Lech Lecha and Emunah!

 

But this I call to mind.  Therefore I have hope.  The kindness of the LORD has not ended, His mercies are not spent.

They are renewed every morning! Ample is your grace!  Lamentations 3:21~23

The steadfast Love of the LORD never ceases.

May we put our faith in the One who is Faithful!!

We are looking at the Parsha Lech Lecha.

The Hebrew word I made in challah in the week of Parsha Lech Lecha (last week`s parsha, I am catching up on the weeks!) is `Emunah` , or, `faith`.   In the Biblical Hebrew concordance, Strongs (#530), it is  defined as firm, steady, steadfast.

Interestingly, the word "Emunah"does not occur until Exodus 17:12, where Moses has to keep his hands raised and steady to win the battle against Amelek. Aaron and Hur hold up his arms until the sun set.

 How much we can learn from this in being steadfast and steady in the battles we face and the battles we fight.  May we hold up each others arms steady in support, in prayer, and in faith.

 Where we see the word `faith` in the Parsha is from the root word of Emunah which is Aman.  Does Aman sound like any word you know!! Yes!  Amen!!

Amen and Amen!!  and Aman and Emunah!

Abraham, our Father in faith, goes forth (LECH LECHA) on the promises he has not yet seen, purely by faith.

 I hope this Challah cast blesses you.  In addition I have a short part I will add about Exodus 17:12 and that revelation! And also will add some of the scriptures and Strong`s Biblical Hebrew references.   But meanwhile, maybe there is someone out there who would be blessed by this message today, so I am posting this post `in progress`before going to sleep tonight!! 

Blessings and Shavu`a tov.  Love, Shayndel

Amen, Amen I tell you.   Before Abraham was, I am.

John 8:58

Joanne`s Challah-Cast channel!

note:  video updated 12/12/2020

 

Biblical Hebrew Notes,  Strongs Hebrews First occurrences for Emunah, Aman, Amen

Emunah
Strongs # 530
Definition:  firmness, steadfastness, fidelity
First occurrence: Exodus 17:12
Moses` hands grew heavy, so they took a stone, put it under him, and he sat down.  Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side.  So his hands were steady until the sun went down.

Aman
Strongs #539
Definition:  to confirm, support
First occurrence:  Genesis 15:6
And because he put his trust in the LORD, He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Aman
Strongs #540
Definition:  to trust
First occurence: Daniel 2:45
Now the dream is certain, and its interpretation is trustworthy.

Amen
Strongs #543
Definition:  Verily, Truly
First occurrence: Numbers 5:22
The woman is to say `Amen, amen!`

To friends interested in Biblical Hebrew, For a related upload about the word Emunah in Challah, enjoy this link to a Biblical Hebrew class at Tav TEACH where I am given the opportunity to teach a short segment on the Challah Alef-bet,!! You can find it HERE!  

As well as other teachings on Biblical Hebrew words!!

Red Bean Challah for Abraham---and a Lech Lecha Challah-Cast!

Then the LORD said to Abram, 
"Get going out from your land,
and from your relatives,
and from your father's house,
to the land that I will show you.
My heart's desire is to make you into a great nation, to bless you, to make your name great so that you may be a blessing.                    Genesis 12:1~2 

 This week I made a Red Bean Challah for our forefather Abraham, for the week's Parsha, Lech Lecha!

If you are just joining in, this year in the new Torah Cycle I am trying out the idea of doing weekly "challah-casts" as a way to share about the weekly parsha reading and connecting it in some way to the making of challah  or some aspect of the challah making for Shabbat.  This week the topic is making a Red Bean Challah, for Abraham in honor of his setting out to "Go" into himself and obediently walk in the ways of the LORD to form the nation of Israel and be a father of all the many nations!!!
Hope you might enjoy watching the challah-cast !! And check out my new channel in progress,
Joanne's Challah-cast channel! I would welcome your comments and even questions or any feedback--are there are things you learned,?would like to see more of?  questions?  encouragement!!, etc, as it is a new work in progress!

