First Blossoms, Shabbat of Song, A new Challah-cast, and Happy Tu B'shevat!!

Plum blossoms, and can you see , the "Tu B'shevat" moon?! 

Thou in Thy love hast led the people that Thou hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them in Thy strength to Thy holy habitation.        

                                                          Exodus 15:13

This Shabbat is known as the Shabbat of Song.
I love the sound of that, and the readings in the book of Exodus and the book of Judges this week that contain the Song of Miriam and the Song of Deborah.  Joyful and Triumphant songs of Praise and Redemption!!!  Isn't it amazing how Miriam had her timbrels all packed and ready on the Exodus, she was so confident of the Victory that would be seen from the mighty hand of God that she had all her worship instruments ready to take out and break out into leading the women in song and dance!! Praise God!! He is mighty!! The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea!!

In this week's Parsha, Parsha Beshalach we are also introduced to the manna which God sends down to the Children of Israel.  I love this parsha for the song, for the freedom, for the manna!!!

I talk about the manna and God as our provider in this week's Challah-cast.  You can see it  at the end of post or HERE   if you are moved to please do watch and to  let me know any comments!! I am trying to find a good balance between Torah and Challah, and each week's continues to be a learning experience  how to put it together.  You may notice in this one, I mostly talk! I do hope to include more of the challah-making as I go along and can find the good way to set it up!! I did some scenes this time but as I kept talking I was adding more and more flour and I lost my concentration on the challah, so I didn't include those scenes this time!!
Enjoy if you do have a chance to watch.

This Shabbat also comes around the time of the first blossoms of spring!!   The first blossoms we see here in Japan are Plum Blossoms, called UME (pronounced u-may) in Japanese.  I have a special love for these first blossoming trees and how their opening also corresponds to the season in which  the holiday of Tu B'Shevat is celebrated in Israel. 

Tu B'Shevat is the new year for trees!!

The trees start to 'wake up' as the sap and movements that we can't see yet begin to be activated from underground that gives rise to the opening of beautiful flowering blossoms!!  We can also tap into that creative unleashing in ourselves as we ask the LORD to help us to reach our creative potential and use our gifts for His glory.  May we all blossom in our gifts and use them for His glory!!

Blossoms appear in the land.  The time for singing has come.
Song of Songs...

Happy Tu B'Shevat !!!  Take a walk around, admire the blossoms!
Sing a song of Praise to the maker of all Creation, to the Redeemer who set us free so that we can worship Him!!! What a wonderful purpose to have!!!

🎵The LORD is my Strength and my Song! And He has also become my Salvation*!🎶

*my Yeshua!! ♫

 Under the blossoms, so fragrant,  I want to say, Thank you LORD for you are my Strength and my Song.  And you  have become my Salvation!!!  Thank you for saving me!! Creating me!  Setting me free!!  You are my Messiah, My Yeshua, and I love YOU!

Blessings and love!
♡
Shayndel (aka "Joanne" on the Challh-cast!!)

A tambourine  as part of the table setting for the Shabbat of Parsha Beshalach and the Shabbat of Song!! To remember Miriam leading the women with timbrels and the Songs of Praise !!

The very first Plum Blossom this year!!

Manna and Challah --now, the Challah! Parsha Beshalach

So they gathered it every morning, each as much as he needed to eat; for when the sun grew hot , it would melt.  On the sixth day they gathered double the amount of food, two omers for each; and when all the chieftans of the community came and told Moses, he said to them, " this is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath of the LORD.  Bake what you would bake and boil what you would boil; and all that is left put aside to be kept until morning.  Exodus 16:21~23

The house of Israel named it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted like wafers in honey.  
                                                                                Exodus 16:31

You've heard me say this before  (here, here, and here),  and here I go again.
I get so excited in this week's Torah portion, Beshalach.  The Freedom!  the Manna! The Shabbat!

It is not only the freedom of when God brings the Children of Israel out of Egypt, but the way in which He is with them and guides them.

It is not only the manna that falls from heaven but the Bread of Life that He provides them.  It is not only the Shabbat that is introduced in the provision of the manna, and the double portion on Shabbat, but the goodness of a Master who gives His children sustenance and the way to achieve it,  and gives them  rest.

