Draw me after you, let us run! The king has brought me into his chambers.
(Chorus: Daughters of Zion)
Let us rejoice and be glad in you; let us extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you!
Song of Songs 1:4, Let us sing it together!
Dear Friends,
Happy to see you again, and to return after another unplanned blog break, this time with a new and `unleavened` header!! I hope you are all well.
The holiday of Pesach, or Passover, is approaching. It`s time to change the header of my blog from leavened to un-leavened bread!
Praise the L-RD we have entered into His first month of Springtime, the first month on His Biblical Calendar. In the bible whenever you see a verse that references the first month, if it is after the Exodus from Egypt, it is referring to this very month we are in now!!
We give thanks as we enter into the month of AVIV, also known as the month of Springtime, also known as Nisan. It is the month of Redemption, Renewal, of Passover, of Freedom!!
Chodesh Tov! We pray a time of new beginnings for you and your family and for all that G-d is calling you to!!
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
More to follow ~~ I hope to get back to posting again in this favorite season here at Challah and Cherry Blossoms, as the Cherry blossoms have just started to open announcing the glory of G-d and the expectation for new life in Yeshua as we align in His first month of Springtime and prepare our hearts...and homes... for the coming Passover!
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.
1 Corinthians 5:8
Blessings and Love,
Shayndel
❤️
Note about the pictue, for the record: I just received a delivery of matzah!! I am rejoicing because on my calendar I have marked `order Matzah` on tomorrow`s plan, and already I have received it!! Praise God, and may He always go ahead of us! May His shalom and AHAVA Love be multiplied to you!
Let the Shalom of Messiah rule in your hearts -- to this shalom you were surely called in one body. Also be thankful. Colossians 3:15
Shabbat Shalom friends.
Shalom. Yes, that is the word for today! We read in this week`s Torah portion about Phineas, the grandson of the High Priest Aaron, who took matters in his own hands upon encountering an Israelite prince having sexual relations with a Midianite princess in front of the Tent of Meeting. He took a spear and ran it right through both people together and killed them.
This was a zealous act by Phineas who saw that things were going too far and the people were practicing blatant idolatry and abomination againt God and His Torah. After his act of violence, the plague that was set upon the people was stopped although already 24000 had died.
After this Phineas was given a B`rit Shalom by God, a Covenant of Peace and everlasting priesthood. Although it was a violent act, and not something that we are to follow, it was pleasing to the LORD as he was acting in accordance with God`s heart for His people.
We read this and are reminded as the people of God to be zealous for the things of God and for the word of God. Being careful not to be zealous for our own motives, but to be in alignment with God`s heart.
May the shalom that is beyond all understanding be with you and your family in Messiah Yeshua!
Love ,
Shayndel💕
PS if anyone has not yet signed up for my AHAVA Parsha prayer sheet and would like to receive it weekly, please let my know either in a comment or send a note to me at:
ahavaprayerandmovement@gmail.com
Shalom!! Shalom!
💕
PS note for my records, today, just as I am writing this morning this post, I heard the first sound of a `cemi` , cicada. For us in Japan that means summer is here!
Blessings and love, Happy summer or whatever season it is where you are!!
PSS Note my original `Shalom Pillow` is available for sale at ZAZZLE!!! bring Shalom to your home and share it with others!
But now these three remain --- faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13*
(*this scripture here because the story of Ruth is a LOVE story, though these are not the three words I did in Challah, I think I will have to do these three words in challah for another upload!! Read on to find out what the three words in challah are today. Or rather, you will have to watch Part 1 at least to find out the words!! Enjoy!)
Dear Friends,
Just coming in for a quick hello and to say Shabbat Shalom!
For your viewing pleasure and hopefully some Hebrew learning and insights, I am sharing this mini-series in 3 parts, freshly made. We haven`t done a word study in Challah for some time, and I felt a divine encouragement to make these three words !!! They are three words in Hebrew from the Book of Ruth.
As you know the book of Ruth is read at Shavout for its taking place in the Harvest season as well as for the coming together in a love story of Ruth and Boaz and the strong echoes of the bringing forth of Messiah Yeshua ....generations later!!!