Each week its a learning for me, and I hope there might be something in it for you!  Its a challenge how to make the challah connection to the week's Torah study, as well as a fun challenge in trying to make a short video that  that might be a way of sharing my love of making the challah and reading the weekly Torah, and that God's love might shine through as it all comes out of Love for Him!!

Now without faith it is impossible to please God.  For the one who comes to God must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.                                             Hebrews 11:6

Blessings and Love!

Shabbat Shalom!!



Preview from this week's challah -cast!

First scene, a short clip from my return trip to Japan, where God showed me Mt. Fuji as He brought on the evening

voice over from the flight:  どうぞ、ごゆっくりを過ごしください。
We wish you a pleasant flight.

Scene switches to me in the kitchen "studio"!
Hi, welcome.
My name is Joanne and this is our weekly Challah-cast.
This is the week of Parsha Lech Lecha.
Welcome!

If you are just joining in,  these challah-casts are weekly broadcasts to go with each week's reading on the Torah Cycle.  We introduce the week's reading as well as connecting it in some way with the making of challah.  Like a pod-cast, but we are using the base of "challah" to make it a "challah-cast"!  Thank you for joining us in this week of Lech Lecha!

Lech Lecha is the third parsha (Torah reading) in the book of Genesis.  Starting with Bereshit, then Noach, and now Lech Lecha.  The story of where Abraham is called out into his mission to set out and be the father of many nations....

 For more on making a red bean challah for Abraham, see other posts including a tutorial on how to make it HERE and various posts related, HERE , HERE, and HERE.

The basic challah recipe I used for this challah in the challah-cast is this Whole Wheat Challah.
Enjoy!


♡

Morning Glories, and a Challah for Abraham

I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.    

---Genesis 22:17

The morning glories on the verandah opened in late September this year, or maybe even early October.  I am a little off in terms of the seasons as I was away for all of September and the beginning of October.  I confess I was a little discouraged about the morning glories before I left for my travels in early September, that the morning glories on the veranda still hadn't opened.  But when I came back there were these beautiful blue flowers the color of the sky!!  Even as some of the leaves were starting to dry and turn to brown, the morning glories are still bursting open with the color of sky each morning into these late weeks of October.  And some of the other flowers too were unusually blossoming for this time!   I should mention, a thanks to my husband, who watered the plants when I was gone.

I love morning glories, and how it is a surprise to see them in the morning and how there are these flowers looking out on God's Glory while at the same time created by His Glory.   Everything speaks of His Glory.

About the Challah, I made a Red Bean Challah in connection with the Torah Portion we are in, Lech Lecha.  Where God tells Abraham to set out from his native land to go to where he knows not where.   Lech Lecha, which means go forward, yourself ! also has the meaning to go forth and into one's self.  Which is interesting as I always thought of the going out and setting forth, but the journey to God is also a great journey into our selves as well.

 I pray that from His glorious riches He would grant you to be strengthened in your inner being with power through His Ruach, so that Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith.                     --Ephesians 3:16~17

Shabbat Shalom!
Shavu'a Tov!

♡

To read about the Challah and Cherry Blossoms story of why a Red Bean Challah for Abraham, please see
HERE  Abraham's Journey and a Challah Tutorial 
 HERE  An Pan Challah and Lech Lecha Parsha, 
 HERE!  A Challah for Abraham,
and HERE  Challah for Abraham, cont'd!.  
(Or,  just enjoy the challah, without explanation!!! ) Thank you for making the journey and stopping by!  Enjoy!

Challah for Abraham (cont`d)

I embroidered the name of our forefather, `Avraham`on my first Challah Cover!

The swirls of red bean inside the challah remind us of Abraham`s journey!! The seeds sprinkled on top recall the promise to Abraham, that his seed would bless all nations!!

The Challah Cover says `Avraham`.
You can see the swirls of red bean in the bread.

