Good and Light

 Taste and see how good the LORD is;

happy the man who takes refuge in Him!

Psalm 34:9

טַעֲמוּ וּרְאוּ, כִּי-טוֹב יְהוָה;    אַשְׁרֵי הַגֶּבֶר, יֶחֱסֶה-בּוֹ

Something new is happening from making the Hebrew letters in challah.  I am drawing nearer to God through them.  When I recently made the word `chesed` (in challah! post to follow!) , which means lovingkindness, as soon as I picked up the `chet` ח (the first letter of `chesed` חסד) , I realized this is a letter to handle with care.  This is a word that is the signature of God`s attributes.

The Hebrew words in challah in this post`s upload are `good` and `light`.  

Good=  טוב  = TOV            Light =   אור  = OHR

I haven`t done an upload yet about `chesed`, (lovingkindness), but I just had that realization about the letters. His goodness and lovingkindness will pursue us all the days of our lives...

The word there too in Psalm 23 is `Tov`, the same `good` that He proclaimed when He made the world and said each thing that was `Good`...the world He made `Good` is the `good` or `Tov` that is His attribute. 

More than food for thought, we actually taste and see how good---Tov---  the LORD is!!

Enjoy! This is a light hearted upload with a story about the first words God said, Let there be ...Light!! אור

Have a good day and let your light shine and give glory to our Father in Heaven!! Much love, Shabbat Shalom! ♡Shayndel ,d.u.a. (doing uploads as) 

Joanne`s Challah-Cast channel!

 

Let your light shine!♡

latkes with sour cream and applesauce, is a de- light of Hanukkah!

For with You is the source of life---. 
By Your light we shall see light.

Psalm  36:9

You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket.  Instead, they put it on a lampstand so it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.           Matthew 5: 14 ~16

A few scenes from the first few days of Hanukkah here.  Each night there is ever increasing light as the candles are lit adding each day to the light from day one to eight.
On this holiday we are to go out and shine our light!
Blessings and Happy Hannukah!
Don't hide your lamp under the table!
 

Love,

♡

Shayndel

A City on a Hill

♡

Bread of the Presence

 

Also you are to take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it, with two tenths of an epah in each cake.  Then you are set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before ADONAI.  Set pure frankincense on each row, as a memorial portion for the bread, an offering by fire to ADONAI.  Every Yom Shabbat he is to set it in order before ADONAI continually, it is an everlasting covenant on behalf of B' nei Israel.

---Leviticus 24:5~8

To a person who makes Challah, the Parsha this week really came alive.
For one thing, Challah, the Hebrew word itself, is mentioned twice in the scripture (verses above, from Parsha Emor, where the word "cake" is in the English).
For another, there is just so much expressed through the Bread of Presence and God just really spoke to me through it.

Whatever is your passion, I believe that God speaks to us in His word through that, as well as in countless other ways.  What you will hear or see or perceive or learn or be drawn to in the same scripture will be different for each person, as God is the same, but He speaks to us each differently through His marvelous, living word.   I realized in reading the parts in Leviticus about the show breads, that I just needed to express them and have them  "present" this Shabbat.

Without putting it into too many words,  the pure experience of setting this up brought such joy and ushered in His Presence.  It was a  special time of worship, together with my new friend Mayim.  Like David, we hungerly ate the Bread of presence, and like David, we Danced!

Blessings and Shalom.  Shavu'a Tov.  Have a blessed week in His great Presence.

Love,
 ♡
Shayndel

＊

I urge you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice--holy, acceptable to God--which is your spiritual service.  Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God---what is good and acceptable and perfect.

---Romans 12:1~2

Joseph and the Bread of many colors

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons because he was the son of his old age.  So he had made him a long-sleeved tunic.    ---Genesis 37:3

Joseph was the favorite son of Jacob.

He stood out, not only when he was wearing his coat.  He was the first born son of Rachel, and the eleventh (out of 12) son of Jacob.  He stood out for his righteousness and for living in faith and devotion to ADONAI.

