Simple Simcha Challah

Roll out 8 strands, separate into 5 and 3

For the 5 Strand Challah, Start with 3 on one side and 2 on the other

Always bring the outside strand over from the 3 to the the inside of the 2, then there is a new `3`

The 3-strand challah (top in picture) is a basic 3-strand simple braid

Flatten out the center of the `5 strand challah` and you will put the `3 strand` on top of it

Like this! Now you are ready to add `volume` by putting the `3` on top of the `5`

Voila! Simcha!

 Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the Kingdom of God.

Luke 14:15

 

DId you know there is a challah called a Simcha Challah?

Simcha means Joy, in Hebrew. This challah is to mark joyous occasions such as a wedding or a special celebration.  Of course, you can make a Simcha Challah for Shabbat too, as Shabbat is a time of `oneg` or `delight`.   You often will see a Shabbat Challah is made with 3, 4, 5, or even 6 strands, and often made as 2 Challah loaves to remember the double portion that God provided in the wilderness and continues to provide on Shabbat as we trust in Him.  The Simcha Challah is  8 strands in one challah!

Traditionally because of the festive nature of the Simcha, you would often see that the Simcha Challah is large and voluminous! to be able to be served at a gala party!!  I had the idea on a recent Shabbat to make a smaller sized Simcha Challah. 

I call it a Simple Simcha Challah because it is a little `scaled down` from a regular Simcha Challah, so it becomes more simple.  To represent the joy and gladness and yet a family size that can be served modestly.  My idea for this was to make the strands smaller and thinner so it could be beautifully appropriate and a little more humble for your Shabbat table.

The parsha I made it for was the week of `Chayei Sarah` (note: On the posting of this post we are already moving along and are in Parsha Vayishlach, where the promised generations have come forth and now Jacob`s name is changed to Israel!) where Abraham sends his servant to find a bride for Isaac, so it had a wedding theme in the Torah portion and it seemed fitting to have a Simcha Shabbat!!  Shabbat is also a `preparation` for the wedding feast that we will have when Messiah Yeshua returns, so I like to think of Shabbat as a `practice` for that time when we will be feasting in the Kingdom of God and eating the bread and drinking the cup of wine with Yeshua Himself.

I am thinking back to our fore-mothers like Sarah whose challah was said to stay fresh all week and her home had a divine light and stayed lit through the week.  She is the matriarch of the family of God going all the way back in the generations.  When we make challah it is also a good time to pray and as you are kneading the dough you can give praise to the LORD and pray for your loved ones and for Israel.  We pray for God to choose a God-ly spouse for our children, and trust in Him for all things.  

 I am also thinking forward to the future banquet and that Shabbat of the Messianic Kingdom!!  

I always love both the scene where the servant of Abraham goes to find the bride, and Rebecca answers his prayer and draws water for both him and his camels!! This is a drawing that I probably post every year on this parsha.  And exemplifies the Bride of Messiah who has the quality of chesed, loving kindness, and pours out her love in abundance and heart of willingness to serve, as we see she gave the water to both the servant and all those camels!!!

So she said, “Drink, my lord,” and she quickly lowered her jar onto her hand and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ Now when she finished giving him a drink, she said, “I’ll also draw water for your camels until they’ve finished drinking.”   Genesis 24:18~19

Hallelu-Yah! 

Shavu`a Tov! Have a good week to all!

 Love,

 ❤️

Shayndel

Go out, daughters of Zion,
    and gaze upon King Solomon,
with a wreath his mother placed on him
    on the day of his marriage—
    on the day of his heart’s joy.

                         Song of Songs 3:11 💖 

 

PS This is an upload I did which has a little more about the Simcha Challah! It is from Parsha Yitro, which comes a little later in our reading, but it does contain a mini-tutorial (from about 4 minutes into the video), and the verse above from Song of Songs.   If you are moved to try making this challah or just to enjoy it as the message continues the theme of Simcha, may you you be filled with the joy of the anticipation of the wedding and `Gazing on the King`, our King and Messiah Yeshua!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTZKu_8qjDk&t=316s

Challah-Cast Diary/notes! Life of Sarah

Now Sarah's life was 127 years--the years of Sarah's life.

