The challah this week came out looking a little like clouds!!
Reading in the book of Numbers, can you see even on my mini Torah scroll how the Torah is getting thicker on the right which means we are getting nearer to the end of this cycle and already nearer to the Fall Feasts!!
Shabbat continues into the week with challah for breakfast and a peace that endures:))
The steadfast Love of the LORD never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning.
Great is Your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22~23
In this weeks parsha Beha'alotcha we read about the cloud of God's presence that signaled the Children of Israel to move or stay. The Challah this week came out looking a little like clouds. I learned recently if you knead the dough longer it makes the challah come out more fluffy!! So my challah do have a slightly more fluffy look and taste!! Fitting I thought for the reading about the Cloud of Glory this week!. On Friday morning I ran into one of my neighbors in the building outside at our bicycles and said I`d be making challah and asked to give her a challah and she said she'd be glad to receive it, and we set a time in the evening that I would give it to her. When I stopped by just before sunset on the evening, and gave her the challah, she gave me these beautiful hydrangeas!! In the opening of the parsha we read about keeping the menorah lit, and how it was actively kept lit and set up by Aaron the High Priest. Interestingly, the Jewish sages tell us that the continuation of this service thru the generations of Kohen (of the tribe of Levi who are the *Kohanim*, or high priests) goes forward to the Hasmoneans (Maccabees, led by Judah Maccabee) who you may recall fought and won the victory against Greeks in the story of Hannukah. As we all know the story, they got back the Menorah and re-dedicated the Temple after the Greeks desecration and attempt to take it. I found that illuminating to the Hannukah story, not having realized that connection of the Maccabees to the descendants of Aaron and His service to the LORD in keeping the Menorah lit!! They had this in their history to be in charge of menorah and that sheds light on their zeal when they saw the temple being desecrated and that the Menorah was threatened to go out.
So even today the Menorah is always lit and we see it connecting back to the commandment given to Aaron that we read in this parsha. Through Yeshua we are commanded to be the Light of the World!! To me it is meaningful to know how the spiritual light has been lit all these thousands of years and how we connect to the whole of God`s plan for worship and for keeping Him at the center of our lives and being responsible to dispel the darkness and keep the light kindled continually!! The symbolism is so beautiful as even in the description of the Menorah the lamps are all pointing in towards the center. Like Aaron who prepared the lamps of the Menorah and did His service with a passion for serving the LORD, we too have to keep the light of God shining in this world, focused on Him, and to be zealous in our keeping it shine. Reading about Aaron reminded me that the command to us to be the light of the world comes with generations before us who were keeping the literal and spiritual light lit and keeping the world going through that spiritual light in ways we probably don't even know!! Shining our light can be a very `humble` gesture but the acts of kindness make a spark that makes the light increase!! It reminds me in our parsha too how Moshe is described as the most humble of all people! And of course Yeshua tells us that it is in our service to others that we shine. Just some Shabbat thoughts to leave you with! Have a blessed week!! Let your light shine!
Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness that ADONAI had shown to Israel, since He had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Exodus 18:9
Yitro is the name in Hebrew of this week's (* last week's, by the time I am posting!!) Parsha, named for Moses' father-in-law Jethro. Jethro was a Midianite priest and former idol-worshiper who became a believer in the one true God, after hearing the wonderous things the LORD did for the Children of Israel, that He parted the Sea and He set them free. Jethro also had a good advice to Moses not to do everything himself, but to hire good men to help him.＊
I used my "Mt. Fuji and Ten Commandments" Challah cover this week in
honor of the parsha. The Challah cover is also a visual "prayer" that
here too where we are in Japan the people will hear and be transformed
by the truth of the one true God and receive His word and Salvation!
For this week I made 2 five strand challah to make 10 strands total to represent the Ten Commandments! For the Challah-cast this week (HERE, or see "screen" below!) I show how to braid a five-strand challah. My brother, who has been watching my weekly challah-casts, has been telling me to put in more of the making of challah and less talking!! (I did the challah making, as per his request, but there is also still a lot of talking, sorry Jim, I'm working on it!)
In the parsha Moses tells the children of Israel not to be afraid of the thunder and mountain quaking, but that they have to Fear the Lord and not go astray (Exodus 20:20). God Himself tells them several times in the book of Exodus and later throughout the Torah, that if they fear Him and observe all His commandments He will not bring upon them the diseases "that He brought upon the Egyptians".
