Parsha Vayikra--Entering the book of Leviticus, Matzah Challah-cast, and Cherry Blossoms Peek!

When you present an offering of meal baked in the oven, (it shall be of) choice flour:  unleavened cakes with oil mixed in, or unleavened wafers spread with oil.  
Leviticus 2:4

וְכִי תַקְרִב קָרְבַּן מִנְחָה, מַאֲפֵה תַנּוּר--סֹלֶת חַלּוֹת מַצֹּת בְּלוּלֹת בַּשֶּׁמֶן
וּרְקִיקֵי מַצּוֹת מְשֻׁחִים בַּשָּׁמֶן.

As my blog has a theme of  "challah"  and I like to find connections between Challah and Torah, you may not be surprised that I got excited when reading about the "grain offering" in this week's parsha.  This time its the first time I noticed the word "Challah" in the scripture above. 
Unleavened wafers (cakes)  in the English is "Challot Matzot" in Hebrew!!!

If you can find it in your heart to share in my enthusiasm, please do read on !!!

Making Matzah!

In the recipe for making matzah, after it is baked there is the instruction to "anoint the matzah"!

I never read that in a recipe before, and I must say it helped me to "draw near" to the LORD in this matzah-making time!!  If you have never made matzah before, be encouraged to try!!! First, its much simpler than challah, and technically (halachically, according to the Jewish tradition) has to be done from start to finish in 18 minutes for Passover purposes!! So if you have a little time and want to try it for this year, please do!!

I'm hoping  to be able to get  a box or so of Matzah  for Passover, but just in case am "practicing" making Matzah!!

Of course, The Children of Israel didn't have the luxury of "practicing",  and had to just to it and prepare the dough right away and carry the dough with them on their Exodus!!

Passover amazingly always comes at the time of the Cherry Blossoms!! This year Nissan 1,  the first of Nissan, was also just when the first blossoms opened!! I find that amazing, as the day is always different on the Hebrew calendar, and there is not a "set day" that cherry blossoms open, and yet the past few years that I have been "living on the Hebrew calendar" I have noticed that each year!!

It feels very Messianic that God's commanded first day of Springtime and first month of the year is announced in His creation with the opening of the first cherry blossoms!!  I always say I look forward to the day when the people of Japan will know their Messiah Yeshua and the glorious time under the blossoms will be a time of worship and celebration of Him!!! May it be swiftly and in our day!!

This year it may be a little quiet for cherry blossom picnics, but thankfully the blossoms blossom and the fragrance of resurrection and renewal is in the air!!  And who knows, maybe it will be just this year when the people of Japan look up to a salvation Sky and receive their Saviour as  the "sakura" blossom all throughout Japan.

Nissan, as you know, is a month of miracles!   

As a friend wrote in a message to me, I will share this:

"Get ready to pass over!"  

That message encouraged me tremendously!!

This is the Matzah recipe I used HERE  if you'd like to try it!!

And this (below) is my Matzah Challah-cast for this first week of Nissan!  

The Challah-cast is a little under 11 minutes if you are moved to watch it and  to make matzah, you can try it!! I also share some of my "drash" (related discussion!!") in the upload, so I'll keep the text here in this post brief as the photos are many!!

Time to start removing the "hametz", and change the header to "unleavened" bread!!

 Much Love and blessings all!!

Shayndel (dba Joanne's Challah-cast)

Notes:  The recipe also calls for salt to be sprinkled on the matzah.  I love this recipe! Anointed with oil and sprinkled with salt!

Yeshua, the anointed One, tells us we are to be salt (Matthew 5:13)!! I found that connection so interesting to read this scripture in Leviticus in light of Yeshua's words, as  we ourselves are  to be the salt.

You shall season your every offering of meal with salt; you shall not omit from your meal offering the salt of your covenant with God; will all your offerings you must offer salt.    Leviticus 2:13

Shabbat Shalom!! (not Passover yet, but making "unleavened cakes" to prepare, in this week of parsha Vayikra!

Anointed, salted "challot matzot"-- Matzah!-- on the Shabbat Table in this week of Parsha Vayikra--entering the book of Leviticus

Cherry blossoms first blossoms so perfectly calling in the month of Nissan,the month of springtime

The matzah is "Pierced" and calls to us to remember Messiah Yeshua who was pierced for our transgression

And by His stripes we are healed!

Take, and eat!  

This is my body, given up for you.

Matthew 26:26

♡

Subtitle:

Messianic Japan!!

