First Plum Blossom and Tu B`Shevat

 

Come, my beloved ...Let us go early to the vineyards; Let us see if the vine has flowered, If its blossoms have opened, If the pomegranates are in bloom.   There I will give my love to you.        Song of Songs 7:12~13

 

The first plum blossom opened in the park next to where we live.  I am amazed how in Japan the plum trees correspond to Tu B Shevat, and then the Cherry Blossoms open at or just around Nisan 1 !  It has been my recent discoveries in Japan over the past few years how the seasons here with the blossoms so truly reflect the Glory of HaShem!!

This year I didn`t know...well, wait, that is not so...

I knew that despite the `lockdown` even on trees, that I would be able to see the first blossom of the plum tree.

I knew because God is faithful and He knows my heart.

Every year since I found out about the holiday of Tu B`Shevat, the New Year for Trees in Israel, God has been encouraging me to delve into His word about fruit and fruitfulness, and He has been sending forth the fruits from Israel, as I have often talked about on this blog !!

He also has showed me how the first blossoming of the Plum tree in Japan comes about just the time of Tu B`Shevat, which is the 15th day of the month of Shevat on His biblical calendar.  Why Biblical calendar? It is the calendar that He established with the Children of Israel when He set them free from the bondage of Pharoah and gave them the first month of Nisan.

Something else we can see about Tu B`Shevat, since it is the 10th month, is that we can begin to `prepare` for the Springtime and the spring Feasts of the LORD.  As the sap is beginning to come up into the trees that have been seemingly `dead` in the cold winter, we too begin to come into new excitement for the promised spring and the hope in the new season that we too will have a time of `resurrection` as the winter gives way to a new blossoming in us as well.    The springtime speaks of resurrection.  And so perfectly did God plan the death and resurrection of Messiah to be fulfilled in this very season of spring.  We can see it manifest in the creation magnificently when the fruit trees blossom , and then bear fruit!!

So back to my plum tree and the lockdown!!

Its a sweet story because this plum tree that I have been watching in this time of year is now in `shutdown`! Really, even the trees! We can`t access the park because it is closed off as they have a temporary location there now for testing, so there is a gate and its guarded.  But I have been asking the guard when I pass by, can I go in to see if the plum tree has blossomed?  And he started to get to know me, and usually he says no.  Then the other day he seemed to understand me and my heart to see the tree,   and just said `its too early, its not blossomed yet`.  Then yesterday, I passed by and he asked me, `do you want to see the tree? Ok, go ahead!`, (all in Japanese of course!) and he let me in!

And look (photo at top!)!! The first blossom!  I tell you, I got on my knees and cried.  And I made a blessing on the fruit tree (even though its before Nisan, it was just a prayer of thanks from my heart).

May it be a fruitful season for you and for us all and our families!

 

Much love,

 ♡

Shayndel 

First Blossoms, Shabbat of Song, A new Challah-cast, and Happy Tu B'shevat!!

Plum blossoms, and can you see , the "Tu B'shevat" moon?! 

Thou in Thy love hast led the people that Thou hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them in Thy strength to Thy holy habitation.        

                                                          Exodus 15:13

This Shabbat is known as the Shabbat of Song.
I love the sound of that, and the readings in the book of Exodus and the book of Judges this week that contain the Song of Miriam and the Song of Deborah.  Joyful and Triumphant songs of Praise and Redemption!!!  Isn't it amazing how Miriam had her timbrels all packed and ready on the Exodus, she was so confident of the Victory that would be seen from the mighty hand of God that she had all her worship instruments ready to take out and break out into leading the women in song and dance!! Praise God!! He is mighty!! The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea!!

In this week's Parsha, Parsha Beshalach we are also introduced to the manna which God sends down to the Children of Israel.  I love this parsha for the song, for the freedom, for the manna!!!

I talk about the manna and God as our provider in this week's Challah-cast.  You can see it  at the end of post or HERE   if you are moved to please do watch and to  let me know any comments!! I am trying to find a good balance between Torah and Challah, and each week's continues to be a learning experience  how to put it together.  You may notice in this one, I mostly talk! I do hope to include more of the challah-making as I go along and can find the good way to set it up!! I did some scenes this time but as I kept talking I was adding more and more flour and I lost my concentration on the challah, so I didn't include those scenes this time!!
Enjoy if you do have a chance to watch.

This Shabbat also comes around the time of the first blossoms of spring!!   The first blossoms we see here in Japan are Plum Blossoms, called UME (pronounced u-may) in Japanese.  I have a special love for these first blossoming trees and how their opening also corresponds to the season in which  the holiday of Tu B'Shevat is celebrated in Israel. 

Tu B'Shevat is the new year for trees!!