Well, I can`t write much now as I have to clean up my house for Shabbat and spent all morning making the video! I hope you might watch and enjoy it, and that there might be something in it that blesses you. As I told another blog friend/sister, I felt the LORD wanted me to post this series before Shabbat, so I am premiering it here!!
Please join me under the Cherry trees to share from a few different pages in the Passover Haggadah. The Haggadah is what we read from during the Seder at Passover. Haggadah means the `telling` of the story and `Seder` means `order`.
I hope there might be something new in it for you from a `Messianic` Passover Haggadah, and I also hope you will be able to enjoy the beautiful springtime in Japan, as the series goes from from the full bloom and full moon of the month of Nisan, to the petals falling from the leaves, to the new spring green!!
Blessings and Shabbat Shalom! Love, ❤️Shayndel
PS this is part 4 !
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the Name of the LORD.
I hope you will be blessed by this `unleavened` Challah-cast!
Or rather, in this season, I can call it a `Matzah-cast` as we begin to enter the time of Passover and Feast of Unleavened bread.
I hope you might even learn a little Hebrew if it is new for you. In any case, I think it will be the first time for many to see Hebrew words in `matzah`. It was new for me and I found them to be very beautiful and remind us of the `humility` and fruits of the spirit that we are to embody in Messiah Yeshua. There is a quality of unleavened bread that we can discover in this month of Aviv and as we experience anew the Deliverance that God has for each of us both personally and as a people in Him this Pesach.
As its time to clear out the hametz from our hearts and homes, replace
the blog header with `unleavened` header, it only naturally follows that
the Challah-casts too for this Springtime season leading up to
Passover will be `Unleavened`!! It is amazing how that just happens as
we clear our hearts of hametz. The Feast doesn`t officially start until this weekend, but somehow even the days leading up to it, to make a challah in the week before Passover feels so
`puffy`!!
Blessings to all in this month of Deliverance, month of Springime, month of Yeshua!
Who would have thought, on this year when I couldn`t return home to travel to see my
family in the U.S. or even to visit my daughter here in Japan, and was feeling a sense of sadness before the holidays, not
really being able to imagine being on my own to celebrate
the Feasts of Simcha... and yet, and yet God... and God!!! Yes, He sees
our heart and he assured me with His banner of Love and with the words
that said "You will rejoice in your festival and your joy will be
complete." He sent me that word, literally, as you have seen in the
posts below, on the banner that came in the box with the tent poles and
sh`cach.
And after all, it turned out to be a a wonderful season of the Feasts--- the tent from Abraham, the challah casts with all you, and rejoicing and celebrating with new ministries that the LORD has opened the doors to in Asia and Australia....dwelling in the succah...all things new...and now we come out of the `succah`, we are ready to start again from the beginning!!
Enjoy this short upload, Scrolling back the Torah scroll to the
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:1
Invitation to new beginnings!
If you haven`t read on the Torah cycle and you have had it in your heart to start, there is no better time then now, as today, this very day we are starting again in the book of Genesis!!!
Here is a list of Torah readings and related readings for the year 2020~2021, beginning today in Bereshit, Genesis: HERE
And if you haven`t said yes to Messiah Yeshua, I would like to share a prayer that would bring you into a new beginning in Messiah Yeshua!! He is the Torah made flesh!!! I pray at this new beginning of the Torah cycle, oh LORD, that there will be many people who will recognize the need for You in our lives. That You are our Salvation!!!
Dear LORD Yeshua,
I invite you into my heart.
I receive you as my Saviour. I want to start a new beginning with you.
I ask you to Be my Saviour and the LORD of my Life!
PS the word in challah at the header is `OHR` which means LIGHT!! As in Let there be LIGHT! As in Genesi 1:3, and in the photo above you can see it in `Light of the World`, as in John 8:12!!
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. James 1:17
Would you believe it, this challah was a gift, sent to me from Tokyo!! A good and perfect gift from our Father in Heaven, who sent it through the synagogue , surprise and touched my heart in ways that only He knows how!! (the perfect round challah in a perfect square box, the box had my name on it hand written all around the box!!!)