Welcoming Messiah Yeshua to Japan!!

Yeshua, Japan welcomes you!!

xoxo Declared with Love, 

by Shayndel

Sakura Challah

there is a subtle swirl of pink in each slice, a different pattern or curve in each slice

 I offered two kinds of Challah during the week at the Bread Shop.
Plain
and Cherry Blossoms Challah.


In Japanese, the word for Cherry Blossoms is "Sakura"

It is written like this (two ways to write it):

桜 　    This is the Chinese character, or  "kanji"  which you read as `Sakura`         


   さくら    this says  sa-ku-ra in the phonetic "hiragana" Japanese alphabet, you can see it written like this in the sign below for `Sakura Series` supplies to use in this season.

Sakura supplies have just started being sold in the food shops, so I was able to find  Cherry Blossom Flakes, Sakura Paste, and even Cherry Blossom flowers to use on the Challah!  Seeing them in the shop is like a pre-seasonal sign of spring and the excitement for the Cherry Blossoms!!

The dough even has a spring-y quality when you sprinkle in and fold in the Sakura flakes.
In Japan at this time of year we can find many sweets and foods that come out for spring in a cherry blossoms variation, so the Cherry Blossoms Challah , even though it is something new, almost seems like a natural!  I was happy to be able to introduce it at the bread shop.

We gave out sample tastes.  A customer who tried a taste of the  Cherry Blossoms Challah commented and said he could taste the cherry blossoms!

note on making a Cherry Blossoms Challah: a related post on this blog about how to make a Cherry Blossoms Challah HERE:  Recipe for a Cherry Blossoms Challah

Blessings and appreciation,

Love, Shayndel

Rachel and Jacob at the Well

Jacob resumed his journey and came to the land of the Easterners.  There before his eyes was a well in the open.  Three flocks of sheep were lying there beside it, for the flocks were watered from that well.   ---Genesis 29:1~2

Well, yes,
more drawing and  talk of wells.

How are you , are you well?
Yes, I`m well.

I made a fun and exciting `Shalom` discovery when reading this week`s Parsha Va-yetse  ,  that in Hebrew the word `Shalom` appears  twice  for the words `well` and `well` in one of the dialogues in Genesis 29:6. Not in the case of the `water well` but in the case where the word `well` is used in the sense above, as in `are you well?`

The Hebrew writing in the drawing is from Genesis 29:6, where Jacob meets Rachel.   First Jacob inquires about his relatives and how the family is.  And in the very same line, we meet Rachel.

The verse goes like this:

וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם, הֲשָׁלוֹם לוֹ; וַיֹּאמְרוּ שָׁלוֹם--וְהִנֵּה רָחֵל בִּתּוֹ, בָּאָה עִם-הַצֹּאן. 6

And he said unto them: 'Is it well with him?' And they said: 'It is well; and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.' 

I highlighted in blue to show how in Hebrew the word `Shalom` in the place of both `wells`

Hence in the drawing, I drew the word Shalom in the Well and Shalom in the sky,
I put twelve sheep in the drawing,  and do you know why?

Because there at the well was a meeting between Rachel and Jacob.
You might say that meeting went well.  Jacob moved the big rock off the well, and then everything flowed from there,
he watered the flock.

Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and broke into tears.   ---Genesis 29:11

Saw Rachel, and gave her A kiss at first sight,
and you know what happens in the pages after that,
12 sons were born , who became the 12 tribes of Israel (Jacob`s name was changed to Israel in the next Parsha)
Of course, other wives were involved who mothered the sons,
but here at the well
it all was begun!!

PS note:  speaking of Shalom, if you haven`t yet entered the first Challah and Cherry Blossoms giveaway, please read the end of the post below and enter! Up until Dec. 3, and be eligible to win a book, Shalom in the Psalms!   

PSS  did you notice Rachel`s dress? I gave her a dress that  is yellow with a pattern of pink cherry blossoms! 

PSS I hope that even those who don`t read Hebrew, that you are starting to recognize the word `Shalom` even in the Hebrew letters!!! Wishing you well!

Blessings and Shalom   ♡　　Shayndel

Shalom Fan

Seek Shalom and pursue it.

---Psalm 43:15


Shalom be upon Israel!

---Psalm 128


Blessings and ....

Shalom! 

Mt. Fuji and Cherry Blossom patterned `Shalom`

S H A L O M !