The trees start to 'wake up' as the sap and movements that we can't see yet begin to be activated from underground that gives rise to the opening of beautiful flowering blossoms!!  We can also tap into that creative unleashing in ourselves as we ask the LORD to help us to reach our creative potential and use our gifts for His glory.  May we all blossom in our gifts and use them for His glory!!

Blossoms appear in the land.  The time for singing has come.
Song of Songs...

Happy Tu B'Shevat !!!  Take a walk around, admire the blossoms!
Sing a song of Praise to the maker of all Creation, to the Redeemer who set us free so that we can worship Him!!! What a wonderful purpose to have!!!

🎵The LORD is my Strength and my Song! And He has also become my Salvation*!🎶

*my Yeshua!! ♫

 Under the blossoms, so fragrant,  I want to say, Thank you LORD for you are my Strength and my Song.  And you  have become my Salvation!!!  Thank you for saving me!! Creating me!  Setting me free!!  You are my Messiah, My Yeshua, and I love YOU!

Blessings and love!
♡
Shayndel (aka "Joanne" on the Challh-cast!!)

A tambourine  as part of the table setting for the Shabbat of Parsha Beshalach and the Shabbat of Song!! To remember Miriam leading the women with timbrels and the Songs of Praise !!

The very first Plum Blossom this year!!

The Ume Tree is back! notes

Praise God!
The ume tree is back and planted in nourished soil.
The workers who do the planting take such care of the garden work.
When I told my Japanese teacher about the gardeners, he said there is word to describe that in Japanese, Shokunin Kata-gi. 職人気質。He explained that it means  the spirit of a traditional craftsman.  

That word and the whole work of the gardeners and the blossoms and moving the tree reminds me of the spirit filled craftsmen we are reading about in the Parashat about the Tabernacle.
There are so many times the word "spirit filled craftsmen" is used in these parsha.

You know that everything reminds me of the parsha, when I walk through the days.  I have mentioned before how I also love the description of the blossom crafted menorah.  I am just copying a part of it here, just to copy it and honor the beauty of it and in the season of blossoms and the work of the craftsman, to the glory of God. 

I also think of the scriptures about restoration  and re-building, from Jeremiah.

I am happy that the Ume tree is back.

God brings order to our lives.   He plants and He uproots.
And He rebuilds and restores.

Blessings and Shabbat Shalom!

Love,
♡
Shayndel

You are to make a menorah of pure gold, by hammered work.   Its base, stern, cups, bulbs and flowers are to be one piece.  There are to be six branches coming out of the sides, three branches of the menorah out of one side and three branches out of the other.  There are to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms in one branch, each with a bulb and flower, then three cups made like almond blossoms in the next branch, each with a bulb and flower, and so forth for the six branches coming out of the menorah.  Whithin the menorah will be four cups made like almond blossoms, with bulbs and flowers.  Exodus 25:  31~34

The Moving of the Plum Tree on the New Year for Trees day

Let us go out early to the vineyards,
---let us see if the vine has budded,
if their blossoms have opened,

from Song of Songs 7:13

When I went down to see if the ume (plum) tree had blossomed, there was a construction sign in front of the first blossom.

  I found that the tree was being moved! With the earth beneath it too.

Imagine What a Tu B' Shevat surprise!

Right before my eyes!

The gardeners re-assured me that it was ok.  They were doing something that would be good for the tree.

I have learned to trust the gardeners, as I have mentioned before I do  believe  the gardeners around the castle are working for the King!

So let us enjoy this holiday, plant a tree, and sing!

I will post some views of the  Tu B'Shevat Challot in the next post!

This year the Plum tree where I saw the first blossom, 
is under construction.
Yes, it was a surprise to me too!

Seeing the sweet little blossom with the yellow and black construction sign,
just in the season of the New Year for Trees!

And yet the gardeners re-assured me that she is ok!

They are doing some work in the garden to make improvements,
and as it is in the garden of the Castle I trust that the King has it under control.

No matter what is happening on the ground, her blossoms reach up to the sky and open towards heaven!

          To be continued.....

♡

Fruit !

Always cut （trim))
the branches of an Ume tree, but do not cut the branches of a Sakura tree.

--wisdom from Japanese gardening

standing under the fruit and leaves of an ume tree in God`s gorgeous sunshine is a great happiness!!!

First Fruit of the Ume tree!!! (plums!!)

The ume (plum) tree has borne fruit!
 Its been exciting from January to see the gardener pruning the tree, and then the beautiful blossoms in February, and now the leaves are green and it is bursting with fruit.  Ume means `plum` in Japanese, and now on the tree at the castle you can see the green plum fruits appear on the tree.

