Happy Tu B`Shevat!

 In days to come Jacob will take root,
    Israel will bud and blossom
    and fill all the world with fruit.

Isaiah 27:6

 💛

Yes! The grapefruits are Jaffa Sweetie from Israel.  At Tu B`Shevat we were able to find them in our local supermarket in a small city in the South of Japan! Baruch HaShem! The prophetic verse is already coming to pass as Israel sends her delicious fruit out into the world.   I am so thankful to receive them here.  I remember the very first time I saw an Israel fruit in our local supermarket in Japan (HERE!), it was also Tu B`Shevat!! Once we open our hearts to love and pray for Israel, Heaven hears and God sends fruit!  The land of Israel becomes closer and closer, and we too get closer to our return.

But you, mountains of Israel, you will shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit for My people Israel; for their return is near. 

Ezekiel 36:8

Taste and see how good the LORD is.  

 15 Shevat, 5783

Happy Tu B`Shevat!

Love, 

Shayndel

 PS adding a verse with `my word` this year, inheritance, and how beautiful to go with the fruit of Tu B`shevat in all its prophetic splendour, and there will be a `sowing of Shalom`! Thank you LORD! We speak it forward on this very Tu B`Shevat today as the sap courses through the trees and they awaken in spring, and your Ruach courses through the spirit of your people to return to our inheritance in You!

For there will be a sowing of shalom: the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its increase, and the heavens will give their dew. I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.   

Zechariah 8:12

כִּי-זֶרַע הַשָּׁלוֹם, הַגֶּפֶן תִּתֵּן פִּרְיָהּ וְהָאָרֶץ תִּתֵּן אֶת-יְבוּלָהּ, וְהַשָּׁמַיִם, יִתְּנוּ טַלָּם; וְהִנְחַלְתִּי, אֶת-שְׁאֵרִית הָעָם הַזֶּה--אֶת-כָּל-אֵלֶּה

 

Hod Ve Hadar! Splendor and Majesty ~~ Succah Reflections and Fragrant Beginnings

They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
    and I will meditate on your wonderful works. Psalm 145:5

 

The Beautiful fruit of the beautiful tree

On the first day you are to take choice fruit of trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and rejoice before ADONAI your God for seven days.

Leviticus 23:40

I am lingering a little in the fragrance of the fruit called an etrog, which is a fruit associated with the Feast of Sukkot.  It has a fragrance that reaches my heart with the love of G-d and speaks of His Majesty.  I know, a heart cannot exactly `smell`, and a fragrance does not `speak`, but this fruit makes me think outside of the regular dimensions, and stretches my senses, that is how divine the fragrance is!  I hope to release even a little of that fragrance here in a blog post. 

In the verse that introduces the commandment to rejoice for Sukkot (Lev. 23:40 above), there is the mention of taking 4 species.  One of them as you can see in the verse (and in the photos as represented by the etrog), is the "choice fruit of the trees".  The Jewish sages have a discussion on this `choice fruit`, or sometimes translated as `beautiful fruit`.  They ask the question, does the modifier `beautiful` describe the fruit , or does it describe the tree?  That is the midrashic question around this fruit.

I don`t know the grammatical answer, but what spoke to me was the word itself in the Hebrew that describes the fruit, or the tree.  The word is HADAR.  It ultimately modifies and points us to the Majesty of the LORD God Almighty Himself!

This word, HADAR, הֲדַר~ which modifies the fruit or fruit tree, actually means splendor, honor, ornament, majesty!

The first time the word HADAR is used in the Torah (in all of the bible) is here in Leviticus 23:40, and after that we see this word HADAR is used to describe God`s splendor and majesty. We sometimes see it paired with HOD or KAVOD, as it speaks of God`s glory and His majesty.

הֲדַר, כְּבוֹד הוֹדֶךָ--    וְדִבְרֵי נִפְלְאֹתֶיךָ אָשִׂיחָה

They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
    and I will meditate on your wonderful works. Psalm 145:5

The four species together are also said to represent different parts of the body.  The fruit which is called an Etrog represents the heart.  The palm leaves the spine, the myrtle the eyes, and the willow the lips.

