L'Dor V'dor Tour, Entrance to the City of David

I will praise You with the harp for Your faithfulness, my God.  I will sing praise to You with the lyre, Holy One of Israel.

Psalm 71:22

Dear friends, I just came back to Japan after a tour of Israel!  It was a prayer come true, to go to the land of our Messiah Yeshua and to see the place that God is so zealous for, Zion!! It was a worship tour led by father-daughter singing team of Marty and Misha Goetz, and family.  The trip went from Jerusalem to the Galilee, all the way up to the northern border, and back down to Tel Aviv.  There was worship all the way, with songs they sang on the land or on the bus, songs on the sea, and hearts of prayer in unity in Messiah as we walked the streets of the old and new cities.   

Just opening back up after a brief absence from the blog with this picture of the harp at the entrance to the City of David.  I am sorry for my slipping out and going without  notice, but as I have been planning to go other times but had false starts and didn't make it---I felt in my heart best to just make sure I got there and back this time.  And as you can see from this picture and Praise, I am full of thanks to the LORD for the wonderful chance to make it this time and visit His Holy Land!!

I will share some of the trip and my journey in some posts to follow !

The trip for 2020 is already open for registration, so if these posts make you want to go, I highly recommend it and you can find the details at Marty Goetz's site HERE.

Hope all have been well and I look forward to visiting you and catching up.

God Bless you.

Love and blessings,

♡

Shayndel

PS I saw lots of sparrows (as we were speaking of sparrows before I signed off)!
God showed me sparrows at every site we visited, starting with the song of sparrows from outside the hotel window the first Jerusalem morning.
To be continued...

Prayer Sheet---Parsha Metzora

Just sharing here a few scriptures from a weekly prayer sheet I make.  

You might like to pray the intercession scriptures for your child or loved ones!!

Enjoy the drawings too! (you may have seen them before in a recent post!)

Blessings and Shalom! A good and peace-full day or night to you.  Good dreams.  May God's Kingdom of Heaven come to Earth and more and more  in real life today.

Much Love,

♡

Shayndel

......................
notes: the way the prayer sheet works, first PRAISE the LORD, then take a few minutes in Confession, next give thanks for specific things the LORD has done in your life.  Next for intercession pray the scriptures in each section over your children and as indicated in the sections below, or of course as you are moved to !--pray for your children (or loved ones), for your congregation or all Body of Messiah, pray for Israel.  Each week the prayer sheet relates to themes taken from that weeks parsha.  This is  a "sampling" from Parsha Metzora.
-------------------

Metzora  "infected one"

theme scripture from the parsha:

to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean.  This is the Torah of tza'arat. 

Leviticus 14:57

PRAISE

Blessed be my LORD! Day by day He bears our burdens--the God of our Salvation! Selah.
Psalm 68:19

CONFESSION

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your mercy.

According to Your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

Psalm 51:1~2

THANKSGIVING

Let the shalom of Messiah rule in your hearts---to this shalom you were surely called in one body.  Also be thankful.  Colossians 3:15

INTERCESSION (Put in Your Child or loved one's name in the blanks to pray them over her or him)

May..........................focus her mind on things above, not on things of the earth.

Colossians 3:2

Now,.....................why are you waiting?  Get up and be immersed, and wash away your sins, calling on His Name.  Acts 22:16

May........................enter through Messiah Yeshua into the promises of God, may he/she cleanse her self from all defilement of body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.  2Corinthians 7:1

Pleasant words are honeycomb---sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.  May ...........use pleasant words!! Proverbs 16:24

CONGREGATION
Loved ones, now we are God's children; and it has not yet been revealed what we will be.  But we do know that when it's revealed, we shall be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.  Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.  1John 3:2~3

ISRAEL
"But for you who revere My Name, the sun of righteousness will rise, with healing in its wings.  Then you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.  You will trample on the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I am making"  says ADONAI-Tzva'ot.   Malachi 4:2

BLESS THE LORD! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD.
Psalm 118:26

Morning, afternoon, blossoms! Psalms!

Ascribe to the LORD the glory of His name;
bring tribute and enter before Him,
bow down to the LORD, majestic in holiness.

Psalm 29:2, 1 Chronicles 16:29

Glory and majesty are before Him;
strength and splendor are in His temple.
Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

Declare among the nations,
"The LORD is king!"
Psalm 96: 6, 10

♡

Blossoms and blessings in the light of evening

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who brings on evenings with His word, opens gates with wisdom, alters time periods with understanding, changes the seasons, and orders the stars in their heavenly constellations as He wills.  He creates day and night, removing light before darkness and darkness before light.  He causes day to pass and brings night, and separates between day and night--ADONAI Tz'vaot, is His Name.  May the living and enduring God continuously reign over us, for all eternity.  Blessed are You, LORD our God, who brings on evenings.

