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💖

 

 

 

Grilled Fish and 40 Days!

Yeshua said to them, "Come, have breakfast."  

None of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are you?"--knowing it was the Lord.   

וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם יֵשׁוּעַ בֹּאוּ אִכְלוּ אֲרֻחַת הַבֹּקֶר וְאֵין 

   גַּם־אֶחָד בַּתַּלְמִידִים אֲשֶׁר מְלָאוֹ לִבּוֹ לִשְׁאֹל מִי אָתָּהכִּי יָדְעוּ אֲשֶׁר הוּא הָאָדוֹן׃

 John 21:12 (English, Hebrew)

 

As we count up the Omer, soon we are getting to 40 days, a day in Hebrew calendar called MEM B`Omer.  Mem (מ) מם is the 13th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and the number `40` in Hebrew counting.

The 40th day from after Passover is the day that Yeshua went up to Heaven to sit at the right Hand of the Father!＊  Isn`t it exciting as these 40 days (we are in day 38 today as I write) were the days He would have been appearing to the Disciples. All of the appearances He made to them  after His Resurrection were in the counting of the omer days that we are in now, including  fellowship with them, opening up the Scriptures to them, and making them breakfast.  

So when they got out onto the land, they saw a charcoal fire with fish placed on it, and bread.      

John 21:9

Hence the `grilled fish` in the post title!!

It is exciting times! As we await Shavuot and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit afresh, may we be ready! One bride for our Bridegroom.  Its really happening as Jew and Gentile are coming together as the Father calls us to be One in Messiah!!

I also wanted to share a post I wrote this time last year.  When I visited Israel and had a `breakfast with Yeshua` experience, which made the scripture come alive to me! Photo above: Breakfast with Yeshua, Sea of Galillee (2019).  You can read that post HERE if you would like, hope it blesses you and that we will meet Him this year for new revelation, and even for grilled fish!

 LeChayiim (To LIFE!), as we count up to the appointed `Moadim` of Shavout!!

Much Love in Yeshua. 

Look forward to those 153 fish and more in the catch this year as many many more than that turn their hearts to Yeshua, Jesus in a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit to become `One new man` in Messiah this Shavuot and Pentecost!!

Happy Counting!! 

Love, ❤️

Shayndel/Joanne (And a personal PS as I was researching the Scriptures of when Yeshua appeared to the disciples during these days of the Omer, I saw that one of the woman is `Joanna` (Luke 24:9~10)＊.   Though I must have seen it before, I was excited to note that  `Joanne` in the scriptures! And in Hebrew N.T., written as Yochana (there is no `J` in Hebrew), like this: 

יוחנה

💕

 Reference Notes:

1.  For a good article explaining in more detail about Mem B`Omer and these days on the counting of the Omer and Yeshua, please see this ARTICLE HERE on Hebrew4Christians

2.  ＊Scriptures referred to about Yeshua`s ascension, 

Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, Acts 1:9, et. al.! 

וַיְהִי בְּבָרֲכוֹ אׂתָם וַיִּפָּרֵד מֵעֲלֵיהֶם וַיִּנָּשֵׂא הַשָּׁמָיְמָה 

Luke 24:51, Hebrew   

3.The verse in Hebrew with `Joanna`! , Luke 24:10

וְאֵלֶּה הֵן אֲשֶׁר הִגִּידוּ אֶל־הַשְּׁלִיחִים אֶת־הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה מִרְיָם הַמַּגְדָּלִית וְיוֹחָנָה וּמִרְיָם אֵם יַעֲקׂב וְהָאֲחֵרוֹת׃

 

3. last PS if you made it this far thank you for reading! OH, and just to point out I didn`t actually have fish, but rather yogurt and honey (milk and honey, for the land of milk and honey !)at my breakfast on the Galilee!

 

Part 3 of the Raisin Cakes Trilogy--A Sonnet, A Challah-cast and a Recipe!

