one morning and they all were bent over and fallen down, I didn`t know if there was any chance that they could still have life.  I am not much of a gardener, I am of very little experience .  And almost no know how.



But I thought, as our G-d is a powerful God who straightens the bent, upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down (see scripture above, Psalm 145:14), perhaps I could use this Word and the power of He who lives in me,  and apply it for the morning glories.  I got a new hope! I ran desperately back into the house fueled by a passion to want to straighten them and bring them back to life.  I grabbed some wari-bashi from the cabinet (disposable wood chop sticks) and  nylon string and got to work.  I sat with the wilting stems and lifted them up onto the chopsticks.

The next day, they were still standing, and little by little, with adjustments here and there, they made it to the top of the chopsticks.  They have sprouted the `vine` and today, one of the vines made it to the net and is on its way up the trellis!! Praise God!!

       2.                              Another scene---a few days ago I was having a sandwich and coffee for lunch in a nearby park, but not so nearby.  I hadn`t been there for about a year.   When I looked around, I noticed the beautiful purple hydrangeas.  After eating I took a walk around  looking at the hydrangeas, when an amazing thing caught my eye!! I saw little green plants being held up with chopsticks!! And then I saw a net around the tree, and that these little plants were morning glory, and some were even growing up and around on the net around the tree!! There was one flower!!

can you see the greens around the tree, and growing up the tree and supported by a net, a vine of morning glories!!  There was even one flower that was open

I felt filled with such great hope and confirmation that my morning glories too would make it to flower ! Seeing that I wasn`t the only one who used chopsticks to straighten the bent morning glories,  I felt the great presence of the Almighty God, here in this tiny detail of those greens so close to the ground!!!  As I looked around the garden, it was like a miracle unfolding.  Next I saw there was a great tree in the middle of the garden.  It was a palm tree!  And then I noticed...yes!... a net around the base of the Palm Tree.... for morning glories to grow up around!!  I wondered who made this garden, and at the same  I loved just sensing it was put there  from the G-d of Heaven to reveal something about His love and kindness and mercies that are new every morning for us here on earth!!

At the base of this great, straight, Palm Tree in the ....middle of the Garden!!...someone had planted morning glories!!!

Before I left the garden I began to notice tucked here in there in between shrubs and in quiet corners, I saw a watering can here, a shovel there, and then a box of garden gloves and other garden tools.  The hand of the gardener was there, and yet so sweetly she/he tried to hide her presence.  Then I saw her there, in a corner, pruning some plants.  She must have been 100 years old, her face full of lines almost hidden by a bonnet, as though she had been there, in that garden, tending it for a lifetime, plus lifetimes, waiting for someone to notice it`s splendour, to  wander through the garden just marvelling at its wonders.

Blessings and Shabbat Shalom!

Much Love,

Shayndel

Because of the mercies of ADONAI we will not be consumed, for His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning!

Great is Your faithfulness.

--Lamentations  3:22~23 TLV

Challah

חַלָּה

ADONAI spoke to Moses saying, "Speak to Bnei-Yisrael.  Say to them:  When you enter the land to which I am taking you, and you eat some of the food of the land, you are to offer a portion to ADONAI.  You are to offer a cake from the first of your ground-up meal as an offering from your threshing floor--so you are to lift up.  Throughout your generations to come, you are to give this offering from the first of your ground-up meal.

--Numbers 15:17~21 TLV

This week`s Torah portion ( parsha Shelach Lecha)  is  very exciting for a person who makes Challah.

In this week`s reading we see one of the places* the word `Challah` is mentioned in the Torah!

It comes after the episode of the sin of the spies, where only Joshua and Caleb get to enter the land and the other ten and their generation are banned from entering the Promised Land. (Numbers Chapters 13 and 14).

Events in each weeks parsha and how they are set together give us amazing `lessons` to study in each week`s Torah.  And for each person, the Torah portion speaks to us in different ways. 

For me, in the middle of all the intrigue of the spies, the tears, and the knowing about this great sin, how was it that all my eyes could see was those three Hebrew letters that spell Challah! I got so excited to see the word Challah (חַלָּה) in the Hebrew text of the Torah.

You can see the word Challah in the scripture below.  It refers to the `cake` in the English translation.

כ  רֵאשִׁית, עֲרִסֹתֵכֶם--חַלָּה, תָּרִימוּ תְרוּמָה:  כִּתְרוּמַת גֹּרֶן כֵּן תָּרִימוּ אֹתָהּ

20 Of the first of your dough ye shall set apart a cake for a gift; as that which is set apart of the threshing-floor, so shall ye set it apart.   --Numbers (Bamidbar)  15:20

 and from there comes the mitzvot of continuing in all the generations to come,

כא  מֵרֵאשִׁית, עֲרִסֹתֵיכֶם, תִּתְּנוּ לַיהוָה, תְּרוּמָה--לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם.