---evening prayer, Maariv, from the Art Scroll Siddur "Blessings of the Shema"

Blessed evening and morning to all, bless the LORD who brings on mornings and evenings with His word.

♡

Hamantashen! Yeah! Boo! New!

 This year on the day before Purim, I read the book of Esther in my Japanese class with my Japanese teacher.  Or rather, he read most of it and I followed and listened!! He got so into it and loved it so much that he just took over the reading!! Surely he had never read the Purim story before, and his newness to it made me so excited to see how enthusiastic he was in reading it!! He saw all the intricacies in it and was cheering and booing.   I believe God gave him a quickening of the spirit somehow as he seemed to follow how the workings of God's hand behind it make it indeed an extra-ordinary story!!

My teacher didn't know that when we read the Book of Esther every year at Purim (or listen to a reading of the Megilla as those who are in a synagogue), it is always a very lively reading!! We hiss and boo and roll noisemakers at every mention of Haman's name, and cheer on Esther and Mordecai with joyous cheers at their names!!  So when he was so animated in his reactions, it really made me glad to see him doing that without any prompting!! And when I read it this year I too had a new excitement from his excitement!!

Ok, so how do I tie that into the Hamantashen?! As you know these triangle shaped cookies with "hidden" fillings are the traditional sweet to eat at Purim.  Named after the evil Haman... BOOO!!!!

Yet surely there are other revelations "hidden" in the Hamantashen.

Making Hamantashen is first of all  a joy, as though the victory in the salvation of the Jews is echoed three times in the three V's!  Of course if you put the two cookies overlapped on each other, there are two triangles, which make up the Star of David!! Well, those are just off the cuff.

The fillings that we use here at Challah and Cherry Blossoms are one "old" and one "new" combined into what I call Challah and Cherry Blossoms Hamantashen!  As we are in Japan, the sakura filling, or cherry blossom, is the taste of the season, and also the taste of renewal, resurrection, and the Messianic taste, speaking into life that which was not.

The prune filling is a traditional filling I associate with being  "Jewish".  Its substantial and deep in taste and has a history and probably generations have been eating hamantashen filled with prune filling, most likely my grandparents and before!!  Thus, the two together are my signature Challah and Cherry Blossoms Hamantashen!!
Japanese and Jewish folded into the taste of becoming new in Messiah Yeshua!!

Now the next discovery I made is a new meaning to the Hamantashen.
You know, that it is said that God is "hidden" in the book of Esther and the Purim story, as it is the only book in all the Bible where God is not mentioned by His name, or any of his names.

And yet, reading it this year, I found He is not hidden at all!! From my Japanese teacher clearly feeling His presence, to reading it with a clear knowing how His hand is upon everything, He seems so present there in every detail.  So my interpretation of the Hamantashen, with the delicious fillings inside, is that they speak of God and how He is the center of all things!   And the center of course of the center of all the events that are wrapped together in the Purim story.

The filling is "hidden" but its not hidden at all.  It is rich and delicious and full of good taste and surprise.  It is cherry blossoms, it is prune (from plums, like grapes), apricot, fruit of all kinds.
I think of the scripture, Taste and see how good the Lord is!!

That is why we love these hamantashen!! They speak of God's delicious-ness, His taste of everything that is good, His being the one who is in the center of our very story, of our very being. The one who everything we do is centered around.  The one who is in the center of our hearts and who fashions our hearts.

So when you taste the treats of Purim this year, taste deeply, taste intimately, taste with all the senses how very, very , very good our God is!!

Prune and Sakura filled hamantashen, signature Purim fare at our house at Challah and Cherry Blossoms

"Hidden" hamantashen

 Taste and see how good ADONAI is.

Blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.

--Psalm 34:9

And as I look deeper into the Psalm, I see His deliverence, and his saving power! I see the Purim story and I see my Saviour .  I see how how those who seek the LORD want for no good thing.  And I see how he is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the face of the earth!! So this is the hamantashen! there in the Psalm!  The turning from evil to good!! They are about seeking Shalom!! Perhaps when we bite into them and taste how good HE is , we are also following the command to blot out Amalek, to blot out evil, and as Haman descends from Amalek, we remember never to forget!

The face of ADONAI is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.

The righteous cry out and ADONAI hears, and delivers them from all their troubles.

Many are the distresses of the righteous, but ADONAI delivers him out of them all.

He keeps all his bones--

not one of them is broken.