He brought me to the banquet house

and His banner over me is Love! 
Song of Songs 2:4

Dear Friends, for those who have been wondering will there be a third in the series of Victorious Raisin Cakes posts, I am happy to tell you that yes, there is, and Here it is!! With a wonderful "conclusion":  The raisin cakes became Heart-shaped!
And another verse revealed.
His Banner Over us is Love!!

So without further ado, in this post you will find three  expressions of Raisin Cakes:

A Sonnet, a Challah-cast, and a Recipe! 

1.
This special guest sonnet was written by one of our fellow faith bloggers, thank you David from Grace Notes for this beautiful sonnet!!  I was so blessed to receive it, and am honored to share it here.  Readers you can see more of David's verse at http://dcbverse.blogspot.com/

RAISIN-CAKES

The vine had budded, blossomed and produced
Its grapes; they had been picked, and dried and pressed
And brought to David’s men, where they conduced
To show the graces Abigail expressed.
So some were given to the Egyptian slave
In his distress, so that his soul grew strong;
As brought back from the frontier of the grave,
He led against those who did David wrong.

Thus David, when he came to celebrate
The ark of God borne to a settled place
Gave with the bread and wine, to show his joy,
A raisin-cake as token of God’s grace.

And now sustaining food from the True Vine
Through grace and pressure may be yours and mine!

Genesis 40 10-11
1 Samuel 25:18
1 Samuel 30:12
1 Chronicles 16:3
John 15:1

2.
My Challah-Cast part 3 on the Raisin Cakes can be seen here, with new insights, and waving a banner,  as we count up to Shavuot! Enjoy and may we all be strengthened as we continue to encourage one another!!





3. 
Recipe for Shayndel's Heart-Shaped Victorious Raisin cakes!! 

based on the recipe here from Nazarane Israel for Cinnamon Matzah


 
This Recipe is for 12 Heart-shaped Raisin Cakes !!

3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/8 teaspoon cloves
3/8 teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons sugar (note: I use a kind of sugar we can find here in Japan called Ten-sai Tou, it is a healthy sugar made from radish (I think that is the base!) and is gentle on the stomach!  Use your preferred type of sugar if you cannot find Ten-sai Tou where you are
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
  2 cups water (approx.)

1/3 cup of raisins

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C (390~400 degrees F)
Prepare baking sheets with waxed paper.

Mix together flour, spices, sugar, and salt.
Mix in the grapeseed oil.
Add water gradually and mix until it makes a soft and kneadable dough.  

Fold in the raisins!

Roll out onto a floured surface.
Roll out in to a large thin circle or oval.
Cut in half and then divide into "pie-shaped" 6ths on each side, so you have 12 pieces total from the "circle".
Separate each piece and shape into a heart by hand.
Line on baking sheets.
Bake for 28 minutes, turning the baking sheet once in the middle

Serve with delight, en-joy!

Shabbat Shalom!!

♡

Shayndel

Breakfast with Yeshua

"Come, have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are You?"--knowing it was the Lord.  John 21:12 (TLV)

(photo:  Sea of Tiberias (Galilee), taken last May around this time!  story of post to follow!! Just holding the place for Him!)

♡

adding on this journal entry:
Breakfast at the Galilee Encounter
John 21 "Come, have breakfast".

On the last day at the Galilee I decided to have breakfast down by the water.  All the other days of the tour I always loved being with the tour and had breakfast with everyone in the dining room, but this day I saw out the glass doors to and felt called to bring my tray and sit out overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
I encountered "a man" when carrying my tray to go out of the hotel breakfast room.  He took my tray and he escorted me out of the doors and I showed him the spot and he brought me down along with the placemat and accoutrements (fork, silverware, etc).  He set everything up for me and I thanked Him. I told Him his heart was like God.
and spontaneously said that I love Him and all the people of Israel.

He said, "We love you."

I think he was Yeshua, or as Andrea said when I told her the story, God the Father!