Genesis 23:19

The reading from this past week in the Torah is the Parsha "The Life of Sarah" .
It is called "The Life" of Sarah,  even though it is actually to tell about her passing, at the time of her death at 127 years. 

 Sarah lived in righteousness, purity and with a love of loving-kindness--the quality of chesed, in Hebrew-- in everything she did .  She and Abraham opened up their tent for hospitality to strangers to share the truth about the One true God.  Her whole being emanated light because she drew from the source of light for her life.  At  age 90  God blessed her and Abraham (who was 100) with a child, even though in the natural it was impossible.  Nothing is impossible with God!

In connecting with something about challah, the aspect I wanted to share is how her light shone even in her challah dough!!

According to a midrash in Bereshit Rabba, we learn that Sarah's dough was divinely blessed, that  her challah stayed fresh from  Shabbat to the next Shabbat, and that a candle would burn in her tent from Sabbath Eve to the next.  There was said to be a cloud of the divine presence always over her tent. 

I love this teaching about Sarah
＊ from a Rabbinic source, quoted below, and what it tells about her life and how she lived doing everything for the glory of God.  I can try to imagine the light that shone forth from her very being!! The woman who was the mother of all the generations of Israel.  Her challah dough was divinely blessed!  From the same midrash, we also learn that the divine blessing left in all those areas, but when Rebecca came into the tent as Isaac's bride, the blessings returned.

Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother, 

took Rebecca and she became his wife--and he loved her.  

So Isaac was comforted after the loss of his mother.

Genesis 24:67

 

And Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah, his mother-" All the days that Sarah was alive, a cloud was connected (lit. tied) to the entrance of her tent. When she died, the cloud stopped [resting at her tent.] And when Rebecca came, the cloud returned. All the days that Sarah was alive, the doors were open wide. When she died, the wideness stopped. And when Rebecca came, the wideness returned. And all the days that Sarah was alive, there was a blessing in her dough, and when Sarah died, that blessing ended. When Rebecca came, [the blessing] returned. All the days that Sarah was alive, there was a candle that would burn from Sabbath Eve to [the next] Sabbath Eve, and when she died, the candle stopped [burning for so long]. And when Rebecca came, [the week-long flame of the candle] returned. And as soon as [Isaac] saw her, that she did the deeds of his mother, separating her challah in purity and separating her dough in purity, he brought her into the tent.

                                                                                 ＊ from Bereishit Rabbah 60

For those that are following or interested in the Challah-cast series,
please read on , these !
"Notes on the "Challah-cast":

My  basic "filming"  plan was to take  scenes of first getting  flowers for Shabbat at the flower shop,  a special bouquet to honor the Life of Sarah, then zooming in on the flowers in the shop, and next scene , zooming out on the flowers when back in my home, and showing the flowers and the dough.

The whole short film, the challah-cast, would be homage to Sarah. The aspect of the challah that we would focus on is the dough, talking about the teaching above, about the blessing on her challah and the light that she shone from living with the Divine Presence always.
In my challah making scenes I would just show the dough, from when its made, to when it rises, as I talk about that aspect of Sarah's life.

So that is the basic idea for the week of Chayei Sarah.  What I am learning for the challah-casts is it takes a lot of "takes" to get a short video together! And I have to work fast if I want to do it by Shabbat, from the making of the Challah.

After all, I didn't get a finished challah-cast that I felt ready to share, so  am just sharing this post as an "outline" this week, and realize that I may not get a finished Challah-cast each time.  I started to get a little discouraged, but, rather than get discouraged if I don't complete it, I am glad as it is a way of drawing closer to Him in the process.

The midrash (Rabbinic commentary) from Bereishit Rabbah, is about how once Isaac and Rebecca married, and Rebecca entered into Sarah's tent with Isaac, the blessings returned through her.

