Beha'alotcha, Menorah and cloud-like Challah!

a little souvenir menorah from Israel!

♥cloudy and fluffy Challah.♥

One challah for flowers!!

The challah this week came out looking  a little like clouds!!

Reading in the book of Numbers, can you see even on my mini Torah scroll how the Torah is getting thicker on the right which means we are getting nearer to the end of this cycle and already nearer to the Fall Feasts!!

cloud motif on the challah cover !

Shabbat continues into the week with challah for breakfast and a peace that endures:))

 The steadfast Love of the LORD never ceases.  His mercies never come to an end.  They are new every morning.  

Great is Your faithfulness.  

Lamentations 3:22~23

In this weeks parsha Beha'alotcha we read about the cloud of God's presence that signaled the Children of Israel to move or stay. 

The Challah this week came out looking a little like clouds.  I learned recently if you knead the dough longer it makes the challah come out more fluffy!! So my challah do have a slightly more fluffy look and taste!!  Fitting I thought for the reading about the Cloud of Glory this week!.

On Friday morning  I ran into one of my neighbors in the building outside at our bicycles and said I`d be making challah and asked to give her a challah and she said she'd be glad to receive it, and we set a time in the evening that I would give it to her.  When I stopped by just before sunset on the evening, and gave her the challah, she gave me these beautiful hydrangeas!!

In the opening of the parsha we read about keeping the menorah lit, and how it was actively kept lit and set up by Aaron the High Priest.  Interestingly, the Jewish sages tell us that the continuation of this service thru the generations of Kohen (of the tribe of Levi who are the *Kohanim*, or high priests) goes forward to the Hasmoneans (Maccabees, led by Judah Maccabee) who you may recall fought and won the victory against  Greeks in the story of Hannukah.  As we all know the story, they got back the Menorah and re-dedicated the Temple after the Greeks desecration and attempt to take it.   I found that  illuminating to the Hannukah story, not having realized that connection of the Maccabees to the descendants of Aaron and His service to the LORD  in keeping the Menorah lit!!  They had this in their  history to be in charge of menorah and that sheds light on their zeal when they saw the temple being desecrated and that the Menorah was threatened to go out.  

So even today the Menorah is always lit and we see it connecting back to the commandment given to Aaron that we read in this parsha.   Through Yeshua we are commanded to be the Light of the World!! To me it is meaningful to know how the spiritual light has been lit all these thousands of years and how we connect to the whole of God`s plan for worship and for keeping Him at the center of our lives and being responsible to dispel the darkness and keep the light kindled continually!!  The symbolism is so beautiful as even in the description of the Menorah the lamps are all pointing in towards the center.

Like Aaron who prepared the lamps of the Menorah and did His service with a passion for serving the LORD, we too have to keep the light of God shining in this world, focused on Him,  and to be zealous in our keeping it shine.  Reading about Aaron  reminded me that the command to us to be the light of the world comes with generations before us who were keeping the literal and spiritual light lit and keeping the world going through that spiritual light in ways we probably  don't even know!!   Shining our light can be a very `humble` gesture but the acts of kindness make a spark that makes the light increase!!  It reminds me in our parsha too how Moshe is described as the most humble of all people!  And of course Yeshua tells us that it is in our service to others that we shine.

Just some Shabbat thoughts to leave you with! Have a blessed week!! Let your light shine!  

♡♡