Shalom =  平安　=  Peace

主が御顔をあなたに向け、あなたに平安を与えられます。

民数記　６：２６

ADONAI turn His face toward you and grant you shalom!  --Numbers 6:26

      

Shalom Aleichem--Peace to you!

Like the shadow of the blossoms on the wall of the Castle, it is something I learned this year how the Exodus from Egypt and all the events that we remember in the re-telling of the Passover story, are all a shadow of the Salvation that came through Messiah Yeshua!!

Even the shape of the Cherry Tree speaks His name, can you see it there, a big `Y` for Yeshua!

Yeshua is our Inochi no pan, The Bread of Life

Sharing Matzah with a family who was out admiring the blossoms.

Cherry blossoms landing on an open page of the Good News

It was evening on that day, the first of the week.  When the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Judean leaders, Yeshua came and stood in their midst!  And he said to them,
"Shalom aleichem!"   ---John 20:19

After He said this, He showed them His hands and His side.  Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Yeshua said to them again, "Shalom aleichem!  As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."   ---John 20:20

As we can see in the above two scriptures, Shalom Aleichem, which means `Peace to you`,  are the first words Yeshua said when he appeared to his disciples after he had risen from the dead.

These words seem so alive in the end of this week of Passover.
Yeshua has risen, and we hear His words through the scriptures and in our hearts, His presence so near as we are nearing the end of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

He is in our midst.
Shalom aleichem!

`Shalom aleichem!`, he says again.
As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.

          Thank you Abba, Father for this Passover and Feast of Unleavened bread.   And for all the wonderful surprises and miracles and revelations and new friendship that blossomed in this week.  Abba, I feel like a child at the end of this Passover, just waking up to to feeling in a new way the Truth of Yeshua, and a deeper knowledge of  He who lives in me.  May we do good for you Father, as He sends us to do.  I pray that someone reading this who has not experienced the Passover or Salvation in Yeshua will be moved to want to know You, and to seek You with all his or her heart and soul and strength.  That more and more people in Japan will know You and come to celebrate and honor Your Feasts.   May we find Matzah on  the shelves of our local food shops next Passover, and may we drink together in a new Messianic gathering all over Japan from the cup of Salvation and eat the bread in remembrance of Yeshua, and in anticipation of His return.

Baruch Haba B`shem ADONAI--  Blessed is He who comes in the name of ADONAI.

                                                                                     ----Psalm 119:26

Shalom Aleichem!

A Passover Dance for Yeshua

My lips will shout for joy
---when I sing praises to You---
and my soul, which You have redeemed.

---Psalm 71:23

Sharing some moments of praise under the blossoms, and a little Passover story that unfolded.

As the blossoms begin to scatter into the wind, making a pink carpet on the ground...
wishing you blessoms (blessings and blossoms, that word just emerged) and SHALOM

♡

Shabbat Shalom, Sabbath of the Festival

Creation speaks of His Resurrection.

May the world see the Light of Salvation.

YESHUA

Much Love and Blessings

Shabbat Shalom
Shabbat Chol HaMoed, Sabbath of the Festival

♡

Amen! Come, Lord Yeshua!
May the grace of the Lord Yeshua be with all!

Revelation 22:20~21

Matzah and Cherry Blossoms

The holiday of Pesach, or Passover, is approaching.   It`s time to change the header of my blog from leavened to un-leavened bread! 

 *

I took a pack of matzah* out with me this early evening and held it up in the cherry blossoms.   There are burstings of pink blossoms on every street now and in every view.  My favorite spot is behind the Castle, where I propped the matzah on a branch and marveled at God`s Creation and the way He expresses new life.  Everything speaks of Resurrection in this beautiful time of cherry blossom spring and the approaching Passover!

I pray that the love of Torah will blossom in Japan in this season as we remember the Mighty Hand of ADONAI who brought the Children of Israel out of bondage.

Today may we know and rejoice in the freedom that comes when we admit our sin, repent, and welcome the LORD Yeshua as the LORD and Saviour of our lives!!!

*We eat Matzah, or unleavened bread for the week of Passover.  It was a commandment given to the Children of Israel when ADONAI brought them out of bondage from Egypt with a strong hand.  We remember that time throughout all the generations by not eating hametz for seven days of the holiday feast of Passover.  In preparation in the week or weeks before, it is a  time to clear out the `hametz`---bread, cakes, things with yeast or other leavening-- from our cabinets, and from our hearts.  Hametz in our hearts?!  Yes!  Leavening, or hametz also represents `sin` so it is a time to clean out the `hametz` from our hearts as well as we enter this season.  My blog contains a lot of  `hametz` , as challah is made with yeast, so for the preparation for Passover, I did a little cleaning on the blog too.  From now through the Passover holiday you`ll find my blog header will greet you with...Matzah and Cherry and Blossoms!  Chag Sameach!
(Happy Holiday!)