26 He said, “If you diligently listen to the voice of Adonai your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His mitzvot, and keep all His decrees, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians. For I am Adonai who heals you.” Exodus 15:26
He also made this clear in the ten plagues, where the plagues were judgement put upon the people of Egypt and yet didn't touch the Children of Israel who were all in one accord to follow His ways.
He is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow. May we Praise Him, and fear Him and not go astray. Observe His statutes with delight. And may the diseases not come near our tents (Psalm 91:10). May more and more people say Yes to His Salvation.
Did you know that at the time of the giving of the Torah, it is said in an account in the Mishnah(Sifrei Devarim 343) that all the nations were given the chance to receive the Torah and the Ten Commandments. But all said no on certain commandments that they couldn't abide by, and after that only Israel said YES, and their YES was without questioning the specifics of what they would have to do, they put all their faith in Him and said Yes, we will do all that You ask. The other Nations all were said to have said no to one or the other commandment, and turned down His offer of the TORAH on those things that didn't agree with them. For one nation, "no murder" was unacceptable, it was their way of life, they just couldn't commit. For another, no adultery--- out of the question as that was part of their way of life (I am not naming nations! but so it is said!). And so on! Only Israel gave their reverential and unequivocal YES, acknowledging that that HE is their Master and Creator and Sovereign King, and they agreed to receive the Torah.
We are given the choice each day anew to say Yes, LORD, we will do ALL that you ask us to do because You are our God.
Seek His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all else will follow.
Blessings and Love,
S h a b b a t S h a l o m ! !
♡
＊Thank you Hobbyloes! I added this line from your comment:)!
From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread as a wave offering of first fruits to the LORD.
--Leviticus 23:17
I love the spring feasts center around bread!!
Israeli oranges in Japan
(with Israeli oranges, and following the feast days, an `otsukaresama-de` cranberry smoothie)
something new
PS my Shavuot postings are late! But as its still the month of Sivan...still within the Hebrew month, I am seeing if I can smoothly insert them in!
For more postcards from Shavuot, please enjoy posts here.
As we are nearing the end of the Fifth book of Torah, I have finally completed my Fourth Challah Cover! It is time to start on the fifth quickly, so without further ado, I will just share some of the photos of the fourth, and hope you enjoy how it came out. It surprised me how playfully the pink cloud of Cherry Blossoms above Mt. Fuji echoes the shape of the Challah!
Also how the mountain becomes voluminous when it covers the Challah.
Can you see how the elements come alive when the challah cover
does its job of covering the Challah!!
The `Torah` on top of Mt. Fuji can be seen in this photo below, as well as bits of fabrics in Japanese patterns that are used in places on the front and back.
The islands will wait for His Torah. ---Isaiah 42:4
The first ten letters of the Hebrew alphabet, representing the Ten Commandments, are embroidered onto the shape of Mt. Fuji.
It surprised me how playfully the pink cloud of Cherry Blossoms above Mt. Fuji echoes the shape of the Challah!
Views of a Challah Cover, above `Flat and extending over the Shabbat Table`, and as it drapes over the Challah....Shabbat Shalom from Japan!
God Bless you and Shabbat Shalom!
Love,
Shayndel
*Note: Extra special thanks to K-san, who some readers may recall meeting through my Postcard Challenges!! It was her inspiration on this Postcard Challenge post HERE that gave me the ideas for this Challah Cover, including the idea of the Pink Cherry Blossom cloud, and the use of the Japanese pattern fabrics, so it really became a collaboration. Thank you K-san!
In my first year of reading the Torah, I have been making onechallah cover for each of the five books of the Torah.
This week`s parsha is a double portion and the last readings in the Book of Numbers--- Tribes, and the Journey, Matot and Masai.
May what we are learning each week and each day in Torah become a part of the fabric of our lives of worship to our Maker!!
Chazak! Chazak! V`nitchazek!*
Blessings and Shalom!
Love,
Shayndel
*Be strong! Be strong! And may we be strengthened.
This phrase is said after finishing each book of the Torah.
What does it mean and why do we say it? This post on a blog I came across answers those very questions.
