Challah Nagila

Let us delight and rejoice in your love         
                                                            Song of Songs 1:4

Come let us bow down and kneel,

bend the knee before the LORD our maker,

for He is our God,

and we are the people He tends, the flock in His care.

--Psalm 95:6

♡

Shabbat Shalom!


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note:  I wrote this post last Shabbat.   I was going to post it after  finishing a draft and putting in the pictures, but the next morning I found out the news about the tragedy in Pittsburgh, and didn't post it as it is about joy and a wedding and then suddenly there was so much sadness.  
Is it ok to post it today?  I decided I will.  with a prayer of Sabbath Peace, today as we enter into a new Shabbat,  amid continued prayers of  healing and comfort to the entire Pittsburgh Jewish community and for the peace in the world.  Shabbat Shalom!


I love seeking the LORD on Shabbat.  And every day of course, but on Shabbat I feel more open to revelations, as if there is less work seeking,   He Is... His word opens up to spread out its fragrance in a new way.  To use the language of this week`s Parsha and study portion, Vayera, He ... appears!

When I was reading the Song of Songs,  welcoming the Shabbat and entering into His presence, this verse (1:4, above)  jumped out of the first page, and lit up a word that I have heard before, but for the first time noticed it in the scripture.  That word is the Hebrew word nagila.

 I looked more closely at the line, and read it a few times.   I was led to another line in scripture that has almost the same line, in Psalm 118, verse 25 (in the Hebrew).

The word nagila is a word I have heard often but didn't ever notice it before in scripture.  I recognized it from the famous Hebrew folk song, Hava Nagila.
  It is a song that is sung and danced to at Jewish weddings, but even if you have never been to a Jewish wedding, you may have heard it as its become a popular folk song around the world.

What excited me not only to find the word, then the corresponding scripture in the psalms, but also I thought, there is big wedding coming up!  When the Messiah returns,  there will be a great wedding、The wedding of the Lamb!   We are His bride!   A few things I want to do to get ready are to perfect my Cherry Blossoms Challah, to offer the guests at the wedding.  And  practice Israeli dances and have a few dances ready.   The sense in reading these verses was that that great day isn`t too far off.

Shabbat Shalom!

Love,

Shayndel