Its such a beautiful testament to the generations, how through Sarah's life, Rebecca was able to enter in and keep alive the flame of God's presence continually.   It is said that in the time after Sarah died, the blessings stopped, but when Rebecca entered the tent as Isaac's bride, they returned again.
May we learn from the Life of Sarah, and be inspired to keep the light of Yeshua shining through our lives, and be diligent in prayer and in how we live, to pass it on to the next generation.

And a PS, I really was gettting a little discouraged not having done a Challah-cast, so just to keep on going I made a "rough" upload with talking it through and I also included the next Parsha, Toldot, to tie in with it.  If you are moved to watch it, you can see it HERE

When we spend time with the Lord, and more than that, when we live with Him as the source of our very being,   then our light will shine forth in all we do.  And nothing is impossible with Him!

Blessings and Shabbat Shalom!!

 Every year I post my Rebecca (Rivka)  drawing (Below) to go with this parsha!
Blessings and Shalom!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
♡
Shayndel

So she said, "Drink, my lord," and she quickly lowered her jar onto her hand and gave him a drink.  Now when she finished giving him a drink, she said, "I'll also draw water for your camels until they've finished drinking."   Genesis 24:18~19

LIfe of Sarah, A bouquet, a Rainbow on a sunny day

The Lord is my strength and my shield.  My heart trusts in Him.  

I was helped, and my heart exulted, so I will glorify Him with my song.

---Psalm 28:7

Before I left the house to buy flowers for Shabbat, I made a prayer to ask God if my offerings are pleasing to Him.  I am just "holding down the fort" here and making my little Shabbat, and yet wonder, after being in a community of others on L.I. and feeling so filled there, I was questioning some things.

 So I asked Him, please LORD show me somehow if this is pleasing to You. 
Soon after I walked out of the house, I got to an intersection and felt to look up at the sky.  Almost as if there was a tap!  Saying, Look up!!
And there was the most subtle small strip of a rainbow!! I did a double take as there was no rain.
It was a clear day,  in a clear and beautiful sunny week.  A rainbow on a sunny sky?  And just before Shabbat!   I took off my glasses to see if maybe it was a refraction from my glasses or something.

And I  saw,  a rainbow!! I  stood there looking up,  the street light might have changed.
No one else was noticing it, so I mentioned to an older couple and they looked and the man saw it too, and showed his wife.  They were glad.  Then I crossed when it was green and continued on my way to the flower shop. and the rainbow went with me!! It got bigger and spread out into a wide rainbow smile!!

It echoed a rainbow "sign" painted on a building, and moved in the sky all the way there till I got to the flower shop and escorted me in,

When I entered the flower shop the woman there was holding a little bouquet, like the kind that is thrown at a wedding. She was in the middle of making some flower arrangements.  I said its so cute, it looks like a wedding!  And she threw the bouquet into my hands, and said, its for you!

(well, I exaggerated , she didn't really throw it, but she wrapped it in a little paper and handed it right to me and said she wanted to give it to me!)

"Sarah"

This week in the Parsha, The Life of Sarah, we read about the match made in heaven for Isaac, as Abraham sends his servant to go in search of a bride for Isaac.  I love this scene every time I read it , and how Rebecca runs out to greet him and give him a drink and for his camels too and is confirmed as the wife for Isaac.  Of course, all this has been planned well in advance, before the Creation even, as she will be the one who carries on the generations of Sarah and Abraham.   As the story enfolds anew each time it's still always a thrill to see her obediently running out and giving the water to Abraham`s servant and all the camels.  It was said to be a great amount of water that fed all those camels, and that showed the quality of goodness in Rebecca.

I like that wonderful story of meeting and beginning of her relationship into the family of God.
Its like a setting of what is to be when we enter into the family as believers and say yes to Yeshua.  He asks us to serve Him with all our hearts and soul.  And His Living Water pours out in abundance. 
He is looking for the bride who shows kindness (chesed, in Hebrew) and will give Him her all.

