Chanukah Journal ~~Sevivon Sov, Miracles, Light and Names of God revealed on the dreidel!!

A Great Miracle Happened  THERE

...and the name of the city from that day on shall be "The LORD Is There."  Ezekiel 48:35

סָבִיב, שְׁמֹנָה עָשָׂר אָלֶף; וְשֵׁם-הָעִיר מִיּוֹם, יְהוָה שָׁמָּה

  

(catching up on posts! and trying out a new font...nice to see you again and a happy new year!)

This year during Chanukah, in additon to wonderful blessed time of sharing on-line  with people from four corners of the globe,  I also had a chance to share several `live` events in my community.  

One was an event called "Hikari and Kiseki", which means, Light and Miracles (in Japanese, 光と奇跡）.  It was an outdoor Community Dance event.  The playlist included Chanukah songs, Israeli songs, praise songs, and a last minute on the spot addition of Hava Nagila, a traditional Jewish celebration song.

Another event was a dreidel making workshop at the Onigiri Cafe (decorating above).  

Another Chanukah activity  highlight was that I designed a special set of `Letters on the Dreidel` Flags for Chanukah this year to use in  dance and in worship, where each flag has one letter from the Dreidel on it！

As you know the four letters on the dreidel-- Nun, Gimel , Hey and Shin--- stand for `NES GADOL HAYA SHAM`, ` A great miracle happened there`.  The powerful message of Chanukah!  This year, God shined a new light for me on these Hebrew letters, and in them I saw a new revelation to bring even more light into this Festival of Light ~~ He revealed  four of His names in them!! 

 

נ Nun stands for Nes, MIRACLE נס  ~~  Name of God revealed in Nes:  ADONAI Nissi, the LORD is my Banner.  Nes means miracle and is also the root word for Nissi, or Banner!, as seen in Exodus 17:15

ג Gimel stands for Gadol, GREAT גדול~~  Name of God revealed in Gadol:  El HaGadol, the LORD is a Great God

ה Hey stands for HAYA, HAPPENED היה~~ Name of God revealed in Haya:   I AM who I AM.  The word Haya is first used in the Torah when God says `Let there be Light` , so this Name of God also reveals the God who speaks everything into existence by His Word !!

ש Shin stands for Sham, THERE שמ~~ Name of God revealed in Sham:   ADONAI Shamah, the LORD is There ,Ezeikel 48:35 (bonus Hebrew insight in this verse, for anyone who wants to take a Hebrew challengs---see Hebrew above at top of post,  this verse also contains the word for `dreidel` in Hebrew!! Can you find it!? A powerful `movement` word with an intriguing line up of scripture)

As we spin the dreidel, as we worship, as we pray, as we move into His feasts and walk in His ways, may we turn the world back to Him!! May we always and continually shine our light, the light of Yeshua, all the days of our lives.  May we re-dedicate ourselves to Him anew in each day.  Giving thanks and all the Glory to God in the name of Yeshua!!

Enjoy one or all of these uploads with a few scenes from the above community events!!!Just a sampling, from  Joanne`s Challah Cast Channel and my new channel, in progress, AHAVA Productions.

Blessings and Love! Shalom upon shalom to you!

Love,

♡

Shayndel 

 

 

 

סָבִיב, שְׁמֹנָה עָשָׂר אָלֶף; וְשֵׁם-הָעִיר מִיּוֹם, יְהוָה שָׁמָּה

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nes Gadol Haya Sham, Hebrew Letters Challah! Parsha Vayashev Challah-cast

"Nun" on the dreidel stands for
"NES"  which means"Miracle"

Gimel on the dreidel stands for "Gadol" which means "Great"

"Hey" on the dreidel stands for "Haya" which means "Occured"

"Shin" on the dreidel stands for  "Sham" which means "There" .  Remember, on the dreidels in Israel this letter would be "Pey" which stands for "PO", which means "HERE"!

Nes Gadol Haya Sham, in Challah!!

Hebrew letters in challah is not what you would see on the typical Shabbat table, but our God sometimes asks us to go out of the typical!  As its something I love, so He is giving me the go ahead  in such a way on the challot these past weeks, from a "Shalom" challah to the "letters on the dreidel"  challah in a recent Chanukah challah, this one to go with the parsha Vayashev.

As I was making the letters,  I learned a lot as I shaped each one, even consulting a book on Hebrew Calligraphy to get the basic strokes right, and then while the dough was rising checking a little about the meanings of the letters, and looking for connections with reading about Joseph in our parsha from the week.

My "kitchen" and rooms became like a Chanukah Challah studio in the days of Chanukah.

Tonight is the seventh night of Hanukkah. Or Chanukah.  There are a few ways to spell it.   The CH sound in Chanukah has the same first letter as the CH in Challah.

I will share my challah-cast in which I make the "Nes Gadol Haya Sham" in Challah!  if you are moved to watch it please do and enjoy!!  It has some fun twists and spins, and a little learning as I go along!

Hope you enjoy it if you have a chance to take a break to view it during your end of the year cleaning and winding down, and that you might even learn something new and hope it blesses you!!  

Blessings and Shalom!

Love,

♡

Shayndel

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

I Have a Little Dreidel

It's the month of Kislev,  the 9th month of the Hebrew Calendar.  In this month the days grow darker and we have the holiday of Hannukah in which we celebrate the miracle of light, and the victory of the Jewish people led by the small group of Maccabees.  Today I shared about the Hannukah story at a small "book reading" at a cafe as part of an arts festival. The book is called "I Have a Little Dreidel" by Maxime Baum.Its really cute and gives good illustrations of gathering at a family house for Hannukah and making latkes (see posts Here) and playing dreidel.  Many people where we live do not know of Hannukah, they do not know of the miracle of the lights, and also do not have very much knowledge of Israel or the Jewish people, all things which they have no immediate connection with.  Today I will take the book and  hand made menorah and little gift boxes of dreidels.  Dear Holy Spirit please pour Your oil of anointing on the event to shine Your light and share something of the message of Hannukah.

I made this menorah out of kami nen-do, which is paper clay.  I didn't get to make the candles yet.  As its not yet Hannukah* and we won't actually be lighting candles, I will bring some "real" candles to show about the menorah, and some paper clay if any participants want to try making a "candle" ...or a dreidel! ...out of the paper clay!

The menorah is just about dry,  and I hope it stands up and doesn't crumble on the way to then next town where I have to go for the reading!!

Oh, dreidel dreidel dreidel! Do you know the song?
This is it with my translation into Japanese for tonights reading!!

 ♬小さいなドレイドル🎵

これは小さなドレイドル
私が粘土で作ったの
かわいて　出来上がったら
楽しくドレイドルで遊びましょう

オオ、ドレイドル　ドレイドル　ドレイドル
私が粘土で作ったの
オオ、ドレイドル　ドレイドル　ドレイドル
楽しくドレイドルで遊びましょう

I have a little dreidel 

I made it out of clay

and when its dry and ready
Oh Dreidel I shall play


Oh dreidel dreidel dreidel
I made it out of clay
Oh dreidel dreidel dreidel

Now  Dreidel I shall play

 by "The Blossoming Challah"!

Reading at the Onigiri Cafe.  (photos too)

Blessings and Shalom. ♡ Love, Shayndel

*Hannukah this year begins the night of Dec. 2, and lasts for 8 nights