Get rid of the old hametz, so you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened--for Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.  Therefore let us celebrate the feast not with old hametz, the hametz of malice and wickedness, 
but with unleavened bread---the matzah of sincerity and truth.

---1Corinthians 5:7~8

Blossoms

Blossoms appear in the land,

the time for singing has come,

---Song of Songs 2:12

Looking up from under the cherry blossoms, it feels like they were dropped down from heaven.
Rather, gently lowered in ephemeral corsages gracing the branches.
Where yesterday there was one or two blossoms, today there are these draped clusters.
People are everywhere looking up.
The canopy is forming over the nation,
God`s chuppah * spreading over Japan!!
It feels like a wedding! 


*A chuppah is a wedding canopy, the Hebrew word for the canopy that the bride and groom stand under when they marry.

Happy `Nissan 1`!

Nissan 1 is the first day of the first month on the Hebrew calendar, as commanded by God to the Children of Israel (Exodus 12:2).  It is the `head` of the year, the Rosh Chodesh, the day that everything begins a new.   Nissan 1 is the day that, as we read in the last chapters of the book of Exodus, the Tabernacle was complete and ready for God to dwell with the Children of Israel.

Then ADONAI spoke to Moses saying, "On the first day of the first month, you will set up the Tabernacle of the Tent of Meeting."   ---Exodus 40:1~2

Nissan 1, the first day of the first month on the Hebrew Calendar,  is also today!
       

Nissan 1, 5777;  March 28, 2017

This morning I put on a Messianic-pink skirt to dress for the day.
Its my first time of knowing that this day existed, as I never lived in the cycle of Torah and followed the Hebrew calendar before this past year.  Probably no one else that I would meet during the day today would know what this day is on God`s calendar.    I knew it was special, and wanted to acknowledge it. So I dressed in my new pink skirt, filled with joy to be with Messiah Yeshua in my heart.  If anyone asked, or if the opportunity was opened, I would tell them.

＊

Everything in the day felt bathed in the new light of Nissan 1.  

A friend had invited me to go to a park with her family and to drink matcha,  green tea in Japanese style setting.  I went with her and her daughter and granddaughter.  Her granddaughter is so precious, just a little over one year old! We sat on the tatami floor of the temporary tea room set up in the park for an event welcoming spring.  The person making the tea poured the water and performed all the rituals of making the tea.    A  very pretty and delicate pink and green Japanese sweet  was served.  Its colors, shape, and tastes,  are made to bring together the taste and feeling of the season.  My friend explained how we  first eat the sweet Japanese wa-gashi and it prepares our taste for the bitter green tea. 

 This year I am feeling a deep Messianic connection with things Japanese, so it somehow seemed the perfect taste for this day.

＊

To my great surprise, I also saw the very first cherry blossoms in the park !! All of the trees were starting to bud.  Expectation is in the air, but only a very few were open into blossoms.    As exciting as full bloom is, there is something truly special about seeing the first blossoms.  In the season of re-birth to see new life coming forth!!

(note for those readers who are following my reports, yes I did a post (HERE) about seeing cherry blossoms a little earlier this year, but those were the `pre`-firsts!, the cherry blossoms-before-the-cherry blossoms, you could say, preparing the way!)

By the way, I did have a chance to tell someone the great story of it being Nissan 1, and the reason for my wearing my Messianic-pink skirt!!

So to everyone,
May we grasp a hold of the tree of life, the Torah of Adonai, the Word made flesh, Yeshua our Messiah, and Have a Happy Nissan 1 !!!

Matcha, Japanese Green tea, and a sweet taste of spring

Living water

A three blossom cherry blossom--- announcing Nissan 1, and everything new!!

This month will mark the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you.

---Exodus 12:2

 

 

 

*Nisan 1 is also the day that some believe to be the "birthday" of Messiah Yeshua, or rather the day He came from Heaven to earth to live in human form. Please see Messianic Rabbi Jonathon Cahn`s talk on Nisan and the gospel  

 

 

#nisan, #nisan1,#japanspringtime, #challahandcherryblossoms, #messianicjapan