Taken together we can see how they represent worshiping God with our whole self, with every part of us,  as in Deuteronomy 6:4,

 Love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Connecting back to the Garden and forward to the Redemption!

We recently started in a new Torah cycle from the book of Genesis.  When I read about the fruit, that Eve took when tempted by the serpent, I noticed how It was described as pleasing to the eye.

I was thinking when I read it this time of this description of  `pleasing to the eye`,  as compared to the beauty of the fruit in Leviticus 23:40.  That which represents the deepest expression of God`s majesty, and His beauty that we see from the heart, is something that He reveals when we seek after intimacy with HIm... with all our heart.

I felt that G-d was speaking about how growing in obedience to Him is a way in which we grow into seeing His majesty and splendor.  

Those are some of my Succah reflections and fragrant beginnings.  As we start a new Torah cycle,  we are already in the third Parsha (Torah Portion)!  I will hope to catch up a little to where we are now, going into `Vayera` , which means `And He appeared` and comes from the root word `To see`!!

If anyone would like to join in following the Torah portions together, please let me know in the comment or in an e-mail (ahavaprayerandmovement@gmail.com).    I send out a weekly AHAVA  Parsha Prayer Sheet, which gives a short introduction to the Parsha and scriptures related to the weekly portion to pray for your loved ones, schools, community,  and for Israel!  

Blessings and LOVE ~  AHAVA!

Love,

Shayndel

Splendor and majesty are before Him.
Strength and beauty are in His Sanctuary. 

Psalm 96:6

PS Interestingly, after I wrote this post, I found that it was not just my discovery about the fruit representing God`s majesty!! I saw this article  on a Jewish website describing how each element is also describing an aspect of G-d, and relating to a verse in the Tanakh! I love that when the Holy Spirit leads us to our own discoveries, and then after we find the discovery that was already made!!

Each species has a particular reference to God, according to a Midrash in Leviticus Rabbah, 83: the etrog is symbolic of Psalm 104:1: “You are clothed in glory and majesty”; the palm is used because it is said Psalms 92:13: “The righteous bloom like date-palm”; the myrtle signifies Zechariah 1:8: “And he stood among the myrtle-trees”; the willow is significant because it is written in Psalms 68:5: “Extol Him who rides on the clouds (aravot), the Lord is His name.”

 PS notes to myself:

put a few photos of the succah here!

Article HERE  for how to make a fragrant spice box out of an etrog after Sukkot !!

 

 

Apple Matzah and the book of Ruth

 

Apple Matzah Kugel! Dreaming of Jewish comfort foods in Japan!

 

Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her lover? Under the apple tree I awakened you...  Song of Songs 8:5

I had a dream during the days of the counting of the Omer.   The dream was a close up of  a blog post!! The post ( in the dream, note: it wasn`t a `real life` post!) was on one of our dear friends`s Blog and it was a post on "Apple Matzah and the Book of Ruth".  Maybe  I had this dream to remind me to come back to the blog, as it was during my extended break!!

In any case I ended up making Apple Matzah (Kugel!) thanks to the dream and will just share a little about the dream and the Apple Matzah here and see where the post will take us!

The post in the dream was written and formatted different from her usual posts. It was in text colors like pink and orange and she shared about apple matzah and interspersed the post with insights from the book of Ruth!!

Ruth was an eishet chayil, a woman of valor (from Ruth 3:11)

I woke up in the morning wondering about this apple matzah!! I had never heard of it, and now I wanted to make it!  And yet I had no matzah, so I  settled for looking to see if there was such a thing `out there`.  When I googled `apple matzah` I found something called Apple Matzah Kugel!!! I wanted to make it but had no more matzah after Passover has passed, and I don`t know where to get it in Japan after Passover.  So I decided to do something extravagant, and ordered Matzah from the US by Amazon!! 

 Boaz was an ish gibbor chayil, a prominent man of valor (from Ruth 2:1)

The matzah arrived during the last few days of the omer count, actually it was on Ascension Day (40 days into counting the Omer, see Acts 1), so that excited me! I had been fasting for a 3-day  fast to seek the LORD about some things related to Shavuot, so I had a matzah `break-fast` communion with Yeshua on the day the matzah arrived!!