Adding on again for my notes and reflection to remember:
When I posted this it struck me that this occurred during the count of the Omer, and I was able to figure out the calendar day, from looking at my journal of the trip, and looking at my Omer counting notes, and indeed it was just a few days before Mem B'Omer, thus it was within the 40 days of when Yeshua appeared to His disciples!!  It excited me to think that even more this really could have been a visit from Yeshua there on the Galilee for that moment , a manifestation of the LORD in the form of the man from the hotel who seemed to just have appeared and escorted me to the sea!!!  Also just to note the way He said "We" I felt like it was Yeshua, and he was referring to Himself, the Father , and the Holy Spirit!! At the same time the simple meaning that "We" referred to the people of Israel also gave me much joy in my heart!  Thank you Yeshua for that wonderful exquisite breakfast with You!!

💙💙💙sapphire hearts with glistening sea

Omer and Emor and Sapphire!!

  וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם, מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת, מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם, אֶת-עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה:  שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת, תְּמִימֹת תִּהְיֶינָה

And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the day of rest, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the waving; seven weeks shall there be complete;  
                                                                                                            Leviticus 23:15

We just finished the Parsha Emor (note of posting delay!:  I wrote this draft some days ago, now as I am posting it   already we are finishing the book of Leviticus!!) in which the "moadim", or set appointed times of the LORD are outlined.  I love this parsha.    I should make a t-shirt,  that says , "I love the Moadim!!!" or "Lev 23!" (for Leviticus 23, the chapter they are outlined!!) .  

God's appointed times--Moadim, starting with Shabbat--- give so much meaning to our lives and to the whole cycle of connecting us back and forward until we are just moving in His eternal cycle!! I find the Moadim are like "cogs" on a wheel that click into place for it to move, and  it is  as though we "click" into place into His eternal time more and more as we connect with each of the modadim!!  As we are counting up from Passover to Shavuot, each day of counting of the Omer is a way of bringing more of the divine into "temporal" time! Or another way, we spiral up a little each day on the rungs of  "temporal" time into His heavenly purposes for us.

I was reading in one of my recent favorite "go-to" Parsha devotionals called "Parsha in Pink",  a weekly devotional for women about the weekly Torah readings, and in her discussion of  this week's parsha Emor,  the author writes about counting the omer .  She writes that the Hebrew word for "you shall count" comes from the root of the Hebrew word "sapphire", and that in Jewish teachings it is taught that the  tablets of the 10 Commandments were written on stones not of drab grey as I once imagined but on tablets made of Sapphire!!! (note in this passage "luchos" means "tablets")

The word "u'sfartem---and you shall count" (Vayikra 23:15) comes from the root word sapir--sapphire, the material that the second set of Luchos were made of.  Our souls are compared to sapphire, which loses its luster when it becomes dirty.  As a result of our sins, our souls also lose some of their light, their gleam.   The message of the word "u'sfartem" is that by counting we must "polish" our souls so that we can be untarnished in time to experience the revelation of Matan Torah (Noam Elimelech, Mareh Yechezkel).                   from Parsha in Pink, p.144

Reading this about the tablets being made of Sapphire really sparkled my spirit to a glistening excitement!!!  Below is a scripture with "sapphire" that has always intrigued me and I even found I highlighted in my first Bible!!  It is about sapphire under God's feet!!  Which comes write before a scripture about the giving of the tablets.  When reading about the possibility that the tablets are made of sapphire, suddenly this scripture came even more alive!!! Could it be that He made the tablets from the sapphire of the throne room?? To me it makes all the sense in the Heavens!! We may not know until we get there, but I find this so intriguing.  Here is the verse that I highlighted years ago (around 6 to be exact!)  in my first Faithgirls bible.  I will just point out again the letters for "sapphire" in blue!

י  וַיִּרְאוּ, אֵת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל; וְתַחַת רַגְלָיו, כְּמַעֲשֵׂה לִבְנַת הַסַּפִּיר, וּכְעֶצֶם הַשָּׁמַיִם, לָטֹהַר

Exodus 24:10 and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under His feet the like of a paved work of sapphire stone, and the like of the very heaven for clearness.