Evil kills the wicked--

those who hate the righeous 

will be held guilty.

ADONAI redeems the soul of His servants

--no one who takes refuge in Him will be held guilty.

Yeah!! We can cheer with Amen!!  Praise the LORD!

  Who knew a post about a cookie would lead us into a Psalm, and a message of Shalom as we taste and see how good the LORD is!!

Blessings and a Happy Purim!!

Love, 
 ♡
Shayndel

Note:  For more on this blog about  recipes and how-to-make them, and how to share them,  posts and  tutorials,  about hamantashen, Please see my previous years posts on
Challah and Cherry Blossoms Sakura Hamantashen HERE (Purim Menu),
  HERE(Cherry Blossom Hamantashen)!, 
HERE (Sharing Purim)
and HERE(assorted Purim posts)

The Recipe base I use for the Hamantashen and the prune filling are from Tory Avey's blog and can be found HERE (Hamantashen)  and HERE (filling).   You can also find it at right on the sidebar. Thank you Tory Avey for this and other recipes, we are grateful for the inspiration and wonderful recipes that you share, some we have been using over the years as a base from which to create and add on with some Cherry Blossoms touches.  Happy Purim to all!

Happy Purim!!

These were to be days of feasting, celebration and sending presents of food to one another and giving gifts to the poor.   Esther 9:22b

"hidden" Hamantashen

Can you see there, the moon on the day before Purim. The Jewish holidays, or rather God's Feast Days, always coincide with the cycles of the moon, and as Purim is the 14th and 15th day of ADAR, it is always on a full moon.  It is exciting to look up in the sky as we approach the special appointed days of our God and be able to see as we are coming closer to the day of the Feast.  God appointed the times and He speaks through them on His eternal cycle.   I call this picture, Purim moon.  (though I missed seeing the actual full moon yesterday,on the actual Purim,  too busy feasting!)

These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family and in every province and in every city.  These days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor their remembrance perish from their descendants.

Book of Esther 10:28

I confess, I missed many Purims in the years when I was separated from God, the great sin that I know now is the greatest sin, to live our lives in separation from God. Perhaps that is why it has become an even greater joy to remember it and observe it in the years since my "return".  All the Jews in Shushan too at that time were living in exile, and many were giving in to the customs of their exiled country, not holding fast to the Torah and slipping away from their faith.  When Esther and Mordechai called for unity in the Jewish people, they were met with unity as all the Jewish people bonded together in fast and prayer, and we know the joyous victory that was achieved for the people of God in that time, after Esther spoke up and called the Fast and arranged the banquets!! 

Esther sent this reply to Mordecai, "Go!  Gather together all the Jews who are in Shushan and fast for me.  Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.  My maids and I will fast in the same way.  After wards, I will go to the king, even though it is not according to the law.  So if I perish, I perish!   

So Mordecai left and did all that Esther commanded him.   
Esther, 4:15~17

On that day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but contrary to expectations the Jews gained the upper hand over those that hated them.  Jews assembled in their cities through out all the provinces of King Ahaseurus in order to lay hands on those seeking their harm.  No one was able to stand against them, for fear of them had fallen on the peoples.  
 Esther, 9:1a~ 2

Praise God!! Hallelujah!! 

Wishing everyone a joyous Purim!! There is a day to fast on the day before Purim for those who choose to. After that one day fast there is the day of Purim (or two days depending), as recorded in the book of Esther, of celebration and joy!! 

Sadly there was news of terrorist attack in Israel in this week, as well as the spirit of Amalek alive and continuing in their evil plans to destroy the Jewish people with the firing of rockets by Hamas and other terrorist attacks. 

We are told in the Bible to remember to never forget Amalek,  and we read just at this time of year the scriptures about Amalek including the story of King Saul's disobedience to destroy all of Amalek.  May our prayers go up to rid this spirit of evil as embodied by Amalek and his descendants like Haman and those who are seeking to destroy Israel today. And at may many people who have gone far from God return to Him and that there rise up more unity in  God's people, both Jew and Gentile, as we are to be one in Messiah Yeshua. 

Stay tuned for a few more Purim posts and of course, those beloved cookies, though why do they call them Hamantashen??! It just makes you say "Boo!"

Postcards from Parsha Pekudei

I will expound a theme, hold forth on the lessons of the past,

things we have heard and known, 

that our fathers have told us.

We will not withhold them from their children,

telling the coming generation

the praises of the LORD and His might, 

and the wonders He performed.

Psalm 78:2~4

Finishing the book of Exodus!

Chazak, Chazak, venitchazek!!

Be strong, be strong, and let us strengthen each other!