21 Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD a portion for a gift throughout your generations.  --Numbers (Bamidbar) 15:21

I was intrigued to see the word challah  here as the first offering `cake` of bread, the first part of the dough, and to see where in Torah the word comes from.  The word challah appears before this, as,  when talking about the showbreads,  where it says `cakes` in English (as in Leviticus 24:5).  In that case and in other places in Exodus it was for the special priestly offering.
In this case in the Scripture in Numbers 15, it is an offering to be made from each household.

There are rules in Jewish Rabbinic law for `taking challah`, which come from this scripture.   My challah doesn`t qualify because I don`t use a large enough quantity of dough and I am not in the Land of Israel.

But I can `take` away a lesson from this and see the challah itself as an offering to ADONAI in each week, and lift it up to Him, as the first food (reminiscient of the first fruits offering we make on Shavuot) that we will bless for our Shabbat meal!

And speaking of `first`, the other word in Hebrew that I notice in this scripture is `reshit` and means  `first`.  It  is the same root as Bereshit, which means In the Beginning.  Bereshit is the name of the first book of Torah, Genesis.  Bereshit is the very first word in the first line of the Torah.

Returning to Numbers 15:20 where `challah` appears, can you see the word `reshit`, or first, beginning.  It is the word I highlighted in pink:

כ  רֵאשִׁית, עֲרִסֹתֵכֶם--חַלָּה, תָּרִימוּ תְרוּמָה:  כִּתְרוּמַת גֹּרֶן כֵּן תָּרִימוּ אֹתָהּ  

21 Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD a portion for a gift throughout your generations. *

It is the same word that is in the beginning of the whole Torah.  Can you see it there, Be-reshit, In the beginning, again I will just highlight where you read `reshit` :

א  בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ. 

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  *

The flour that we use for bread is from G-d, and from the earth that He created.  In a sense, as we offer the challah, we are taking something from earth --from Him!--,   and offering it to heaven--to Him, through this act of creation (the `last` act of creation in the week!),  each week, as we prepare to enter into His time and His rest.

 As I write this I am reminded that once Shabbat begins, we are to cease from all acts of creation, and rest in His presence, to remember that He rested and ceased from the work of Creation on the Shabbat!  The bread always seems to come alive in those hours of rising and anticipating!  When we eat the bread on Shabbat, we see indeed that it is good! It is His goodness that we taste and see!!

 טַעֲמוּ וּרְאוּ, כִּי-טוֹב יְהוָה;    אַשְׁרֵי הַגֶּבֶר, יֶחֱסֶה-בּוֹ.

9 O consider and see that the LORD is good; happy is the man that taketh refuge in Him.

---Psalm 34:9

And now to come full circle and `round out` this post, back to the sin of the spies.  It is said that the reason the commandment for taking challah and the commandment for wearing tzitzit (fringes on the garment) come in this same parsha, is because these commandments are to remind us to keep His commandments.  When we sin we are far from G-d.  We don`t believe in His promises, and take hold of our own beliefs rather than see His Greatness.  That separation is the great sin.  We can shake our heads at the spies, but rather may they help us to see our own sins and learn from them. (I recall Yeshua`s words in Matthew  7:5 when I judge another for their sin, first I have to look at the `plank` in my own eye).  So it is interesting that separating the Challah in a sense brings us back to ADONAI!! This act of taking the first part of the dough is a reminder each week that says, YES, I will do all that You command!  I will return to You ! It  is also an acknowledgement of the Land, the Promised Land that the ten disobedient spies did not enter.  They spoke badly about the Apple of G-d`s eye, the Land of Israel.  For me this is a lesson in going deeper in my heart to learn about Israel, to know it from G-d`s heart of Love, and to acknowledge the real promise of entering the Land.  Israel Is real! (that is not a line from the Torah, those are words that came to me recently!).  

How did the Parsha speak to you in this week? (*For the weekly readings, see `Link to the weekly readings` on the right sidebar!)

My prayer in this post is this... Like Matriarch Sarah, whose Challah was said to stay fresh from Sabbath to Sabbath because of the divine light that she contained from her Righteousness and Faith, may we too yearn to deepen our Faith and  Righteousness as women of G-d.  May we feed people with the `bread`  that comes from our Messiah Yeshua who lives in us, and may it nourish many!!!

Love to you!
Blessings and Shalom!

Shayndel

For more about the Mitzvot and Meaning of Challah,  Here is one Link I referred to, and it also tells about the specifics in Jewish practice of taking Challah from the first part of the dough.

welcoming the sabbath light



*note:  The Hebrew scriptures in this post and their English translations are referenced from HERE, Mechon Mamre 

＊

Other references to the word Challah in the Scriptures include:
Exodus 29:2, Exodus 29:23,
2Samuel 6:19 (below!), King David giving out `cakes` to celebrate the return of the Ark of the Covenant!!

 Please let me know others as well!  

יט  וַיְחַלֵּק לְכָל-הָעָם לְכָל-הֲמוֹן יִשְׂרָאֵל, לְמֵאִישׁ וְעַד-אִשָּׁה, לְאִישׁ חַלַּת לֶחֶם אַחַת, וְאֶשְׁפָּר אֶחָד וַאֲשִׁישָׁה אֶחָת; וַיֵּלֶךְ כָּל-הָעָם, אִישׁ לְבֵיתוֹ.