As we count may we ask the Holy Spirit to look for those areas in ourselves that we need to "polish" as we prepare to meet with and experience the revelation at Shavuot that we are coming up to in only a few remaining weeks.  In this chapter in the devotional she also speaks of the preparation in coming up to meeting our beloved as we "detox and beautify our spirit and soul so we can stand under the chuppah* with splendor and grace."(Parsha in Pink, p. 144  ) (*chuppah referes to the bridal canopy at a Jewish wedding)

As we have been talking about this preparation for the wedding with the Beloved (see posts and Challah-cast below!), may we sparkle and shine more and more like the sapphire as we count up to that day!!!  I hope this season of Shavuot will be a time when the Bride of Yeshua can truly come together as one in Him.  This devotional book was written by a Jewish author, and her words about preparing as the bride are exactly what I encounter from the believers of Jesus in the church.  The beautiful thing is  that we are all His bride.  I pray that separation will break down this year as He reveals Himself to us in these days-- when remember, He was revealing Himself to His disciples in this period between Passover and Shavout.  I find it poignant and beautiful,  as someone who is both Jewish and a believer in Yeshua, to see how all together we are His bride!

So there shall be one flock, one Shepherd. John 10:16b

Love and Blessings and Happy Counting!
Today we are entering in day 31 (ooh, see how many days ago I wrote this draft! Today we are actually at day 38!!) , of the counting of the Omer.

So teach us to number our days,

so that we may get a heart of wisdom.    Psalm 90:12

Love,
 ♡
Shayndel

hebrew word review notes:
Luchos means "tablets"
chuppah refers to the wedding canopy that the bride and groom get married beneath in a Jewish wedding.

Shabbat and the Beloved-- an unexpected sequel to the Raisin Cakes!

This was an unexpected sequel!! I hadn't expected the raisin cakes to continue into the next Shabbat, but that is the beauty of studying Torah with the Holy Spirit guiding.   From my raisin cakes adventure, He led me to the scripture in Song of Songs,

Sustain me with raisin cakes for I am weak with love.

Song of Songs 2:5

It is a Jewish tradition to read the Song of Songs before the Shabbat or on the eve of Shabbat, and there are many beautiful "wedding" associations with the Shabbat and that special and appointed time with our King and Beloved.  Actually I love this tradition of reading it on Friday evening of Shabbat.  When I got to that line this time,  it was exciting to have the "actual" real life connection to the raisin cakes on the Shabbat table! So from there the exploration continued and if you are ready for part 2, please enjoy the newest "Challah-cast" below!! And thank you so much for watching and commenting on Part 1! I am so blessed by your watching, and love hearing what spoke to you.  I hope they might be an encouragement for those who watch, and in turn I am so encouraged by what you share and when it "expands" into a discussion!!.

Meanwhile, amazing already a whole week has gone by since this part 2!!
If you are reading on the parsha cycle, this week we are already nearing the end of the book of Leviticus, in parsha Emor.

And now,  will there be a raisin cakes part 3?! Or will we be making challah again soon?!
Stay tuned!!

And counting!!  Today is 30 days of the Omer.

Blessings and Shabbat Shalom!!  Love ♡ Shayndel


>

Challah Journal--Victorious Raisin Cakes- a Challah-cast, and looking at the Haftarah!

Unleavened and Victorious Raisin Cakes, in the week of Parsha Shemini

They brought in the Ark of the LORD and set it up in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it,         from 2 Samuel 6:17

And he distributed among all the people --the entire multitude of Israel, man and woman alike-- to each a loaf of bread, a cake made in a pan, and a raisin cake.  Then all the people left for their homes.

2Samuel 6:19

Reading the Haftarah of in the Parsha Shemini.   Did anyone else notice the raisin cakes?!

I know, you probably paid more attention to David Dancing! That's one of my favorite too!!

Or you may remember the tragic part where Uzzah touches the Ark of the Covenant when they were bringing it back to Jerusalem, and he is struck down for his disobedience. 