The rainbow remains. (see last week posts from Noah!)

The wonderful thing about reading on the Torah cycle is to see how everything connects and goes back to the beginning.  I like to make the `physical` representations that express what we are reading in the Torah.  It helps me to see how everything connects, and how it connects to me and to life.

By keeping the rainbow on the table from one Shabbat--when we were studying about Noah---to the next, where we meet Abram, it reminds us that Abram came from the generations of Shem, son of Noah, and when we eat the bread and give thanks to the LORD for bringing forth bread from the earth, we give thanks for Messiah Yeshua who is the Bread of Life.  We see directly the connection to Abraham, as He is the seed of Abraham, as well is He who was before Abraham.

Yeshua answered, "Amen, amen I tell you, before Abraham was, I am!"

---John 8:58

I made this challah cover at this time of the cycle last year, and it is exciting to be able to take it out again as we are back to the beginning and reading the Parshiot about Abraham.  It is also a way to share the Torah with my daughter and guests at the Shabbat Table---including you!! Thank you for sharing the Shabbat and the challah.

I hope you might try to follow the tutorial in the post below to make a  red bean challah !! and if you do, please let me know if the steps are easy to follow , and if you learned anything new about the Parsha!! or any insights about how it connects with your life today or anything else about where you are in your journey...

Blessings and Shalom!!


These are the steps from braiding to completion:
(photos to follow)

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Abraham`s Journey, and a Challah Tutorial!

The Parsha this week  is Lech Lecha! which is where God tells Abraham (whose name is Abram when he sets out), to Go from his father`s house and leave everything behind.

I wanted to make a special challah to mark the occasion.

The Challah is a Red Bean Challah!
(an Original Challah, begun here @Challah and Cherry Blossoms!See posts HERE!An-Pan Challah and Lech Lecha Parsha, and HERE! A Challah for Abraham for why a Red Bean Challah!)

So in this post I would like to attempt to put the two together...to take you through the steps of making the challah, while relating it to the Parsha this week.  Any questions?!

Are you Ready?   Set , GO!!!

The LORD said to Abram,
"Go forth from your native land and from your father`s house to the land that I will show you."
--Genesis 12:1

1.  God tells Abraham to Go!  Lech Lecha!  Go forth!  Abraham leaves his father`s house with no specifics about where he is going, but in complete faith set out in obedience.  Abraham came from a family of idol worshippers (his father had a business of selling idols) and  found for himself the truth of the One true God. And as such he becomes the first `believer`, the one who we model our faith on!

At this point in the challah making, you start out with preparing the yeast and water, and wait a few minutes for it to become foamy so you know it is activated.

These are some of the ingredients I gathered --- the flours (white and whole wheat), eggs, salt, and the red beans.  The red beans are a product of Hokkaido, the north of Japan.  The oil I use is Grapeseed oil, it makes a smooth texture and dough that is easy to work with.

This sugar is called `tensai-to`てんさい糖. It says `sugar that is kind to the stomach`.  I like this kind of natural sugar, made from Daikon radish.  I don`t know if you can find it outside of Japan, but if you can, I highly recommend it! Or you can find the sugar that is local to where you are!

The yeast is starting to get foamy

Like me, this ingredient is from America. Oatmeal.  I was able to find it at a local food shop.  Am I stretching the Abraham comparison to say that like Abraham, I too set out to a land far from my father`s house!  Though to be honest, when I set out I didn`t know the LORD so I didn`t yet know the meaning of Faith and obedience.  Thus the only part of the comparison that sticks is that of leaving my home country for another land!!

Mixing in the flours (local from Japan) and making a dough

Knead until it looks smooth and arrange into a ball like this. 

Now we introduce the red beans!

  While the dough is in it`s first rise,

2.  Prepare the Red Beans
When I look into the bowl of red beans, I see all the beans, I can barely count them.
I think of God`s promise to Abraham that his offspring will be as countless as the stars in the sky.