This portion is one we can stay in forever, it is alive with song.  The song of Moses and Miriam, a spontaneous rejoicing at the wondrous awesome God who has set them---us!--- free and who they---we!--- know is with them--us! as He travels with them in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.  As from now He is their --our! ---home and the journey begins to make a life where He will dwell with us and in us and we in Him.

They sing and Miriam leads the women in dance!!

Once the rejoicing settles down and the people get hungry, they ask for bread.  They have been slaves for over 400 years and now the bread that they receive will be the bread from heaven.  And with it comes some "rules".  But they are not rules of  back breaking labor as they were accustomed to in Egypt, but a law that comes from Love, and that will be given as they journey forward in His commands.  We begin already to see how closely connected are love and following His commands to our Father in Heaven.

The double portion that is sent down on the sixth day is sent as a "test" as God wants to see if the children of Israel will keep his commandments.  He even says so, I'm not making that up about it being a test!!

And the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread for you from the sky, and the people shall go out and gather each day that day's portion---that I may thus test them, to see whether they will follow My instructions or not.   Exodus 16:4

Now even as we are set free in Yeshua, we still and even more so want to know the heart of the God who brought us through, the God of yesterday, today and forever.   When we receive that double portion, there is a deep remembering of where we came from and it is together with a deep gratitude and praise for the One who brought us through, who brings us through, and will bring us through again.  Our Redeemer and Salvation.

This Shabbat is the Shabbat of Song!! May we sing a song to Him, for He is our strength and our Salvation!!

♬ I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously;
Horse and rider He has hurled into the sea.
The LORD is my strenght and my song.
He has also become my Salvation.   ♬   from Exodus 15:1~2

When I made the Challah this week, those are some of the things I thought about.  As I added flour to the dough I thought of the manna that landed as a layer of dew on the ground, and its description as flaky white like coriander coming from heaven.  Manna is called manna because when the Children of Israel saw it on the ground like a fine frost on the ground, they said to one another "What is it" (Ex. 16:15), which in Hebrew the word "what"  is pronounced "Man" (as in manna) and  that is where the word manna comes from. ( I think the whole sentence is , man- hu , what is it?) and that became what it is called! so it is a wonderful word of wonder at the bread from heaven that God provided as their first bread!

When we spread the challah cover over the Challah on the Shabbat table it and a layer beneath it we remember of the layer of manna that covered the ground in the morning when the Children of Israel awoke and saw that indeed their God provides.  Though in response to their grumbling, there it was, and he loves them--us! despite their--our! sometimes grumbling!!  Over and over in this beginning of their journey, the LORD assures and re-assures the people that He is their God.

The LORD spoke to Moses:  I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.  Speak to them and say: By evening you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; and you shall know that I the LORD am your God. (16:12)

It was through His parting the sea that they knew He was God and the Master of Creation.
It was through that first provision in the wilderness that they knew He was their God.

When I went to measure out the flour for the challah this week in the week of Parsha Besalach, I almost hugged the bowl, remembering, connecting with what it may have been like to go out and see the manna there covering the ground.  Knowing it is that same God who provides the flour for the challah that I will gather into the bowl to make the challah for this Shabbat.   As we say the blessings,  and  the  double  Shabbat commands of "remember" and "keep", shamor and zakor. 

God bless you and hope you have a time of rejoicing and remembering on this Sabbath of Song!!

This is my God, and I will glorify Him,
my father's God, and I will exalt Him.

Exodus 15:2b

I took my bowl to gather the provision, and measured out the first cup of flour.  And hence two challot were made.Notice in the parsha, the unit of measurement is an "OMER", see how this again is something we will remember at Passover and the counting of the OMER!!! 

You will bring them and plant them in Your own mountain,
the place you made to dwell in, O LORD,
The sanctuary, O LORD, which Your hands established.
The LORD will reign for ever and ever!        

Exodus 15: 17~18

Its the week of Mannah! (post in progress)

Its the week of Mannah!
We have to make

two challahs!
The proper plural is Challot,

But for such a post as this,
I wanted things to ryhme.

We are in the book of Exodus,
We are on God`s appointed time!

Ok, that is my introduction to this post on Manna! Actually there is not an H, but there could be,
as Manna
is writen
(What is it?)

as Challah
is written

You`re just going to have to stay tuned, because its time to make the Challah!

