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| Notice the total, 613 Yen!!! |
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| there is the receipt! |
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| As promised there is a challah in this post, inside the The Blossoming Challah bag! |
(note: still catching-up, drafted in mid-December, and finally posting now!...and yes, it does contain challah!.. and pomegranates!)
1. 613 Yen!
I had a `convenience store lunch` yesterday! I was on the way to my voice training lesson and often stop at the convenience store there for coffee, and maybe an onigiri (Japanese popular item, rice ball!). Yesterday when paying at the cash register, the cashier rung up the items. She asked if I needed a bag, and I said no thank you, I will eat -in here. She informed me that there will be a change in price for eat-in. I didn`t know that even though I have often sat and had eat-in there! From how she said it I didn`t understand if it meant the price was going to be less or more. At first I even thought `less` since we save a bag! Then she clarified and she said its more! It was just a few yen more, but anyway of course I said ok. She re-rang up the items and the cash register revealed the three numbers,
like a jackpot,
the digits 6-1-3 showed up!!
613!!!
I got excited at the transaction. As you know 613 is the number of commandments that there are said to be in the Torah!!! As many of you know, from my blog--thank you friends for reading and being on the journey together--- God has been leading me to read and study His Torah since around 4 years ago.
If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
אם אתם אוהבים אותית הרי שתשמרו את מצוותיה
The 613 on the register like that was one of those moments that we all have, when the God of Heaven, Blessed be He, shines His light on a moment. I knew He was bringing attention to it because of the above explanation that the number was re-calculated and that is why it got my attention. I took the receipt where there again where the numbers that I saw on the screen, and the change (since I gave 1013 yen , ), the change was 400 ( another biblicaly significant number representing a divenely perfect period of time!!)
Its my 2 yens worth to share this post, but it amazes me how sometimes the Almighty God reveals Himself even in the small change.
So this post is a song of Praise! And thanksgiving.
2. Seeing Pomegranates after that!
The 613 also connects to Pomegranates, so this is a kind of reverse lead in to the post below!! After that day at the convenience store, I started to see pomegranates in all my local supermarkets and fruit stands, and the way I would see them was like God was `sending` them. As you also may know from my blog over the years, God speaks to me with fruit in seasons. I am thankful for that day a few years ago when I first stopped to notice the Israeli grapefruit in the supermarket.
And now when I am finally posting this it is almost Tu B`shevat, the New Year for Trees (more to follow or more HERE!! if I am late again!)
I just am connecting to something we are now reading in the book of Exodus, called Shemot, in Hebrew. It is significant that Moses stops to look at the burning bush. It is because he stops and notices and turns around to look, and it is then that God adresses him and gives him his destiny, as well as reveals His name, the great I AM.
In this name He reveals that He is who He is and that He will always be with us in our times of trouble. This is when He gives Moses the instructions for delivering the people Israel out of Egypt. I connect all this in my post as the 613 on the screen in the Japanese convenience store and all the fruit. He asks us to stop and notice and hear what is the purpose and mission we are to carry out. He plants us in places where we have to see His divinity in the midst of the surroundings.
3. And counting...
I think that with showing me the receipt He wanted to confirm that day about my calling that He has given to me to teach Torah because after that I kept on seeing pomegranates in the supermarket!... (see the Pomegranate posts to follow) It was just after the 613 incident!!! As our blogging friend Aritha pointed out in the comments of that post, the pomegranate is said to have 613 seeds representing the 613 mitzvot.
Please see THIS ARTICLE that she shared for more on the Pomegranate. As well as feel free to pop in on some of my Pomegranate posts where I also share about the revelations God has showed me over the years in the pomegranate!! The His Israel article is very good as it is all there in one place!!
4. Pomegranate Challah and Pomegranate scriptures (to be added, or if I haven`t yet, please share your favorite!!)
I will just end this post with a few of the many beautiful scriptures about Pomegranates in the Tanakh (I just noticed the one below has `400` in it!) !
and the 400 pomegranates for the two lattice works (two rows of pomegranates for each lattice-work to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars). 2 Chronicles 4:13
Let us go out early to the vineyards, let us see if the vine has budded, if their blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates have bloomed--there I will give you my love. Song of Songs 7:12
Blessings and Shalom!
Love,
Shayndel