L`Shana Tova! A card for you!
This one I made! A three strand braid shaped in a circle like a crown
.
Praise is awaiting You in Zion, O God,
and to You the vow will be fulfilled.
Psalm 65:2
A few friends asked about how to make the round challah and to see `part 2` of shaping the challah, so I am popping in to share the upload for Part 2, and share a few reflections on the Feast days and the Ten days of Awe that we are in, as well as about the challah!!
So without further ado, here is Part 2. Sorry it doesn`t include the receiving of the challah gift described and pictured in top photos above!! I had already filmed the video!! But if you can, just imagine another doorbell ring, like in Part 1 when the sukkah was delivered from Abram the tent maker. This time it was a Japan postman at the door delivering a Round challah from the King!!!
As I have shared before, the round challah is my recommendation for all the fall `chag` (chag-im) feasts!! I am thankful for master challah teacher Tamar, who I got a lot of tips from for making the challah this year. I learned a few new things, including sifting the flour first, using oil instead of flour on the board for rolling and kneading if needed. I made three of the shapes she taught about (see upload!). I gave the ones I made to others, including of course one for my daughter, and to neighbors or friends to share about the holiday and God`s goodness. So I was extra grateful for receiving the challah (from) above!
The next feast is Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement, and the holiest day on the Kingdom calendar, with the Shabbat of Return (Shabbat Shuvah, or Shabbat Teshuvah!) before that. It is very wonderful to see this year here in Asia, and many people now in the body of Messiah everywhere around the world, are beginning to more and more understand and enter into God`s appointed feasts. And to pray for Israel during these days. Many Jewish people still do not know their (our) Messiah Yeshua. Over hundreds, thousands, of years of history, He has become unrecognizable to the Jewish people, so removed even from His own feasts (*actually another word is `moedim` which means God`s appointed times and seasons). The Feasts of the LORD are the appointed days that Yeshua made as part of His plan of creation and redemption and for heaven and earth to meet in Him. From the beginning it was all in place. At the Restoration of the Kingdom of God on earth they will be continue to be celebrated and they will be fulfilled by Yeshua Himself, the coming King. On this Shabbat of Return, and in this year 5781, May He reveal Himself to the Jewish people and to the world that He is the Messiah of Israel and Savior of the World!! This is a time of restoration of all things and its exciting that we each have a part to play!!!
And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
" The Deliverer shall come out of Zion.
He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."
Romans 11:26~27 (referencing Isaiah 59:20~21, 27:9, and Jeremiah 31:31~34)
Oh, so of course no challah on Yom Kippur as it is a complete fast, for 25 hours, but you can have a challah prepared in advance for the break-fast, or for the continuing days of the feasts through Succot!!
By the way I started putting up my Succah today!! Its my first real succah, and I can recall how it harkens back to the Tabernacle and forward to the wonderful day when God will dwell with us here on earth!!!
And assemble the banished ones of Israel, And will gather the dispersed of Judah.
From the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:12
This week I took a challah class on line through a master challah maker named Tamarin Israel.
She taught how to make 10 shapes of round challah!!
For my “round one” (first round!) I just made it to three variations. My favorite is this four strand that weaves together on a crown-like round. I like to see it also as expressing the gathering of all Gods people from the four corners of the earth to bring us back to Him and to the land of Israel!!!
This year when I read these scriptures about Him gathering us back, here in Japan, sometimes wondering how ever did I get here--reading these words of the scripture helps me to understand that we do get where we are in the four corneres of the world by His hand and are waiting to be brought back!
I made a few! (round challah)
I made a Challah-cast too but only got as far as getting ready so far!! You can see that Part 1 below. It has the scene where the succah delivery comes, so the mood is one of getting ready. With the added suspense of whether all the dough for this full recipe will fit into my bowl!! The actual shaping/making will be in Part 2! Enjoy, and stay tuned!!
As we are coming around to the end of 5780 and preparation for the New Year on the biblical calendar of God, may we stand solid in the center of His love. Abide in His Love!