Naomi`s bitterness was changed to joy by the union of Ruth and Boaz and her return to the land of Israel and to God`s covenant promises for her life.  The people prayed that her household prosper in Ephrath and be renowned in Bethlehem (from Ruth 4:11).   Again the word Chayil is used here to mean `prosper`.

During the last days of the Omer count, I made Apple Matzah and brought it to a friends house for the Shabbat before Shavuot!!  The taste was not what everyone is used to, though thankfully some liked it!! I loved it, it was like a Jewish comfort food that I might have tasted in my childhood, and it was somehow the perfect Shavuot dish to add to a repertoire.  It only contains a little milk so it is not too heavy, and has apples and cinnamon so can be a good desert not too sweet but enough sweetness to taste and see how good the LORD is.  Try it at your Shabbat or Feasts! And notice I have sprinkled a few insights from the book of Ruth just like in the dream!

The geneology that ends the book of Ruth (Ruth 4:18~22)  is the geneology that starts the book of Matthew (Matthew 1:1~6), showing the seamless way God has given us the story of Ruth and her Kinsman redeemer, Boaz, and connected us to the genealogy of Yeshua who comes from their union.  Yeshua is the Redeemer, or Goel of Israel!!  It is a beautiful story of covenant love and chesed.  We can also learn from the way Ruth accepted God`s commandments and identified with Israel。 We can also see in it the beauty of Jew and Gentile coming together to help us understand the purposes of God for Israel,  as Ruth, who was a Moabite,  loved Israel and the God of Israel and joined herself with Naomi with the famous verse,

Where you go I will go, and where you stay, I will stay.

Your people will be my people, and your God my God.  

Ruth 1:16~17

Below I will share the name of a book I read this season in regards to  Messianic insights into the book of Ruth. It was good and a recommendation during this season or anytime as a devotional study!

I pray you had a blessed time of Shavuot.  And now, the revelation that I was waiting to see where this post will lead!  The Holy Spirit showed me to wonderful scriptures about apples and relating to Shavuot!! As Shavuot is the holiday where we  We thank God and receive His revelation anew,  we celebrate the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai and over 1000 years later on the very same day the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples of Yeshua (Greek, Pentecost)!!

SO I will end the post with these verses about apples and Torah and God`s Love!

Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my lover among the sons.  In his shadow I delighted to sit, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.  Song of Songs 2:3

Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples ~ for I am weak with love.  Song of Songs 2:5 (you may recognize this verse from my famous raisin cakes which just happen to be the bread I often make in the period leading up to Shavuot!)

 Keep my mitzvot and live, my teaching as the apple of your eye.  Proverbs 7:2

Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, Psalm 17:8

Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word aptly spoken.  Proverbs 25:11

For thus says ADONAI-Tzva`ot, He has sent me after glory to the nations that plundered you --because whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye --   Zechariah 2:12

Oh and last but not least! 

The recipe, HERE is the one  I used .  It was  easy and good, though of course you will need to obtain 4 sheets of matzah.  Enjoy!

The book I recommended above, Messianic Life Lessons from the Book of Ruth can be found HERE

Thank you DUTA for inspiring the dream,  and that I was able to express it in a post and hopefully return to more regularly blogging again!! 

Blessings and Shabbat Shalom!

Love,💕

Shayndel

Chag Shavuot Sameach from Japan! Love, Shayndel💖

 

 

 

Shabbat Shalom! Parsha Postcard ~ Shelach Lecha!

He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me is Love.

 

 Shabbat Shalom!

❤️

Love,

Shayndel

 

Please feel free to print out as a postcard and share a Shabbat greeting of AHAVA (God`s Love) with your family and friends!

 

Can you notice any of the `hints` in the drawing that refer to this week`s Parsha Shelach Lecha?

I will come back with `answers` after Shabbat !  Hope you enjoy `scouting them out`!!