Joseph wasn`t afraid to show his colors.  When his father Jacob gave him the many-colored tunic, he wore it.  When he had dreams that spoke of his position in the family, he blurted them out to his brothers.  He was just seventeen.  It wasn`t a matter of pride, but maybe something of his genuine heart and an expression of someone who didn`t hide his light.   He didn't try to hide from wearing the colors that showed that he was a beloved son of not only Jacob, but of the LORD God Almighty.

That is a great lesson in this parsha.  For me it rings brightly.  I sometimes hide who I am.  I did so for 40 years with my Jewishness, and now I don`t want to do that anymore.  In a world where so few people put their trust in God, we sometimes have to be really bold to not only do so but to say we do.   When the baker and cupbearer asked about their dreams, Joseph said only God can interpret our dreams. He put his trust in God at all times and made it clear that he wasn`t in anything for his own glory, but rather always gave praise and glorified ADONAI, to the point that whatever circumstances he was in, he blessed all those around him and he always found favor with the  LORD ...even under such circumstances as when he was sold as a slave by his brothers,  serving an Egyptian master, and even when he was in prison for something he did not do.

 I am really loving getting to know Joseph as I read this parsha

So my challah this week of Parsha Vayeshev is a bread of many colors, a slice that stands out!
There are 12 slices of challah, representing Joseph and his brothers.  And you can see there is Joseph, the 11th brother in the lineup, with the colors!

It is also the first night of Hannukah tonight!! Surely it is no coincidence that this parsha and Hannukah are on the same day, well perhaps that is a Miracle! They are always near each other, but today just when Shabbat of Parsha Vayeshev finishes it is the time to light the candles of the first night of Hannukah.  A beautiful continuation from Joseph son of Jacob, to Yeshua our Messiah,  the Light that lights all the other lights!

All Torah points to our Messiah Yeshua, and Joseph`s story is especially rich with parallels and prophetic pointers to the Light of the World, Yeshua.   Wrongly accused and almost put to death (in Joseph`s case) by his own brothers,  and all part of God`s great plan for Salvation and repentance.

May this Shabbat be filled with light.  As we light the  candles, starting with the Shamash, or servant candle which lights all others may our hearts be open to know Messiah Yeshua and receive His Light.  May we not hide our light but let it shine bright in this season and all year through!!

Shabbat Shalom!  Happy First night of Hannukah.

You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket.  Instead, they put it on a lampstand so it gives light to all ain the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men so they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.        

--Yeshua`s words from Matthew 5:15

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 

In the beginning (2)

The unfolding of Your words gives light,
giving understanding to the simple.

                                                                                  Psalm 119:30

One day when I was looking around and seeing darkness, 
I took up an inspiration from my friend whose name means Praise.  She likes to do origami and share her folded creations with people as a way to minister the Father's heart.  I tried it and just sat by a fountain and folded yellow boats and pink hearts, meditating on the scripture from God`s first words in Genesis.

Let there be Light!　＊Genesis 1:3

光があり。  Hikari ga ari.　＊創世紀１：３  in Japanese!

in Hebrew!   בראשית ＊  Yehi'or     ויהי אור

  Three children came and played in the fountain.

Then, as I was folding at some point I noticed...a rainbow appeared just where I was sitting, next to three pink hearts I had just folded!

Can you see it there, the rainbow! And there was Light!

I was so excited and motioned to the children to come see what was sent by our Heavenly Father, and gave them the hearts! 

As His words unfolded...
a lamp at our feet.

Your word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path.

---Psalm 119:105

In the beginning was the Word.  The Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  All things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing was made that has come into being.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it.   ---John 1: 1〜5

初めに、ことばがあった。
ことばは神とともにあった。
ことばは神であった。
この方は、初めに神とともにおられた。
すべてのものは、この方によって造られた。
造られたもので、この方によらずにできたものは一つもない。
この方にいのちがあった。このいのちは人の光であった。
光はやみの中に輝いている。やみはこれに打ち勝たなかった。
ーヨハネの福音書１：１〜５

To Yeshua, 
we thank you that you came to dispel the darkness and to be the Light of the world!   ♡ Love, Shayndel

note to readers: from the beginning it is also a great time to learn a little Hebrew! You can search easily to find the first lines from Genesis, here is one link that you can start from, or find a site you like,try here for learning the first verse or follow it to other links to learning Hebrew. Enjoy! Shalom!