Shana Tova! Wishing you A good year!! May it be a healthy, fruitful, sweet, and joyous year for you and your Loved ones.
May we pray for all Israel and the world for Salvation, for healing, for Shalom.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
May those who love you be at peace.
Psalm 122:6
The challah master teacher I took the course from is named Tamar, which means Palm Tree! So I just put in this photo (above top) as I was sitting by the `palm tree` when making the challah!! The photo directly above shows how to braid the first four strand variation. And below, is my original `Hebrew letters` in Challah in anticipation of the beginning of the new year and new start of the Torah cycle !!
The word above is `Bara` and it is the second word of the Torah (in the Hebrew line up).
In the beginning, God created...
(note* the making of Hebrew letters in challah is my own variation, and was not something that was taught in the Master class! )
Much Love!!♡
Shayndel
#challahandcherryblossoms, #messianicjapan
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Post returned, though still in progress
Thank you friends, I returned the post below, but temporarily removed the Hebrew postcard, To add an א !!!!!
The Hebrew version of the postcard will return shortly!!
I couldn`t leave the post out of commission for too long, as the word that it contains is from the scriptures and I wanted to have the word posted , even if the postcard will be delayed!! Reminded that the word of God will remain even after the heavens and earth ( and all the material world things ) pass away!!
Meanwhile, I needed to get a new yellow color pencil, you may not believe it but I used the very last of the color pencil to color the postcards, and to make the correction I needed more yellow to fill the heart around `God is Love` in Hebrew!! That may be more blog- behind-the-scenes that you needed to know, but as you are my loyal and wonderful blog friends who hold me accountable for my actions by your loving and caring comments and sharing, I felt to tell you what was happening on this end, probably things only a fellow blogger could understand (I hope!! Lol!!:)!! And if anyone has no idea what I am talking about, no worries!! Enjoy, have some challah, and thank you for visiting!!!
Meanwhile, We at Challah and Cherry Blossoms apologize for any inconvenience with my posting and reposting!! and For your viewing pleasure during this inconvenience, I invite you to watch my new One-minute `Trailer`!!! at Joanne`s Challah-Cast Channel. (note : its a new Trailer!!!, the feature has already been released!!!
Worthy is the Lamb! See link below for the Messianic Hagaddah I used for the Passover Seder
Charoset, a mixture of apples and nuts and wine or grape juice symbolizes the mortar that the Children of Israel used to make bricks in the time of slavery in Egypt.
On the Seder Plate, Each item represents something in the telling of the Exodus story and in the revealing of Messiah Yeshua
We drink 4 cups of Wine during the Seder, as per the words in the Scripture in Exodus 6:6, God's promises of redemption and making us a people unto Him. Yeshua too drank 3 of these cups at His seder, the 3rd of which has become the "communion" of the New Covenant.
3 matzah are wrapped in a "trinity" of Matzah! The middle matzah is the Afikomen, which represents the body of Yeshua and which is "hid" during the seder, and found at the end of the meal. Yeshua Himself has been "hidden" from the Jewish people, soon to be revealed with great joy and rejoicing for all!! The Truth shall set us all free!!!
This year the blossoms fill our inside and the Passover spills forth outside. On Passover in Japan the renewal and resurrection that is expressed in the Month of Springtime, Nissan, and the resurrection and Redemption that we celebrate in Yeshua on Passover, seem to echo each other as the blossoms and Passover spring forth in the month of Nissan. I say every year that I can't wait until the Japanese people know their Messiah and maybe it will even be so that after this year when there are no people picnicking under the blossoms, that next year there will be a new gathering under the blossoms in the recognition of our Creator who brings this all forth and our Redeemer who will deliver Japan too in His mighty Hand of Salvation!! I can't wait!! This year when reading in the Hagaddah, I also learned that Nissan is called "Chodesh Yeshuah". Which means the Month of Salvation. For the Jewish people too, I can't wait until they know thier Messiah. Me too, I didn't know Him until six years ago. It is so amazing that for 2000 plus years Jewish people know that the month is "Chodesh Yeshua" and yet we have lived with not knowing the truth of Yeshua who is our Passover Lamb, the Lamb that the whole seder is based upon and reveals. As I observe the Passover year after year, as a Messianic believer reborn in Yeshua, this reality of Yeshua as our Passover Lamb just bursts alive, as each element on the Passover table reveals our Messiah. And yet most Jewish people, including all of my family, still have not received this truth. I pray this Passover that all my Jewish family and all my Japan family will know this truth, and the truth will set Israel free and Japan free and all the nations of the world free!!!