So how is it that those raisin cakes have such an attraction for me?  I think its the expression of "victory" and the way King David had them given out to all of Israel in celebration of his victory for the LORD in bringing back the Ark to safety.   I just love that how he shares the victory by giving out bread to the entire multitude of Israel! How king-ly and how neighbor-ly! And it reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures, "Taste and see that the LORD is good". 

The angel of the LORD camps around those who fear Him 
and rescues them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
happy the man who takes refuge in Him!   Psalm 34:8~9

As we await the time of Shavuot and count up the Omer to that day of great Revelation, why not proclaim His victory with "Victorious Raisin Cakes".

 Here is the link to the recipe (below)!
I hope you might enjoy it,   and enjoy watching the Challah-Cast ( also below)

Blessings and Happy Counting the Omer!
When I wrote this post draft it was day 19 of the Omer.
And today (when I am finally posting it! ) we are already in the third week of counting the Omer!

Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.

Today is twenty-six days, which is three weeks and five days of the Omer.

Recipe note:  This recipe base can be found HERE, it is the recipe if you scroll down for "Cinnamon Matzah", I made  variations--- mainly the addition of raisins! As well as using Grapeseed oil in place of butter, and "tensai-to" , a Japanese kind of healthy sugar, for the "sugar".   And I baked them (the recipe says to pan-fry).  They came out delicious and very aromatic from all the spices!!  I hope you might try it.  

Blessings  in all the areas of your life for you and your loved ones, may we see new victories all around us and for health and deliverance for all people.    Blessings and Love,  In Messiah Yeshua♡Shayndel

Matzah Brei and Timbrels, A taste of Deliverance, and beginning the Omer count!!

In Your love You lead the people You redeemed;
In Your strength You guide them to Your holy abode.
Exodus 15:13

The seven (or eight) days of Passover pass by so quickly.   I am never quite ready to go back to "leaven"  until another week or so after that!   If you still have matzah, I invite you to make Matzah Brei!! Do you know Matzah brei?  A divine comfort food that is a little like "french toast", but with matzah!!  It will be something you can try while at home, and it will give you a taste of deliverance when topped with Charoset and Yogurt, for a special Passover ending to top off and round up the holiday.  Thankfully when one holiday of the LORD "ends" another is already beginning, and that is especially so at Passover, as we start counting the days, or 7 weeks, up to "Shavuot" in expectation.  These are the days which led up to the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room when the disciples would have also counted up to that day in great expectation.   The counting started at the second night of Passover,

Tonite we count the eighth day of the Omer.

In my Challah -cast this week I go out with my timbrels and Praise the LORD with the tambourine before heading inside to make the Matzah brei!!  Is there a connection between the two??  I invite you to take up your timbrels, to make Matzah brei,  and to watch the "Challah-cast" this week!!

Blessings and Love,

♡

Shayndel (and Joanne's Challah-cast Channel!)

Matzah Brei and timbrels, for the seventh day of Passover

Matzah brei with Charoset and yogurt!! Divine Passover comfort food!!

Manna and Challah --now, the Challah! Parsha Beshalach

So they gathered it every morning, each as much as he needed to eat; for when the sun grew hot , it would melt.  On the sixth day they gathered double the amount of food, two omers for each; and when all the chieftans of the community came and told Moses, he said to them, " this is what the LORD meant: Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath of the LORD.  Bake what you would bake and boil what you would boil; and all that is left put aside to be kept until morning.  Exodus 16:21~23

The house of Israel named it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted like wafers in honey.  
                                                                                Exodus 16:31

You've heard me say this before  (here, here, and here),  and here I go again.
I get so excited in this week's Torah portion, Beshalach.  The Freedom!  the Manna! The Shabbat!

It is not only the freedom of when God brings the Children of Israel out of Egypt, but the way in which He is with them and guides them.

It is not only the manna that falls from heaven but the Bread of Life that He provides them.  It is not only the Shabbat that is introduced in the provision of the manna, and the double portion on Shabbat, but the goodness of a Master who gives His children sustenance and the way to achieve it,  and gives them  rest.