I am re-eposting this drawing that I made for this Parsha last year, maybe you recall it!
I hope it still delivers a fresh blessing even if you are seeing it again!

As I asked God if he accepts my offerings, and He showed me a rainbow.

Lord, may we enter this week more eager to serve You, our Beloved Lord and King of Kings.

 Thank you for the flowers.

Blessings and Shabbat Shalom!
Shavu'a Tov!

 Love, Shayndel

Drink, my lord, she said...I will also draw for your camels, until they finish drinking...and she drew for all his camels.  from Genesis 24:18~20

♡

Drawing--Rivka (Rebecca) at the Well

"Drink, my lord," she said, and she quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and let him drink.  When she had let him drink his fill, she said, "I will also draw for your camels, until they finish drinking."

---Genesis 24:18~19

This is a drawing from today,

drawing inspiration from the Parsha of the The Life of Sarah. 

Blessings and Shavu`a Tov!  Have a good week!  

 ♡

Love, Shayndel

Bara and Challah for Sarah

The names `Sarah`, and `Rifka` (Rebecca) are embroidered in Hebrew letters on the layers of the Challah Cover.  Adding layers as we read the unfolding of the stories in the Torah!!

  Rifka, in English her name is Rebecca,  is the wife for Isaac who we meet in this Parsha.

`Bara` (rose), `Challah`, Sarah, the words go together like a harmony of Shabbat for this Parshat

Can you see, there are little pink cherry blossoms on the rainbow cookies for my daughter! From one rainbow, many.  The promises of God are for generation to generation

Blessed are you LORD our God who sanctifies us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the Sabbath light

Now Sarah`s life was 127 years--the years of Sarah`s life.

---Genesis 23:1

Chaiyei Sarah, The of Life of Sarah, is the Parsha this week.

We celebrate the life of Sarah, the wife of Abraham whose life was 127 years.

I couldn`t resist the word play.  Bara, Challah, Sarah

Bara=Rose  (in Japanese)

Challah= Special bread for the Shabbat (Hebrew)

 With Challah, and some pretty bara (roses!)

may we celebrate the life of Sarah.

The Jewish sages say that Sarah`s challah stayed fresh from week to week.

She was quite a maker of Challah, and surely her light shone in all she did!

I also celebrate my daughter today.  She is applying to college, and has passed the first of her big tests for where she wants to go.  I made rainbow cookies to celebrate her.

I noticed two things when we were saying the prayers for Shabbat.

One, is that we mention Sarah`s name every week when we say the blessing for girls,

May God make you like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.

Ye-si-mekh Elohim ke-Sarah Riv-qah Ra-chel ve-Leah

--Blessing for Girls, it is customary for parents to bless their children on Shabbat.

`Bara` means rose in Japanese, and `Bara` means `He created` in Hebrew!

The second, is in the kiddush (Friday night blessings for the Shabbat), we say the word `bara` !

Bara, which means rose in Japanese, means `He created` in Hebrew.

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it He ceased from all His work that God created for the purpose of preparing.   ---Genesis 2:3

Blessings and Shabbat Shalom! 

Rejoice and Celebrate the things in our lives, and give thanks to the LORD in all we do!

Notes:  Cookie Recipe, HERE, Yummy Peanut Butter Cookies from Joy of Kosher.  To make the rainbow, use seven colors choco-pens (chocolate pens) to draw the rainbows, and add some cherry blossom petals and cherry blossoms with pink. 

The Challah Recipe is a Whole Wheat Challah, see link at sidebar under My Favorite Challah recipes.

For the Weekly "Parsha" , Torah Readings, see the weekly readings list  HERE , next weeks Parsha is Toldat, which means, Generations.

Enjoy!

Ending the Beginning, and my Second Challah Cover begins!

These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this is what their father spoke to them.  He blessed them, each one he blessed with a suitable blessing.  ---Genesis 49:28

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says ADONAI Elohim, "Who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty!"   ---Revelation 1:8

Amazing in the Parsahat cycle we are already finishing the last reading from the book of Genesis this coming Shabbat and going into Exodus after that.  Like the end of each Shabbat, its a little sad coming to the end of the readings of one book.  But at the same time a new one begins, and the cycle keeps on going.