Even closer to home, the olive and grape trees on our balcony are showing signs of fruit--i.e., little buds of blossoms. For the first two years we lived here, we didn`t see these signs except for one tiny patch of flower last year, so its exciting to see that little blossom buds are appearing on many of the branches.

  It is exciting how God`s word and calendar are expressed in the seasons around us,  May we too bear good fruit in this season.  Today is the 19th day of the counting of the Omer up to Shavuot.  It is also April 19th and a day to rejoice, it is Israel Independence Day!!  Happy 70th Birthday Israel!!

Much Love, 

♡ 

Shayndel 

photos:

The fruit of the Ume tree!! (Ume = Plum)  (above)

The beginning of flowers on the Olive tree on our balcony  (below)

But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God, 
I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever."   

--Psalm 52:8

And see in  the thickening vine and green and beginning of flowers on the grape vine (below)

Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.    ---John 15:4~5

Grape vine thickens so quickly, and the blossoms are shooting forth in tiny buds from between the leaves (too small now for my camera lens to find in this picture, but they are there!)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, 

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.   

---Romans 15:13

Diary--Parsha Terumah, and a Bee in the Ume tree

And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.  
Exactly as I show you--the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of its furnishings---so shall you make it.  
--Exodus 25:8~9, from Parsha Terumah

I walked by the Castle garden, smelled the blossoms on the ume tree.
A bee came by and did the same, so I moved out of the way, as he, the bee,
had work to do.

Then I saw there was not just one but two, no three,
there were many bees
buzzing around the ume tree!!  The first bee got most of the honey (pollen?) and so the next one to come had to try another blossom.

Things were busy at the ume tree, and then some men came and said it was a construction site and I would need to move outside the limits of the construction.
They had work to do.

So I moved outside the fence and did a little sketch.
This scene with the workers and  wood beams beneath the Ume tree reminds me of this week we are reading in Parsha Terumah about the Tabernacle and the description of the materials, all the acacia wood to make the various structures, everything laid out,  and what is to be done to make the sanctuary where God will dwell.  The descriptions about the menorah are so wonderful, and the design of the menorah is patterned with almond blossoms, and its branches are like a tree.

The description of the menorah starts out,

You shall make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be made of hammered work; its base and its shaft, its cups, calyxes, and petals shall be of one piece.   --Exodus 25:31

and continues, 

Six branches shall issue from its sides; three branches from one side of the lampstand and three branches from the other side of the lampstand.  On one branch there shall be three cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals; so for all six branches issuing from the lampstand.  --Exodus 25:32, from Parsha Terumah

I noticed that one construction worker's hat was spray painted gold.
And they were painting the beams with a roller dipped in gold paint.
 Unusual details.
And they were all dressed in camoflauge.

(I am struggling to write the last sum up line here, something about the way we receive our instructions from our Boss up in heaven.  I will see if I can get a good sentence to follow, leaving this in parenthesis for now)

Note well, and follow the patterns for them that are being shown you on the mountain.  
---Exodus 25:40

Blessings and Shavua Tov!!

Have a great week.
Love,
Shayndel

Note:  Ume Tree, Ume = Plum, so the Ume tree is the Plum tree.  Ume is pronounced oo-may and written like this in Japanese: 梅　or  phonetically, うめ.  Can you see the bee, and the man with the gold construction hat?

You shall make bars of acacia wood; five for the planks on the one side wall of the Tabernacle, five bars for the planks of the other side wall of the Tabernacle, and five bars for the planks of the wall of the Tabernacle at the rear to the west.  The center bar halfway up the planks shall run from and to end.  Overlay the planks with gold,                                                                            ---from Exodus 26:26

New Post--One more for Tu B`Shevat and Song of the Sea

The Song of the Sea (above) 

I didn`t yet color this drawing! So it is a gift like this if you would like to print it out on a postcard (a non glossy one that will take colors!) , and color it in the colors of spring and rejoicing!!

After Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, although that was nearby, for God said, "The people might change their minds if they see war and return to Egypt."  so God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds, and Bnei-Yisrael wnet up out of the land of Egypt armed.    --Exodus 13:7, begins Parashat Beshalach

When  I read these opening scriptures in the past weeks Parsha, after Pharoah had let the people go, and God was there with the Children of Israel (Bnei-Yisrael), and  describing the route He was going to take them, I thought, I know this voice.  I know Him.   I realized that the very same hand of God who parted the Sea of Reeds for the Children of Israel is the very same hand of God who gave me the plum blossom that opened on my Shabbat table last Shabbat!! (see posts just below!)

Reading those lines,  it was a first time that I had that feeling, it was not an `intellectual` knowing that this God who is the author of the Bible, and who did all the Miracles there is the same God who I pray to and have gotten to know in my life.  It was more of an `experiential`, body and soul knowing that that this really is Him.