This portion is one we can stay in forever, it is alive with song.  The song of Moses and Miriam, a spontaneous rejoicing at the wondrous awesome God who has set them---us!--- free and who they---we!--- know is with them--us! as He travels with them in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.  As from now He is their --our! ---home and the journey begins to make a life where He will dwell with us and in us and we in Him.

They sing and Miriam leads the women in dance!!

Once the rejoicing settles down and the people get hungry, they ask for bread.  They have been slaves for over 400 years and now the bread that they receive will be the bread from heaven.  And with it comes some "rules".  But they are not rules of  back breaking labor as they were accustomed to in Egypt, but a law that comes from Love, and that will be given as they journey forward in His commands.  We begin already to see how closely connected are love and following His commands to our Father in Heaven.

The double portion that is sent down on the sixth day is sent as a "test" as God wants to see if the children of Israel will keep his commandments.  He even says so, I'm not making that up about it being a test!!

And the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread for you from the sky, and the people shall go out and gather each day that day's portion---that I may thus test them, to see whether they will follow My instructions or not.   Exodus 16:4

Now even as we are set free in Yeshua, we still and even more so want to know the heart of the God who brought us through, the God of yesterday, today and forever.   When we receive that double portion, there is a deep remembering of where we came from and it is together with a deep gratitude and praise for the One who brought us through, who brings us through, and will bring us through again.  Our Redeemer and Salvation.

This Shabbat is the Shabbat of Song!! May we sing a song to Him, for He is our strength and our Salvation!!

♬ I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously;
Horse and rider He has hurled into the sea.
The LORD is my strenght and my song.
He has also become my Salvation.   ♬   from Exodus 15:1~2

When I made the Challah this week, those are some of the things I thought about.  As I added flour to the dough I thought of the manna that landed as a layer of dew on the ground, and its description as flaky white like coriander coming from heaven.  Manna is called manna because when the Children of Israel saw it on the ground like a fine frost on the ground, they said to one another "What is it" (Ex. 16:15), which in Hebrew the word "what"  is pronounced "Man" (as in manna) and  that is where the word manna comes from. ( I think the whole sentence is , man- hu , what is it?) and that became what it is called! so it is a wonderful word of wonder at the bread from heaven that God provided as their first bread!

When we spread the challah cover over the Challah on the Shabbat table it and a layer beneath it we remember of the layer of manna that covered the ground in the morning when the Children of Israel awoke and saw that indeed their God provides.  Though in response to their grumbling, there it was, and he loves them--us! despite their--our! sometimes grumbling!!  Over and over in this beginning of their journey, the LORD assures and re-assures the people that He is their God.

The LORD spoke to Moses:  I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.  Speak to them and say: By evening you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; and you shall know that I the LORD am your God. (16:12)

It was through His parting the sea that they knew He was God and the Master of Creation.
It was through that first provision in the wilderness that they knew He was their God.

When I went to measure out the flour for the challah this week in the week of Parsha Besalach, I almost hugged the bowl, remembering, connecting with what it may have been like to go out and see the manna there covering the ground.  Knowing it is that same God who provides the flour for the challah that I will gather into the bowl to make the challah for this Shabbat.   As we say the blessings,  and  the  double  Shabbat commands of "remember" and "keep", shamor and zakor. 

God bless you and hope you have a time of rejoicing and remembering on this Sabbath of Song!!

This is my God, and I will glorify Him,
my father's God, and I will exalt Him.

Exodus 15:2b

I took my bowl to gather the provision, and measured out the first cup of flour.  And hence two challot were made.Notice in the parsha, the unit of measurement is an "OMER", see how this again is something we will remember at Passover and the counting of the OMER!!! 

You will bring them and plant them in Your own mountain,
the place you made to dwell in, O LORD,
The sanctuary, O LORD, which Your hands established.
The LORD will reign for ever and ever!        