(to be continued! )

This week`s Torah readings are in the Parsha Beshalach.  See sidebar for the readings!  Blessings and Shabbat Shalom!!  Love, Shayndel

♡

Manna and Challah

Moreover, in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp.  When the layer of dew was gone, on the surface of the desert was a thin, flake-like frost, as fine as the frost on the ground.  When Bnei-Yisrael saw it, they said one to another, "What is it?"  For they did not know what it was.  Then Moses said to them, "It is the bread that ADONAI has given you to eat."

---Exodus 16:13b~15  TLV
 

For a person who blogs about Shabbat and Challah, this weeks parsha contains some pretty exciting stuff!! That `stuff` is manna.

Manna is the bread that fell from heaven for the Children of Israel (Bnei Israel) to eat during all the years in the wilderness after ADONAI delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians and brought them out of bondage through the Red Sea.

The manna itself was not like `solid` bread that you see in my photos of challah!
It was something more like flakes.  I imagine it like snow.  It is described as a thin dew-like frost forming a layer when it settled on the ground.

The word in Hebrew for manna, which is `man` actually means `What is it?` because when Bnei-Israel saw it, they said to one another "What is it?".

Moses replied that "It is the bread that ADONAI has given you to eat."  In  Exodus 16:16 he describes about how it is to be gathered,  an omer for each person.  After gathering it, they were to take it into their tents and prepare it or bake it and it or boil it for those in their tent.  It would be just the amount needed for one day.  No more, no less.  They were not to save any over, or else...!!

You can read in the scripture about what would happen if they took more than was needed!!

For this post, the thing about the manna I wanted to talk about is how the Challah we make on Shabbat is a way of remembering this first `bread` that ADONAI sent from Heaven to sustain His people. 

On the sixth day they were given a double portion of manna, so there would be enough for the next day of rest on Shabbat.   Today, many people bake two loaves of challah for Shabbat to commemorate the double  portion of manna that fell for Shabbat !

Not only did God lovingly feed the Children of Israel in all the years in the wilderness, but the manna was also a way to teach them---and to teach us all these generations later---about the commandment of Shabbat and about trusting God as Provider.  And as a test, `to find out whether they will walk according to My Torah or not. So on the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather day  by day."----Exodus 16:4A~5 

＊

The challah cover represents the layer of dew that covered the manna

Another custom  that commemorates the manna is the use of a challah cover.  There are a few reasons for the challah cover, besides just the beauty of making a special cloth.   One reason is to cover the challah during the first blessings and the blessing over the wine, while it is `waiting` for the special blessing of the bread.

Another reason is its symbolic meaning.  The board under the challah represents the ground on which the manna fell, then the double portion of bread is to represent the manna, and then the challah cover is the layer of dew that `covered` the manna.  It becomes a special way of remembering and re-creating the experience of the manna.  It gives the bread we make on Shabbat a special connection to this Bread of Life that was given in the Exodus from Egypt.

As Messianic Believers in Yeshua, we also remember our Salvation and freedom in Yeshua,  as Yeshua himself is the Bread of Life.  As He is also our Sabbath rest, the double meaning of the manna takes on new life.

"Amen, amen I tell you, he who believes has eternal life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.  This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat and not die.   I am the living bread, which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.  This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

---Yeshua`s words from John 6:47~51

 The Shabbat table is an expression of thanks for God`s provision from generation to generation and on this very day.  On Shabbat we remember that He brought our ancestors out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.   We remember the double portion and the commandment to keep this day holy, and to trust in our Provider.  We give thanks for Salvation in Yeshua, the ultimate provision and sacrifice who gives Salvation and eternal life to anyone who calls on His name.  Amen and amen. 

Behold, God is my salvation!

I will trust and will not be afraid.

For the Lord ADONAI is my strength 

and my song.

He also has become my salvation.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 

In that day you will say:

Give thanks to ADONAI.

Proclaim His Name!

Declare His works to the peoples,

so they remember His exalted Name.

Sing to ADONAI, for He has done gloriously.

Let this be known in all the earth.

Cry out and shout, inhabitant of Zion!

For great in your midst

is the Holy One of Israel."

---Isaiah 12: 2~6