I will make of you a great nation,
And I will bless you:
I will make your name great,
And you shall be a blessing.       ---Genesis 12:2

He took him outside and said,
"Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. "  And He added, "So shall your offspring be."  And because he put his trust in the LORD, He reckoned it to his merit.
---Genesis 15:5~6

And if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham`s seed--

heirs according to the promise.   
--Galatians 3:29

This recipe is an oral tradition passed `up` by my daughter!! When she was very young, maybe around six years old, she loved to cook, and she asked my husband`s sister how to make red bean paste!!

3.  The dough has doubled

Abrahams descendants will be multiplied.

Now when God made His promise to Abraham---since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, "Surely I will bless you, and surely I will multiply you." ---Hebrews 6:13~14

Now we will make the bean paste and fill it,  roll it into the strands, and begin the journey of making.
From one , make it into 6 parts.

 God changed Abram`s name from Avram to Avraham.
From one, a multitude, a Father of nations..

In Japan, red beans are used for celebratory `Red bean rice` on special occasions like weddings, graduations, etc.  Today`s Red Bean Challah is made in Japan, and is a celebration of our forefather Abraham who went forth in obedience to God, and the Faith with which he set forth ! 

notes on the Challah:
The recipe I used for the dough is this WHOLE WHEAT CHALLAH
Follow the recipe,  up to the second rise, with the substitutions or your own variations.
The substitutions I made are as per the post, instead of butter>Grapeseed oil, and for brown sugar>Japanese Tensai-To (sugar made from daikon radish)
After the second rise, divide the dough for your strands, and then roll them and put in the filling.
Add about 5 or 10 minutes to the baking time, as the filled strands might need the extra time.
Tent with foil as needed during baking if the outside gets done quickly.

To be continued....

An-Pan Challah and Lech Lecha Parsha!

I will make your seed like the dust of the earth so that if one could count the dust of the earth, 

then your seed could also be counted.    

---words of ADONAI to Abram, Genesis 13:16

Red Beans, challah, and the story of Abraham.

On first glance it might seem a stretch to see those topics together.

But as this is a blog about bread --challah in particular---, and my excitement of this first year studying Torah in Japan, it is a stretch that I hope can reach to your hearts!  Even the sound of an-pan challah and Lech Lecha parsha has a swirly ring to it.  Though none of the words might make sense to you yet.

With a sprinkling of my testimony,  added to a portion of  this week`s parsha about God`s promise to Abraham that his seed would reach the nations, I will attempt to roll it all into a post.  With the hope that you might get a taste of what this weeks parsha is about and that it might even give you an appetite to know more!  I might venture so far as to say the swirls in the red bean challah even remind me of a the map of the route Abraham took from his home in Ur of the Chaldees to the Land of Cannaan.  Going forth obediently ("Lech Lecha" means Go! Go forth, yourself!) as he walked continuously by faith in the word God spoke to him.

So please have some challah and lets see
where these strands tie together!

(to be continued)


Red bean challah

A Challah for Abraham

Then ADONAI said to Abram,
"Get going out from your land,
and from your relatives, 
and from your father`s house,
to the land that I will show you.
My heart`s desire is to make you into a great nation, to bless you,
to make your name great so that you may be a blessing.

                                 ---Genesis 12:1 ~2 

So Abram went, Just as ADONAI had spoken to him.   (verse 4).

As I was meditating on this weeks parsha, I wanted to make a challah that somehow would have a connection to Abram.   The idea of a red bean challah came to me, at first  because in Japan people make red bean rice to mark a special day, a celebration, and for congratulations.  And indeed Abram becoming Abraham and walking in faith with ADONAI to carry out this command to go to a new land and make a great nation,  is a blessing to celebrate!!

Then as I was making it, more things started to connect and I realized indeed a Red Bean Challah for Abraham was indeed fitting!  And filling!

This post is in progress so please enjoy some of the challah and see you a little later on this Lech Lecha Shabbat!

 Shabbat Shalom!!