Exodus 15: 17~18

Counting the Omer--Shabbat Shalom! Omer Blessing

The Castle is made of light!! So when it appears bright and illuminated as the sky turns to night,  I read a blessing and count the day of the omer!!

And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering---the day after the sabbath--you shall count off seven weeks.  They must be complete:  you must count until the day after the seventh week--fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the Lord.  You shall bring from your settlements two loaves of bread as an elevation offering;      --Leviticus 23:15~17a

The days counting up from Passover to Shavuot are very exciting.
The commandment to count the Omer comes in the reading portion we are in this week!
In the counting, it is so wonderful to realize the living cycle of God's calendar and feasts, and  honor and marvel in His exquisite timing and eternal plan. 
The count each day and the blessing are made when the sun goes down, just at night fall or any time after night fall.

In our city there is a castle made of light that goes on at night,
It's perfect, so when the lights of the Castle go on,  we can count and make the blessing...

Today is 30 days, which is four weeks and two days of the Omer!

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.

May the LORD be gracious to us and and bless us.  May He make His countenance shine upon us forever, that Your way be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.  The nations will extol You, O God; all the nations will extol You.  The nations will rejoice and sing for joy, for You will judge the peoples justly and guide the nations on  earth forever.  The peoples will extol You, O God; all the peoples will extol you, for the earth will have yielded its produce and God, our God, will bless us.  God will bless us; and all , from the farthest corners of the earth, shall fear Him.

 Accept our supplication and hear our cry.  You who knows secret thoughts.

Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever.

(exerpted from the blessings and counting of the Omer,and Psalm 67) 

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Related posts on this blog for Counting the Omer, HERE
Related posts on this blog for Shavout, HERE

Sabbath Delight Multiplication! A quiz, and an Apple Kugel

Then ADONAI said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

"Speak to Bnei-Yisrael and tell them:

When you come into the land which I give you, then the land is to keep a Shabbat to ADONAI.

For six years you may sow your field and for six years you may prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits.  But in the seventh year there is to be a Shabbat rest for the land---a Shabbat to ADONAI.

---Leviticus 25:1~2, first lines of Parshat Behar

 It`s  the season between spring green and summer grasses,  and we are in the book of Leviticus.  The 36th day of the counting of the Omer.

I wanted to share a kugel with you in this post.  As I was posting it, with the photos from Shabbat, I started thinking about Shabbat and the Shabbatot (plural of Shabbat) that we are learning about in the recent weeks Parashiot.  And before I knew it, it became a long post!  So I divided it in 3 parts,

1.  the Shabbat Multiplication    2.  A Quiz!  and 3. the Apple Kugel 

I hope you will enjoy it in its entirety, or one by one,  and please try the recipe and the Kugel in part 3!

Blessings and Shalom!

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 1.  The Shabbat Multiplication

In these seven weeks of counting the Omer, we are preparing our hearts in great expectation for Shavout.  In the recent Torah portions ( this week is a double portion and already the end of the book of Leviticus, see "link to weekly readings" on the right sidebar!), we learn about an ever expanding of G-d`s whole plan of Shabbatot.  Not only is there the seventh day weekly Shabbat, but then there are seven weeks, as in the counting of the Omer.  And next, seven years, in the Shemittah, or  Shabbat Year.

Keep on multiplying, with 7`s, as there are also seven times of seven years leading to the Yovel, or year of Jubilee in the 50th year .

 Count

 7 (days)  Shabbat
7 (weeks) 7 X 7 = 49 Counting the Omer, leading to 50th day Shavuot
7 (years)  Shabbat Year  (Shemittah or Sabbatical Year)
7 X 7 (years) =49 years , leading to the 50th year of Jubilee

Repeat

The delight we have in the Shabbat also multiplies as we enter into it and learn a little more each week of what is in G-d`s heart and in His plan.  It is like a spiral as you come closer to heaven in each observance of His appointed days.  It is humbling too, because we see how great is His plan for us on earth. And how huge is His Love.