And as we go from Genesis to Exodus,  I will start the second challah cover!!

The inspiration for this challah cover is the twelve sons of Jacob.  I started by laying out the squares to represent the twelve sons, the twelve tribes of Israel.

 In Genesis God created the heavens and earth and filled them with plants and trees and all the living creatures and the people, from Adam to Jacob and his sons.   God plans and purposes and lays everything out from the beginning.  If we skip ahead to the end, i.e. Revelation, the end of the whole book, and a new beginning,  there is the most beautiful description of the New Jerusalem, where each of the 12 gates of the city are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Bnei-Yisrael. 
On the gates were inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of Bnei-Yisrael---three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.  ---Revelation 21:12~13.  As well as the twelve names of the the twelve emissaries of the Lamb on the foundations of the city walls.           Then the twelve names of the twelve emissaries of the Lamb are written on the twelve foundations of the walls of the city.  ---Revelation 21:14


The foundations of the Jewish people and tribes of Israel were set up in the book of Genesis.  All the way into Revelation the foundations of the city wall are decorated with every kind of precious stone, which are reminiscient of the twelve precious stones representing the twelve tribes that we will soon see in Exodus in the breastplate of Aaron.    To read about the precious stones on the foundations and the pearls on the gates of the New Jerusalem, and description of the streets of the city as pure as gold, please continue reading in the book of Revelation, from 21:15.

I am just starting the challah cover, it begins where the first challah cover left off! As that one expressed the Life of Sarah and went through the generations to Isaac, this one continues with the generations of Jacob, Joseph.  Who are the twelve tribes that are so precious in God`s heart and plan? In the parsha this week there is the special blessings by Jacob for each of his twelve sons before he dies. 

A fruitful son is Joseph,

a fruitful son beside a spring---

daughters walk along a wall.  

                     ---the first lines of Jacob`s blessing to Joseph, Genesis 49:22

To be continued....

Challah Cover in Progress---From Sarah to me and to you

 `Sarah` and `Avraham`.  Using my new Challah Cover,  still in progress!!

From Sarah and Abraham, to Isaac and Rebecca. The pink thread that you see at the bottom is spelling the first letters of my name, Shayndel!!

The seeds scattered around the challah.  from this angle the Challah Cover and the layers of the generations reminded me of the tent of Abraham!!  The challah cover like a house for the bread.  Lechaim, to life, to Lechem (bread), to Yeshua!!

`Shayndel`

.   

`Yitchak` and `Rifka`, on blue and on pink, `Sarah` and `Avraham` on white above, challah cover in progress on the tatami ...

Shabbat Shalom!
It became Shabbat and my challah cover is still ... in progress!

 I had an idea (see post below for Part 1!) and it kept getting new layers and look what happened.. Sarah and Abraham led.. in thread... to me!!

As I was sewing I saw I had left a place in the white cloth that was under the names Abraham and Sarah.  I didn`t exactly know what or if anything would go in that space.  I made the blue layer for Isaac, the pink layer for Rebecca.

Then I looked at the tatami floor where I was stitting, the golden color picking up on the gold color thread around Sarah`s name. 

 I realized that what all the parashiot are about is not just to study the portions intellectually and look at `history` but rather at the living Torah and our places in it through what God shows us in each time we read it, including what came before, what is to come and where we are now!!

Through this parsha I saw the thread that connects us to our forefathers and mothers!!
 The letters added to the bottom are my name, in Hebrew letters, Shayndel!

 I saw that Sarah is the beginning of our line of women, who brought forth the promise of ADONAI of descendants through the seed of Abraham!!  Look at all those seeds...through Isaac, then Jacob, to his sons who made up the tribes of Israel ...to King David, to  Messiah Yeshua.  And through Him that seed were multiplied and sent to nations... and continues to multiply... all the way and continuing in....yes, in us....