Let the word of Messiah dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another with all wisdom in psalms and spiritual songs, singing with gratitude in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

--Colossians 3:16~17

Dear Father,
Thank you for this special week of Tu B`shevat, and for Your Word.  Even though this is not a biblical holiday, LORD I feel you have been speaking to me through your Fruits!  The pomegranates! The Israeli grapefruit, that was in our local supermarket once again just before Tu B`Shevat!

 And  through the gardener who was pruning the trees and gave me the blossom.  Your Word is living and alive, and everything in it speaks to us of your great Salvation.   Yeshua is our Salvation!  It is only through Your great Salvation that we can come to be free and know You, and to be in personal relationship with You, the Creator of everything, the Maker of Heaven and Earth.  It was Your hand that gave me that branch, and the branch blossomed in my hand!! It was You who brought the worship song to the food floor of the department store where I was buying the ingredients for Shabbat!! It is You who gave us your Son so that we can have Eternal Life, and who sets us free so that we can Worship You!!

Dear Father, I pray blessings and a fruit-full season of blossoming and rejoicing to each one who reads this, may you touch her heart, and may she know the resurrection power of Yeshua and your great Salvation in Christ Jesus!! Thank you Father, I pray, all Glory to You, in the name of Yeshua. 

Love
 ♡
Shayndel

Blossom & Rejoice

The wilderness and dry land will be glad.
The desert will rejoice
and blossom like a lily.
It will blossom profusely,
will rejoice with joy and singing,
will be given the glory of Lebanon,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the glory of ADONAI, 
the splendor of our God.     ---Isaiah 35:1~2

Biblical Fruits Challah for the Shabbat of Song and Tu B`shevat!

Figs, raisins, dates, pomegranate, olive oil, honey, barley, and one special addition, the grapefruit from Israel!

As The Shabbat of Song (see post below!) was just a few days before Tu B'shevat, I made a Biblical Fruits Challah for this Shabbat!!

This was a very exciting Challah to make! The ingredients themselves are a song.  They are expressing the 7 biblical species, which are foods mentioned in the Torah and eaten in Biblical times as well as used or represented for various significance such as in the Temple.  I took the challenge of seeing if I could find them here in Oita, Japan.  

 

Tu B'shevat is a holiday celebrated in Israel as the New Year for Fruit trees.  The name  means the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat, which is tomorrow on our calendar, from the evening of January 30 to January 31.  I first learned about it last year, and this discovery of a New Year, or Birthday for Fruit trees excited me.  It became a great delight-filled time in noticing the first blossoms on the fruit trees and gave me a new awareness of this season when the sap from underground begins to enter into the trees, renewing them, a time we don't "see"  much, but a time when much is happening to prepare for the first blossoms.

Blossoms appear in the land, the time for singing has come,

The song of the turtledove

Is heard in our land.

The green figs form on the fig tree,

The vines in blossom give off fragrance.

Arise my darling, 

My fair one, come away!

--Song of Songs 2:12~13

 Once I decided to make the Biblical Fruits Challah, I went Friday morning to gather the ingredients. I already had the Israeli grapefruit (famous post about the first Israeli Grapefruit HERE, and using it in the Challah HERE) And a pomegranate!!

There were dried fruits in the recipe and I also needed pomegranate juice for another recipe so I decided to go to a Department store I hadn't gone to for a while.  When I got to the food floor,  and was looking around at the dry fruits area a song came on the BGM.

Here we are preparing for the Sabbath of Song, I am in the dried fruits area, and a SONG comes to my ears, with words very clear, and in perfect English.

His Grace is enough.

I listened again,

His Grace is enough.

Oh my goodness, I am hearing this!

God I sing,  Your grace is everything!!

I was hearing worship music in our local department store food floor here in southern Japan.  Well, I practically hugged the store man, for playing such great music..

Posting note:   I didn`t realize at the time, but looked it up after from the words I heard, and it must have been the song by Chris Tomlin, Your Grace is Enough.  But how it came to our hometown Department store, ..Well, sometimes we don't need a reason.

God's Grace is Enough for me!!

Sustain me with raisin cakes,

Refresh me with apples,

For I am faint with love.

Song of Songs 2:5

 

He brought me to the banquet table 
and his banner of love was over me.

Song of Songs 2:4

Some notes on the Challah:

The dough was a very easy dough to work with.  Some of the fruity parts are that in the last stages you mix in the dried fruits--raisins and dates.  The recipe includes a fig filling that is rolled into the strands!!  You can find the recipe HERE-- Biblical Challah and Date Butter, and up on the sidebar at right.

For a perfect dish to go with this Challah for a Tu B`Shevat 'banquet`, see this recipe for Pomegranate Salmon