Shabbat Shalom! from Japan, Shabbat Project: Vayera Challah in Hebrew Letters!

 

 Then Adonai appeared to him at Mamre’s large trees while he was sitting in the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day 

{...}  

Please let a little water be brought so you can wash your feet, and make yourselves comfortable under the tree.  

 And let me bring a bit of bread so that you can refresh yourselves— 

Genesis 18:1~5 (exerpts)

 

Firstly, Shabbat Shalom!!

Secondly, the photo above is from the past week`s Shabbat, a testimony from Japan.  We were blessed to participate in this years Shabbat Project in the Shabbat of `Vayera`.

Yay! We did it!   For the 3rd year I participated in the Shabbat Project.

It is a worldwide initiative where Jewish people all around the world join in to keep the Shabbat together.  They encourage hosting events like Challah bakes, Friday night dinners, learning from the Parsha, or other ways to put in action a gesture of hospitality to reach out to others to celebrate the Shabbat and share God`s love by coming together at the Shabbat Table!  I love this initiative and have had a tradition of making a Challah in the shape of the Hebrew Letters spelling Vayera for this special Shbbat.  And this year added to that a community dinner on Friday night.  Every year it is held on the Parsha of Vayera. 

 

That is the Torah Portion where the LORD appears to Abraham in front of his tent on a hot day and sends angels to tell Abraham and Sarah that they will have the long awaited child and seed from which the Nation of Israel would be established.  Abraham and Sarah always were ready to entertain guests and share about the truth of the one true God.  

 

Vayera means `and He appeared`.  My Vayera prayer according to that word is,  `May the LORD appear to us this Shabbat`.  May He appear to all those who know Him and to those who do not  know Him yet!

In between the rising of the dough, Aimei and I pray from our AHAVA prayer sheet, the week pictured is in Parsha Vayera.

For the past 2 years, this year is my third year, we have participated from Japan in the worldwide initiative to `Keep Shabbat Together` which is called the Shabbat Project.  We do the `challah portion` together on `zoom` from two different parts of Japan.  Please join us next time!!

 

To be continued ....

 

Love,

❤️

Shayndel 

 

 

 

Challah Nagila

Let us delight and rejoice in your love         
                                                            Song of Songs 1:4

Come let us bow down and kneel,

bend the knee before the LORD our maker,

for He is our God,

and we are the people He tends, the flock in His care.

--Psalm 95:6

♡

Shabbat Shalom!


＊

note:  I wrote this post last Shabbat.   I was going to post it after  finishing a draft and putting in the pictures, but the next morning I found out the news about the tragedy in Pittsburgh, and didn't post it as it is about joy and a wedding and then suddenly there was so much sadness.  
Is it ok to post it today?  I decided I will.  with a prayer of Sabbath Peace, today as we enter into a new Shabbat,  amid continued prayers of  healing and comfort to the entire Pittsburgh Jewish community and for the peace in the world.  Shabbat Shalom!


I love seeking the LORD on Shabbat.  And every day of course, but on Shabbat I feel more open to revelations, as if there is less work seeking,   He Is... His word opens up to spread out its fragrance in a new way.  To use the language of this week`s Parsha and study portion, Vayera, He ... appears!

When I was reading the Song of Songs,  welcoming the Shabbat and entering into His presence, this verse (1:4, above)  jumped out of the first page, and lit up a word that I have heard before, but for the first time noticed it in the scripture.  That word is the Hebrew word nagila.

 I looked more closely at the line, and read it a few times.   I was led to another line in scripture that has almost the same line, in Psalm 118, verse 25 (in the Hebrew).

The word nagila is a word I have heard often but didn't ever notice it before in scripture.  I recognized it from the famous Hebrew folk song, Hava Nagila.
  It is a song that is sung and danced to at Jewish weddings, but even if you have never been to a Jewish wedding, you may have heard it as its become a popular folk song around the world.

What excited me not only to find the word, then the corresponding scripture in the psalms, but also I thought, there is big wedding coming up!  When the Messiah returns,  there will be a great wedding、The wedding of the Lamb!   We are His bride!   A few things I want to do to get ready are to perfect my Cherry Blossoms Challah, to offer the guests at the wedding.  And  practice Israeli dances and have a few dances ready.   The sense in reading these verses was that that great day isn`t too far off.

Shabbat Shalom!

