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

Light and dreidel -- Sharing Hanukkah

"Light and Dreidel"  is the name of a small community exhibition and workshop I had at a community gallery this past Sunday,  to share about Hanukkah.   Visitors were invited to  make a "dreidel" and enjoy an afternoon of  relaxed meeting , fellowship,  playing the dreidel game,  and learning a little about the festival of Light, which is Hanukkah!

A dreidel is a special game that is played at Hanukkah with a four sided spinning "top" that has four Hebrew letters written on it to represent "A Great Miracle Happened There", and as you know that is the Hanukkah miracle of the light that the pure oil that miraculously lasted long enough for 8 nights that should just have been enough for one .  

I love Hannukah,  though I must say I don't quite know how to spell it.

You can make a dreidel in two ways at the workshop, either out of paper clay or using origami paper "straws".

Of course, the idea of making a paper clay dreidel comes from the song! Which we sang.  In Japanese and English!

And the idea for the  dreidel craft from straws, comes from a creative Jewish Mom's blog, and it is This Post.  I love her creative and colorful Hannukah ideas, and when I saw it  I had an inspiration for my "Made in Japan" variation here, which is to use origami paper to make "straws".

Just roll the origami paper first into "straws" and enjoy all the variegated patterns and colors to make a dreidel decoration of many colors or many different colored dreidels. Because we were reading the Parsha about Joseph, it made me think of "Joseph and the many colored dreidels".

Please tune in  for a related Challah-cast from this week, all new,  HERE!

The original special edition challah in the header above will just be for the days of Hanukkah! It spells the letters on the dreidel which as you know stand for "A Great Miracle Happened There"!

Much love and Hanukkah blessings!!

♡

Shayndel

I was so happy to share about making a dreidel with the children!!  A few adults made one too, and when you make a dreidel as an adult, you feel like a child again!!

This paper clay dreidel was made by an adult who stopped by.  We found a new idea, to make the letters on the dreidel out of cut origami paper.

As part of the "light" theme, a photo that I took in Israel , Sunrise over the Sea of Galilee

, and of the Menorah that will go in the Holy Temple.

A Great Miracle Happened There--this is what the letters on the dreidel stand for, Nes Gadol, Haya, Sham.   Sharing about the miracle of Hannukah at a small community exhibit here in Oita.  This Origami craft Menorah I made inspired by this creative Hannukah Craft HERE that uses Straws to make an adorable menorah.

Reading the Hebrew letters from Right to Left, they stand for "Nes Gadol Haya Sham", a great miracle happened there.  The dreidels in Israel have one difference, there it says "A great miracle happened HERE"!

This little girl made her first dreidel.  She made it out of clay!

Sharing Hanukkah with children was a complete joy!! This is one of the new friends I made! She took home a little dreidel after we read together from the Little Dreidel book.

Reading this book, with a Japanese translation handy, that I translated last year with the help of my Japanese teacher!!  Its a fun book because it is all in "verse" to the Dreidel song tune, so even if the words aren't all understood, the pictures and the "song' are fun to share!

Another craft using origami paper rolled into "straws" inspired from this Dreidel Craft HERE!  Thank you to Creative Jewish Mom for the inspirations on her blog!

Sea of Galilee sunrise♡

Yeshua, You are welcome in this place!!

♡

And He called a child to Himself, set him in the midst of them, and said, 
"Amen, I tell you, unless you turn and become like children, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven.  
Whoever then shall humble himself like this child, this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever welcomes one such child in My name, 
welcomes Me.

Matthew 18:2~5

Many Miracles (and pomegranates!)

 pomegranate challah french toast!

Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you.  Isaiah 43:4

pomegranates (from America!) alongside Japanese grown fruits--the orange color are persimmon

Matthew 6:21, wouldn't it be wonderful on a billboard over Tokyo!!

Mt. Fuji from the Shinkansen (bullet train)

I didn't notice this child was behind me until after I saw the picture!  I like the way he (she?) is smiling and seems to understand that the light of the Menorah and the miracle of Light  is Yeshua's light!!

A city on a hill

But the most wonderful of all, for a mother, is to make the journey and arrive just in time to light the candles and have latkes and a homemade Hannukah dinner together with her daughter!!

Hope you are all having a beautiful and light-filled season.

Love,

Shayndel

♡

 ........................................................................................................
PS note added from my notebook!♡
"This Hannukah did not go unnoticed in Heaven.  
This one menorah alone shone its light from Oita to Tokyo and back again!"

A City on a Hill

♡

Momiji and Joseph's coat of many colors

underneath the red canopy, were all the colors of autumn!

The colors made me think of this week's Torah reading about Joseph and his coat of many colors

Now Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he made him a coat of many colors.
--Genesis 37:3 

That morning I had shared about Joseph in an English class, and used the lyrics to this song

The very same tree, here orange (above, view under the canopy), here red (below, view from the path), and in between, all the colors of autumn

How sweet is the light, 

what a delight for the eyes to behold the sun!

Ecclesiastes 11:7

Today when I saw this Momiji tree (Japanese maple)  I went up closer to it so I could see
its beautiful red coat.    Under its canopy there were every color of the autumn leaves, red and yellows and orange and greens.  The most beautiful momiji
I'd ever seen. I sat down underneath its leaves, looking up and marveling at the colors,

its exquisite sublimity.

Just this morning I had Joseph's song
on my heart so all the colors gave me a start to think of how
Joseph didn't try to hide the colors that he had inside.

 The afternoon light came in through the leaves.
I made this little quick sketch and share it for you if you would like to
 color Joseph's coat in the color of the leaves!! Enjoy!

As the upcoming season approaches and the celebration of the miracle of light at Hannukah brings increasing light into the darkening days,  shine your light in all you do!!

Here is a prayer if you would like to,  pray it for  loved ones! (Put the name of the one you are praying for)

May............let his/her light shine before men so they may see his/her good works and glorify your Father in heaven.     ---Matthew 5:16

Blessings and Shalom! 

Love,

Shayndel

♡

PS after posting this I showed the photos to someone, my Japanese teacher, and he told me that the momoji leaves change color in stages, and eventually all the leaves will turn the same red as the outer canopy of red, and then they fall off the tree.  This shows what a city girl I am, I hadn't realized that they will all change to red.   I'm a little embarrassed, but at the same time  the moment had a certain excitement in the not knowing...

 It seemed a miracle that there were all those colors on one tree with an outside canopy color, and then a whole world of colors unseen inside the canopy!!  As I experienced it (in my innocence or naivety about how things in nature work!!) it was  like God gave me the chance to witness that miracle and His hand on the whole thing!!  Which is what it is to see the changing colors, isn't it!!!  More than a PS, rather a Pretty Sensational!!! He is amazing!!  Give thanks to the Creator of Heaven and Earth!  Enjoy the colors of where you are.♡