BTW, why a Tambourine on the Seder table?? Its my original addition, as it represents Miriam the prophet, Moses' sister, and her great faith in God her Deliverer and the Saviour of her people. She was all prepared and had "packed' her timbrels knowing in complete faith and believing that God would bring about a great Deliverance! When indeed the Jewish people were led through the Sea of Reeds and set free on the other side, she led the women in timbrels and dancing!!! May we have our timbrels ready for His great deliverance this Passover as well! Blessings and Happy Passover, and a happy Month of Yeshua!!!
note: the Hagaddah I have used this year and last year is THIS LINK, Messianic Hagaddah. I'm sure there are many you can find, and this one is pretty long!! But even so, I have found it very good for teaching and for the seder!!! Recommended for all who desire to see how the Jewish Passover reveals our Messiah Yeshua, as well as the Revelations for the Passover we will all celebrate together when it is fulfilled in the Kingdom and we drink the fourth cup with Him, all together as ONE in Him!!!
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female---for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua.
Note: This post is from last year (Spring 2019) before Passover, and I never ended up posting it. Somehow I saw it today when I was going to edit a post, it was in "drafts". I didn't purposely mean to post it but I posted it. That seemed strange but as it was what it was, I decided to leave it!!! And see how it speaks to us today!! Hope it blesses someone or speaks even to me in some way about this Year's Passover--and actually I just read it and amazingly, it completely does speak of this year "where God's people are some here, some there, may we all join our hearts as One , as we prepare for the ultimate Redemption..."(read on!) *** (Note: I started this post "on the go" before Passover, so it is from a few weeks past already! I was too rushed to post !! I went "up" to Tokyo for Passover. I made a trip to Tokyo to have Passover with my daughter, and attend a community seder on the second night. These were pictures, before my Passover "journey"to Tokyo! Of sharing a matzah and grape juice "communion" before actual Passover. Just sharing it now as we can always eat the bread and drink the cup as Yeshua tells us to and as the first Passover was taken in a rush to get out of Egypt, this "Passover to-go" set reminds me of getting rid of anything we still may be enslaved to and set out in this season free of those things that are full of "hametz", and trade them in for those qualities fitting for being freed as a child of God.)
As I am scurrying to get ready, to have the house cleaned of all the hametz. I confess (?!) I started eating matzah already, sharing in communion even over a week before Passover. Things with leaven already look heavy, bread so puffed up, and sinful! I am ready for the week of matzah, and no leaven. Today I had matzah standing up. Because in my cleaning I still had things around and there was no place to sit. When standing up I think of the Israelites who were commanded to eat the Passover in haste, not leaving anything leftover. They were to stand. In preparation to leave quickly for their Exodus. Exodus 12:10~11 Being set free happens at once and yet once set free there is still our lifetime to work out our salvation. At moments like these when we realize or start to , what it means to be set free and die to ourselves, sometimes we can't even sit down. And surely there are those moments when we can't even stand up, and have to kneel down and cry in sheer thanks to our Saviour for the finished work of what He has done for us. But the work we need to do is not finished, our work to come together as One in Him. On this holiday where God's people are some here, some there, may we all join our hearts as One , as we prepare for the ultimate Redemption...Well, these are just some thoughts on the go on the day before Passover!! I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also you must love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34~35 Many blessings...Love to all and a Chag Sameach Pesach!!
For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you—that the LordYeshua, on the night He was betrayed, tookmatzah;and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,“This is My body, which is for you. Do this in memory of Me.”In
the same way, He also took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is
the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in
memory of Me.”For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. ―1 Corinthians 11:23-26
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