Yes, `scouting them out` is a word that refers to this weeks reading, as it is the word for when the  men , one from each of the 12 tribes,  were sent to the Promised Land to scout it out to give a report about entering the Land (see Numbers 13:1~15:41, Joshua 2:1 ~24, and Hebrews 3:7~9).  

Remember only Joshua and Caleb came back with a good report.  The other ten `spies` gave a negative report about the land of Israel (Canaan) and saw themselves as `grasshoppers` and were afraid of the `giants`!!

I discovered (scouted out!) through reading the parsha this week that the word `to scout, spy` in Hebrew is:

 TUR  תור  Strongs Hebrew #8446

Amazingly, this word appears 12 times in the parsha in regard to this incident of scouting out the land and the `sin of the spies` who did not get to enter the land due to their negative report.  

The next discovery is that the word TUR, that very same word, is used an additional time in the verse at the end of the Parsha about the commandment for tzitit.  

The men of B`nei Israel are commanded to wear a blue fringe on the corners of their garments so that they `shall look at it and recall all the commandments of the LORD and observe them, so that you do not follow your heart and eyes into your lustful urge`.   (Numbers 15:39) This word `follow` is also the same Hebrew word TUR!!

I found this very exciting and even poignant that the word for scouting out in reference to the Land is the same word that is used in scouting out our hearts, in reference to following the LORD`s commandments as we look into our hearts and be sure to follow His ways and not ours!! 

May we go forward into this Shabbat with delight in the LORD of Shabbat, Yeshua, and keep our eyes on Him!  As we Magnify Him we will see that everything else becomes small like grasshoppers, let us not give into fear but rather Fear the LORD!,   and may those things that are not of Him be eradicated out from our lives.  May HIS glory fill the Land of Israel and all the world!!  And may all the nations too open their eyes to give a GOOD report about Israel and stand with the apple of God`s eye!!

  As believers in Messiah and in the God of Israel, may we believe in the things unseen, in faith, and share a good report about Israel, and stand with Israel. In doing so we not only share in God`s heart of love for the Jewish people and protecting all the people and land of eretz Israel, and we also help prepare the way for Messiah`s return where He will step foot on the Mt. of Olives!!! 

May it be speedily and in our day!

 

 Trust in the LORD and do good,

abide in the land and remain loyal.

Seek the favor of the LORD,

and He will grant you the desires of your heart.

Leave all to the LORD;

trust in Him; He will do it.

Psalm 37:3~6 (and all of Psalm 37!)

 בְּטַח בַּיהוָה, וַעֲשֵׂה-טוֹב

  שְׁכָן-אֶרֶץ, וּרְעֵה אֱמוּנָה

♡

＊Please also feel free to download this week`s AHAVA prayer sheet in Parsha Shelach Lecha to pray for your loved ones and Israel! PDF link here:

Parsha Shelach Lecha Prayer Sheet 

 

＊＊Other post reflections on this blog from 

Parsha Shelach Lecha：

HERE (Spying the Land, Flowers and Grapes) and  

HERE (Challah)

 

Pomegranates and a Blossoming `Chai` Challah of Life!

 

Amen, amen I tell you, he who believes has eternal life.     I am the bread of life.

John 6:47~48

Today`s challah is a Challah of Life! 

I call it the Blossoming Chai Challah, and you can see it all started HERE . 

 CHAI is a Hebrew word which means `LIFE` (see header above).

You may have heard it in the famous `toast`,

LE-CHAI-IM, To life!

As I was reading in the last parsashiot of the book of Genesis,  Parasha Vayigash and Parsha Vayechi, I kept seeing that word LIFE!!! Joseph asking `Is my Father still alive`, Jacob asking the same of his son Joseph, and then when the brothers reconcile Joseph tells them it is to `preserve the lives of many` that he was sent to Egypt. And of course, he saved many alive through grain ~~ the `bread` (corn?!)  that he provided for his family and Egypt and all the nations.