19 And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, both to men and women, to every one a cake of bread, and a cake made in a pan, and a sweet cake. So all the people departed every one to his house. 

2 Samuel 6:19

Bread of Salvation, Dance of Joy

I love Shabbat mornings, as there is a divine light that shines on everything in a way that is different than on all the other mornings of the week.  This day, Yom Shabbat (Hebrew for `the Sabbath day`), is a weekly appointment to meet our Creator, and to spend time in rest with Him!! He tells us throughout the Torah and throughout all the scriptures about the Shabbat! From the first book of Genesis all the way to the book of Revelation we know that the seventh day was set apart as Holy by the Creator of Heaven and Earth. 

To know this day has such a place, a structural pillar in time,  in the eternal rhythms of Creation and that each of us is given the commandment  to keep and remember it, is such a blessing to `enter` it each week!  As Yeshua says, Shabbat was made for man, not man for the Shabbat!! Hallelujah! 

So this morning when I finished breakfast, I saw the challah with light around it, and felt the bread of Joy was today the bread of Salvation.

The Challah Cover just draped casually into place over the bread.  When I saw how the folds fell, it had a feeling of a Japanese kimono.   I had the sense of Yeshua`s presence, not only in my heart, but in a physical way, here,  in Japan, in this `metaphor` of the draped bread!  Can you see that in the photo in the top of post?  I didn`t `pose` the cloth, but that is how it was draped.

Here in Japan I came to Salvation in Yeshua.*   It was the great surprise of my life.  Why here?   I wasn`t looking for Him.  His word says to seek His face, but I never read those words until I was already found.  Since that time-- it was three years ago---, I search and I knock and want to know Him more and more.  Shabbat is such a special time to put `worldly` cares aside, and to delight in the Bread of Salvation.

Love and Blessings!

Shabbat Shalom!
Delight in the Shabbat!

Shayndel

Worship the One who made heaven and earth and sea and springs of water.  

 ---Revelation 14:7

*Salvation = Yeshua.

Shabbat Rose! Daily Bread Postcard Challenge Report & Thanks!!!『ポストカードのチャレンジ』のレポート

I was so happy to get back two colored postcards (see postcard challenge post below)!
Colored so beautifully and in golden light! With watercolor the color of roses floating around the girl with the rose! 

Thank you K-san and thank you Natsumi!

先週の『ポストカードのチャレンジ』から、二人が参加してくれました。嬉しかったです！
一枚は、金色で光り輝く、素敵な色で塗られていて、もう一枚は、バラ色の水玉と女の子がバラで作った王冠とが、優しい感じで調和しています。

K−さんとなつみさん、参加してくれてありがとうございました！
今度また『ポストカートのチャレンジ』をします。
みんなさんの参加を楽しみにしています！

Thank you to all readers for your encouragements on the Daily Bread Postcard Feature at Challah and Cherry Blossoms these first seven weeks! and for  for participating in the Postcard Challenge!!  The Daily Bread Postcard Posts will resume on Thursdays again from next week! Blessings and Shalom!  love, Shayndel

P.S. Dear Cindy,

I made the bread pudding!
It was delicious!
Thank you.
Here is a photo:

I will call it `Simcha` bread pudding, for you!

Blessings and hugs,

Shayndel

Link to Cindy`s Bread Pudding Post (actually it is a post about Tea and coffee, you can find the recipe in the post!) on Creations by Cindy

Link to an interesting article HERE on the meaning of `Simcha`, and other places where Simcha is used in the Scriptures, Here!!  We never know what we will find from following a good recipe for bread pudding!  All the more delicious!!

You make known to me 
the path of life.
Abundance of joys are in Your presence,
eternal pleasures at Your right hand.   

---Psalm 16:11

Shabbat Rose! Simcha Challah!

I am a rose of Sharon

---Song of Songs 2:1

Below is a `Simcha` Challah from this Shabbat. Please partake in it!! Simcha means Joy in Hebrew!  Why a Simcha challah?  For the joy in the Shabbat Rose,  Joy in the Shabbat, and the Joy in Yeshua! ---the Lord of the Shabbat, the Light of the World, the Bread of our Life, the Rose of Sharon!!!

Shabbat Shalom! 

Shayndel

#simchaChallah

Look! He is standing behind our wall---gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.  ---Song of Songs 2:9

 Eat, O friends,

Drink, yes drink your fill, O lovers!  ---Song of Songs 5:1

For how to make a Simcha Challah,  This Video from Joy of Kosher will guide you through  the steps for shaping and braiding! For the dough, see Challah recipes at side bar, or use your favorite.   For a Menu idea:  Sheet Pan Dinner for Shabbat HERE.  I used grated lemon zest and salt for the `Za`atar` in the recipe.  Blessings and Shabbat Shalom! 

Your head crowns you like Carmel,

and the hair of your head like purple.

The king is captivated in its tresses!

How beautiful and how pleasing you are,
O Love, with your delights!

 ---Song of Songs 7:6~7  TLV