Lech Lecha,  L`chaim!!

シャバット・シャローム 
（安息日おめでとう）

God saw that the light was good.    ---Genesis 1:4

 The world is beginning to look like it came out of the Torah!

This morning I looked out the window and the sun at that moment through the trees looked like a day out of creation!
Well, of course it should be that way, the world is the Torah!
 God breathed and created everything, so everyday of course is a day out of creation!! But I never thought of it that way until very recently!!

There is a cycle of Torah just like there is a cycle of seasons.
This is something I never knew or thought of before this year, and I am already well into the seasons of life, so even though it is an eternal cycle, for me its new!

If its new for you,  I hope you will enjoy this time of the new start too whether you are just starting like me or a seasoned traveler through the Torah or even if you are just not knowing what I am talking about, please come along and enjoy the challah and rest in each Shabbat.

I have an idea to make the blog a place to share challah and testimony, scripture and sketches, while reading through this first year of the cycle of parashiot!

Starting with Genesis (and satsumaimo challah, see post below!)
We`re already
 in the third week!

Repentence and returning are from the root `Shuv` in Hebrew.
Surely the LORD is not just calling me back , He is calling us back, to His Torah.

This past few years have been a great turning back and returning in my life.
I can actually feel the momentum as I am turning back to God.
Moving onto His calendar which is calibrated by His Shabbatot, and corresponding to the readings of the Parashiot.    It`s movement and at the same time feels like everything stands still in a way too because He is doing the turning and bringing us into a cycle that has been repeating since the beginning.  He is the Aleph and the Tav, the beginning and the end!(Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Tav is the last letter of the Hebrew Alphabet).

All the things that happened in the Bible and it`s teachings seem closer, as we make them a focus of our lives.   Where we are now then reconnects with Torah, the word of God, with God Himself. 

This week readings were from Noah, down the genealogical line through Shem
to Abram, who we know will become Abraham,
the father of all the line leading to Messiah and through to us!

Noah built the Ark with all his dedication and truly a one-track mind only obedient to what God asked Him to do, and rose above the floodwaters to safety.
Studying the Torah is similarly the way to stay afloat, to be brought to safety, and to live in God`s word, amidst the floodwaters of our day.

Noah`s day once seemed long ago, but now it seems near, as the words we read are the same Word Noah lived.  What it means to be righteous is the same as it was then, and God is the same today as He was yesterday and forever more!! 
Not only is the Word of God relevant to life,
It is Life!

And look at this, in Hebrew the word used in scripture for the Ark that Noah built is `Tevah`.*
I found out Tevah also means `Word`.
Just like Noah was lifted up on the floodwaters and kept safe in the Ark, we too are lifted up from the floodwaters of daily life and kept afloat by living in His Word!! It is the `ark` that protects us, that is our place of safety, that is our Salvation, just as Yeshua is the Word become Flesh, and is our Salvation!! Halleluyah!!

The picture below is of the harvest--season vegetables and fruits--- I received in exchange for challah this past Shabbat!!  Its funny I started with the purple potato (satsumaimo) to make the bread, entered into Shabbat with two loaves (see two posts below), and went out of the Shabbat with a mountain of seasonal produce!!

It was a great and fun surprise and reminds me how when we enter into God`s Shabbat it is a delight, full of surprises, as we keep our eye on Yeshua.

For "Everyone who calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved."  ---Romans 10:13

God Bless you and have a great week!  Oh, and it`s Friday already, so time to get ready to enter a new Shabbat!

This weeks Torah portion is Lech LCha.

Aleph 
Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Torah of ADONAI

Tav
I long for Your deliverance, ADONAI, and Your Torah is my delight.

---Psalm 119, verse 1 and verse 174 

(all the verses in Psalm 119 are `numbered` by starting with letters from each letter of the Hebrew Alphabet.  You can read the whole Psalm here! )


Shabbat Shalom! 


*more on the word for ark, `tevah` on Messianic Revolution blog