And to top it off, the LORD was showing me pomegranates upon pomegranates in the supermarket and fruit stands.  I just had to make the Pomegranate Blossoming Chai Challah !! And kept making them until there were no more pomegranates (and now I found more, so if you would like me to make one for you and you are in Japan, let me know!!).  Every time I open a pomegranate I hear YESHUA`s call to us to be fruitful in Him.  Every time I make a Challah for Shabbat  I taste His goodness and that He is the true Bread of LIFE!  When we drink the cup of redemption with it, we proclaim His LIFE until the day He returns!! 

So without further ado, here is my Blossoming Challah of Life in a Challah-cast upload to share with you!!

I will also include my first Blossoming Chai Challah from last year on this Parsha.  It is exciting how the LORD  shows us new things in His word each time. 

The third is a short upload I did for my brother, lately I have gotten to know some of the care residents he works with at his job, and have been doing mini Challah-casts for them as they are in lockdown and even their Shabbat time is on hold as they quarrantine in their rooms. It is a blessing to share from Japan to NY and  a special way to connect with my brother who I have not seen for a long time with the travel being restricted.

May we say together these words that are said at the end of each book of Torah,  so perfect for strengthening each other! 

CHAZAK, CHAZAK, VENIT CHAZEK!

Be strong, be strong, and let us strengthen one another!

Hope you might enjoy one or all of the Challah of Life and Pomegranate Challah uploads below courtesy of 

Joannes Challah-cast Channel

 Love,

Shayndel　♡ 

 

The recent Blossoming Chai Challah with Pomegranate:

First Chai Challah of life : 

 

Pomegranate challah for my brother and friends:

 

Come, my beloved, Let us go into the open;

Let us lodge among the henna shrubs. 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

 

 

 

 

Finishing touches

Setting in the pomegranates, twelve on each to represent the twelve tribes, I am already thinking ahead to the book of Exodus, as cutting gemstones for setting, and the pomegranate detailing to come!!

Putting the finishing touches on the Pomegranate Challah

Delivering them to friends and family.

And sending these tastes to you,

After a dozen Pomegranate Challot and a few still in progress to be made,
The offices of Challah and Cherry Blossoms will take a break for the holidays and re-open in the New Year!!

Much love and thank you for all your visits, encouragement, love and blog fellowship/friendship in this year!

Wishing you joyous season, fruit-full and abundant in God's Love! and a Happy and Healthy New Year!! 

May mercy and shalom and love be multiplied to you!   Judah (Jude) 1:2

Blessings and Much Love,
Love,

♡

Shayndel

Adding a Note: on the Pomegranate Challah and "finishing touches" for this Challah and Parsha.
The Pomegranate Challah truly became a "Pomegranate Challah for Joseph" to go with the Torah cycle with the story of Joseph.  The seeds, the fruit, the Messianic connections, the twelve seeds on the top,  all give expression in this Challah.   I recommend making it around this time on the Torah Cycle perfectly, as long as you can find pomegranates "in season" where you are.

Now really finishing off this post and the  first book of Bereshit, Genesis, with these verses from Jacob's blessing to Joseph.  In the TLV version, the word "fruitful" is used twice, so I share it in that version,

A fruitful son is Joseph,
a fruitful son beside a spring--
daughters walk along a wall.  

 Genesis 49:22

Postcards from Parsha Pinchas

SHALOM over Mt. Fuji

Let the Shalom of Messiah rule in your hearts.

--Colossians 3:15A

In this weeks Parsha, Pinchas` opening act (actually the closing act in Parsha Balak, Numbers 25:7~9) reveals his  zeal for ADONAI.   It results in a stopping of the plague and atonement for the Children of Israel.  He received a perpetual covenant of Peace --Shalom-- from ADONAI for him and his descendants after him.  Hence the word Shalom, in these postcards.  Why the Pineapple?  Well, maybe that it starts with P for Pinchas, and Peace, and also the little (piercing) pricklies somehow made it seem an appropriate fruit for this week (Numbers chapter 25).  

Blessings and Shalom.
Shabbat Shalom.

Love
♡
Shayndel

Shavuot Diary--Postcard from Shavuot & Story of Two Loaves, in pictures

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. 


Blessings and Shalom! Love, ♡　Shayndel

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