I am sharing my excitement in some ways as a diary of my first year studying the Torah,  and this journey through the parsahiot...and also in the hope that my excitement in learning can connect you with yours as we find out who we are in Yeshua, in God the Father.  Each week there is another layer of new things to learn as we continue to study His word, to walk in Faith, hear His call and return to the living Torah!!

 I do hope that perhaps there is someone who is reading this has not yet chosen to walk with God, and will hear His call.  And that even now, this very day your eyes will be open to Yeshua.  Salvation is for everyone who calls on the name on the LORD.  The seed of Abraham is so huge in number that his descendants are as many as the stars in the sky...At the end of this Shabbat, when we look up at the stars as it becomes night, we can think of the taste of the wine (or grape juice in my case!), Yeshua the vine, and Father Abraham who left everything behind to walk into the plans God had for him that he could not yet even see!!! And remember, Sarah was 90 years old when she gave birth to a son, fulfillment of a long-awaited promise.

For nothing will be impossible with God.

----Luke 1:37

  May we give thanks to ADONAI for our forefathers and mothers!  For their Faith that encourages us in ours.
And for His Torah!!
We are only (already!) in the fifth week, hope you will join in reading the portions if you have not yet already.  You can find the list of weekly readings here.

Shabbat Shalom!
May ADONAI  bless you and keep you!  May He shine His face upon you and give you SHALOM (Peace).   (from the Aaronic Blessing, Numbers 6:24~26)

Bring us back to you, ADONAI, and we will return.  

Renew our days as of old.   ---Lamentations 5:21 TLV

A remnant will return,
even the remnant of Jacob,
to the Mighty God.

--Isaiah 21

Life of Sarah--Challah Cover in progress!

`Yitchak` and `Rifka`, on blue and on pink, `Sarah` and `Avraham` on white above, challah cover in progress on the tatami

Above, `Sarah` in gold colored embroidery thread, below:  sewing the letters for `Avraham` in the center, and the outline for `Sarah` completed.  In progress, still thinking about whether to fill in the letters, or leave them as outlines. 

Now Sarah`s life was 127 years --- the years of Sarah`s life.

---Genesis 23:1

The Life of Sarah parsha (Torah Portion) tells us in the first lines that Sarah lived to the age of 127.
After that in this Torah Portion, we read that she died in Hebron, and the parsha talks about Abraham purchasing the burial place for Sarah and the transaction is described.  After this, a main
part of the portion is about Abraham sending his trusted servant to Canaan to find a wife for Isaac, who we know will be Rebecca.  There is a eulogy and Abraham weeps over Sarah, but none of the parsha actually talks about Sarah`s life, as you might expect from the title.  And yet it is called the Life of Sarah.

When I delved into the pages I thought, hmmm, what kind of challah can I make to express something about this parsha and about Sarah.
Then I got the idea to make a Challah Cover! At first I thought it like a gift, a Mazel Tov (congratulations) to Isaac and Rebecca.  But as I meditated about how to make it, I started to see back to the title this Parsha.  We know this is about the LIFE of Sarah, even though it doesn`t plainly talk of her life.  The words the life of Sarah is even repeated again at the top of the parsha.

So I realized that Sarah`s name would be at the top and centered of the challah cover.

As I practiced writing all the names in Hebrew--- Izchak, Rifka, Sarah, Avraham, I started to layer them in cloth to express that Sarah lives on through her descendants, and through the great woman, mother---from Sarah came Jacob, and the twelve tribes of Israel--, prophet, and wife that she was.  And is as she lives on through the Torah and in our lives.

It is my first Challah Cover!! It is so exciting to learn to write the Hebrew names of my ancestors using thread as I make it.  There is something so beautiful to see each letter as it emerges on the cloth, and to think about Sarah as the mother, Matriarch of the Jewish people and of all the Seed of Abraham!!

Stay tuned, I still have a day before Shabbat and will hopefully have the challah cover ready.

Many blessings and Shalom!!♡

Shayndel