Love,

Shayndel

Parsha VaYera (post in progress)

For God so loved the world that He gave
His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. ---John 3:16

 

Seeds, Salt and a Zucchini Challah

塩 = Shio = Salt!  When you use zucchini in a yeasted bread, it is good to add salt first to the zucchini so it takes out the extra moisture and will make a smooth dough. 

The angel of ADONAI called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, "By myself I swear--it is a declaration of ADONAI---because you have done this thing, and you did not withhold your son, your only son, I will richly bless you and bountifully multiply your seed like the stars of heaven, and like the sand that is on the seashore, and your seed will possess the gate of his enemies.  In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed---because you obeyed my voice.

---Genesis 22:15~18

Plans for A Salt and Sesame Challah! It became a Zucchini Challah!


There is so much in this parsha, and this is only the smallest taste.

Note to readers, if you are just joining in to reading the blog, recently I started　studying Torah and from that,  my newest endeavor is thinking of creative challah to go along with the Torah portions!!

I planned to made a Salt and Seeds challah for the Parsha Vayera!
But the most unexpected events happened.
When I went to buy coarse salt to use on the challah for the `Salt`, a fire alarm sounded in the department store food floor where I was, and I couldn`t buy the salt.  The people in the store all had to be evacuated!  So I gave the salt back to the saleswoman, evacuated with everyone and stood and looked over the scene as the fire engines came in and the whole area was roped off. 

The fire started from grilled yakitori---meat on skewers.  I couldn`t help but think to the parsha for this week, which includes where Isaac was almost sacrificed as a burnt offering, but was spared by ADONAI in a great test of Abraham`s faith. 

I was holding a package of salt when the alarm went off.  As lately I am always thinking of the weekly parsha and the upcoming Shabbat, I couldn`t help but be doubly alarmed.  Not only that all this was happening in our local department story, but that it was on Friday afternoon.     The store would be closed for at least all of Friday afternoon and Saturday for investigation and clearing the smoke and assessing any damage.  Thankfully all the smoke was extinguished and people were able to get out safely. So I will leave that part of the story for a moment, and go back to the challah, as I mentioned it was Friday afternoon and it made me reflect on a lot of things and especially to be extra thankful as we were getting ready to enter to the Shabbat.

 I don`t have a Salt and Sesame Challah to show you, and as you can see instead I made a Zucchini Challah, using a gift of a zucchini that I was given by the mother of one of my students the day before.  In a way, there was still `salt and seeds` because I had to use salt (the `regular` salt which I did have at home) to take some of the moisture from the zucchini to use it in the dough. And seeds because zucchini have a lot of seeds.

So here is what I was thinking about with salt and seeds and the parsha!:

We always have a choice to obey or dis-obey God`s commands.  The salt and the seeds on one loaf are reminders of that.

God gave Lot`s whole family the chance to be saved from the destruction of Sodom.
He gave one command as they were fleeing, `don`t look back`.
Lot`s wife did not obey God`s command through the angel.  She looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt.

God gave Abraham a son when he was 99!  Isaac was born to him and to Sarah! 
God promised Abraham that through his `seed` he would become a nation and bless all the nations.   Abraham believed in the promise.
But then God asked Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son.  How could it be?  What looked like the only way to continue his seed, and yet now he was asked to make such a sacrifice!!
And Father Abraham obeyed!  His response revealed his Faith,  his complete obedience to God.

God blessed Abraham for his obedience, spared Isaac, provided a ram,  and promised again that his seed would multiply.

We know this scene also sets the stage and shows us  to the time when God himself would actually sacrifice and not spare HIS one and only son, Yeshua.  And in His death we all have life!

We can`t know sometimes why God is asking us to do something, and it is not for us to know as His ways are so much greater than ours!!

Seeds and salt, salt and seeds, everyday we have a choice to be the salt, to spread the seeds, by walking in Faith in God`s ways and commands.  The other choice is to disobey, turn the other way from His voice.  We may not actually become a pillar of salt, but by not walking in His ways, our lives are thwarted and ..

Can you see how they could make a good tasting challah and give us a lot to chew on in this parsha of Vayera!!!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.  By His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all He created.  ---James 1:17~18

And if you belong to Messiah, then you are Abraham`s seed---
heirs according to the promise.

---Galatians 2:29 

God Bless you!

Shabbat Shalom!