We learn how included in His plan is rest for the Land, and the understanding that none of it is ours.  All of creation is His.  We have the privilege of being in it and having these laws for rest in the seventh day and in the seven years and in the 7X7 years where everything is returned to its original state and debts are released.  It is a beautiful expression of the whole equation of how to live in equality with each other and in knowing that there is One who is Greater than us exponentially. Whose equations when we live by them add up to living in peace and harmony and genuine relationship with each other and with our very Creator!

Reading the Torah from Genesis to Leviticus over these months, we see the observance of Shabbat and Shabbatot are continually emphasized.  It is impossible to even consider that this is something that doesn`t apply to us in our own lives.   Yet I confess I never considered it and never had any notion of observing the Sabbath until a little over a year ago. 

Oh, Father, it is so, isn`t it, You open the pages to our eyes once we see You and before that we really do not see any of this.  I feel I am writing words that too are invisible, as only with eyes open to see will someone come to You and your Shabbatot.  But why did you open mine?  Oh Father, please open the eyes of someone reading this who hasn`t yet known your Salvation and your Shabbat and the delight it is to see time expanding into the way You designed it.  Hashem Yeshua, in the name of Yeshua, may You be glorified.  May we return to You and your amazing plan for Rest in the Shabbat, Rest for the land, and for our souls to live in freedom and delight in knowing You and doing Your will...

 There is also another part of the equation for the Children of Israel who chose not to walk in His statutes and observe His Mitzvot.  Instead of blessing being multiplied, it is plagues that are multiplied....and I just noticed again there is the number 7.  The plagues are multiplied by seven (Leviticus 26:21).  You can see in the last part of the book of Leviticus, where there is Faithfulness on one side of the equation and Faithlessness on the other.    I encourage you to see the way it all adds up for yourself in Parsha Bechukotai which ends the book of Leviticus. 

Chazak! Chazak! V`nitchazek!*

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These verses from the book of Isaiah speak how delight in Shabbat
equals delight in ADONAI。。。 

"If you turn back your foot from Shabbat,

from doing your pleasure on My holy day,

and call Shabbat a delight,

the holy day of ADONAI honorable,

If you honor it, not going your own ways,

not seeking your own pleasure,

nor speaking your usual speech,

then You will delight yourself in ADONAI,

and I will let you ride over

the heights of the earth,

I will feed you with the heritage

of your father Jacob."

For the mouth of ADONAI has spoken.

---Isaiah 58:13~14

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2.    Now the  quiz!

In 7 clues..., what could it be?

1.  First, it is something I spent my whole life NOT doing (until one year ago!)

2.  Second, it is something that any person native born or otherwise from any nation and any tribe who believes in living a righteous life under the plan of our Creator,  we are commanded to do.

3.  Third, it is something that when we do it we learn soooooo much about our Creator.

4.  Fourth, it is something that is a delight.

5.  Fifth, it is something that makes time into something that we never knew before, a divine and sacred time.

6.  Sixth, it is the opening to all the rest of the Calendar of the King and by being on it and in it we are not only pleasing the King and Creator, but it is what He considers a sign of being His children.

7.  Seventh, it is the Seventh day of the week!

Did you guess?
Yes, it is the Sabbath, or in Hebrew, Shabbat!!!

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3. The Recipe

As promised, the Apple Kugel RECIPE is HERE!!
Thank you to a new blog friend DUTA, for her Post on finding Apple Kugel in a supermarket in Israel (here!).  Her post inspired me to make an Apple Kugel for  Shabbat dessert, as there is no supermarket in Japan that I know of where you can find an Apple Kugel!!

There was  a slice left in the photo above for my daughter`s Shabbat breakfast, and you can see how the whole kugel came out in this photo!
I used Made in Japn dried grapes in place of raisins, and made a half of the recipe.
Please enjoy a piece of the pie (kugel!) after all the math in the post!!


Shalom be upon Israel!   ---Psalm 128:6


Shabbat Shalom! Shavu`a Tov!!

*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.