Blessings and love,

♡

Shayndel

The Love of God

(the first picture from the book of Exodus!! Much Love!!)

♡

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

--Isaiah 27:6, first line from this week`s Haftarah reading

LIfe of Sarah, A bouquet, a Rainbow on a sunny day

The Lord is my strength and my shield.  My heart trusts in Him.  

I was helped, and my heart exulted, so I will glorify Him with my song.

---Psalm 28:7

Before I left the house to buy flowers for Shabbat, I made a prayer to ask God if my offerings are pleasing to Him.  I am just "holding down the fort" here and making my little Shabbat, and yet wonder, after being in a community of others on L.I. and feeling so filled there, I was questioning some things.

 So I asked Him, please LORD show me somehow if this is pleasing to You. 
Soon after I walked out of the house, I got to an intersection and felt to look up at the sky.  Almost as if there was a tap!  Saying, Look up!!
And there was the most subtle small strip of a rainbow!! I did a double take as there was no rain.
It was a clear day,  in a clear and beautiful sunny week.  A rainbow on a sunny sky?  And just before Shabbat!   I took off my glasses to see if maybe it was a refraction from my glasses or something.

And I  saw,  a rainbow!! I  stood there looking up,  the street light might have changed.
No one else was noticing it, so I mentioned to an older couple and they looked and the man saw it too, and showed his wife.  They were glad.  Then I crossed when it was green and continued on my way to the flower shop. and the rainbow went with me!! It got bigger and spread out into a wide rainbow smile!!

It echoed a rainbow "sign" painted on a building, and moved in the sky all the way there till I got to the flower shop and escorted me in,

When I entered the flower shop the woman there was holding a little bouquet, like the kind that is thrown at a wedding. She was in the middle of making some flower arrangements.  I said its so cute, it looks like a wedding!  And she threw the bouquet into my hands, and said, its for you!

(well, I exaggerated , she didn't really throw it, but she wrapped it in a little paper and handed it right to me and said she wanted to give it to me!)

"Sarah"

This week in the Parsha, The Life of Sarah, we read about the match made in heaven for Isaac, as Abraham sends his servant to go in search of a bride for Isaac.  I love this scene every time I read it , and how Rebecca runs out to greet him and give him a drink and for his camels too and is confirmed as the wife for Isaac.  Of course, all this has been planned well in advance, before the Creation even, as she will be the one who carries on the generations of Sarah and Abraham.   As the story enfolds anew each time it's still always a thrill to see her obediently running out and giving the water to Abraham`s servant and all the camels.  It was said to be a great amount of water that fed all those camels, and that showed the quality of goodness in Rebecca.

I like that wonderful story of meeting and beginning of her relationship into the family of God.
Its like a setting of what is to be when we enter into the family as believers and say yes to Yeshua.  He asks us to serve Him with all our hearts and soul.  And His Living Water pours out in abundance. 
He is looking for the bride who shows kindness (chesed, in Hebrew) and will give Him her all.

I am re-eposting this drawing that I made for this Parsha last year, maybe you recall it!
I hope it still delivers a fresh blessing even if you are seeing it again!

As I asked God if he accepts my offerings, and He showed me a rainbow.

Lord, may we enter this week more eager to serve You, our Beloved Lord and King of Kings.

 Thank you for the flowers.

Blessings and Shabbat Shalom!
Shavu'a Tov!

 Love, Shayndel

Drink, my lord, she said...I will also draw for your camels, until they finish drinking...and she drew for all his camels.  from Genesis 24:18~20

♡

Daily Bread Postcard

Shout for joy,
O daughter of Zion!

--Zephaniah 3:14 

＊

Before Shabbat service, a little girl was dancing so freely and joyously with a scarf, throwing it up in the air as she danced.  She inspired this drawing, and together with the scripture from Zephaniah I offer this postcard for this week`s Daily Bread Postcard!

May we be nourished by the word of God and shout for Joy, 

Rejoice in His Salvation

sing His praises from all the nations!

Shabbat Shalom!

He Straightens the Bent

 The LORD upholds all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down.

---Psalm 145:14

 1.

I planted seeds to grow morning glories on our balcony, and got so excited when some of the little green sprouted up from the soil!  I was so excited to watch them grow.  For a few days or so.

Then to my dismay,  I went out to check them one morning and they all were bent over and fallen down, I didn`t know if there was any chance that they could still have life.  I am not much of a gardener, I am of very little experience .  And almost no know how.



But I thought, as our G-d is a powerful God who straightens the bent, upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down (see scripture above, Psalm 145:14), perhaps I could use this Word and the power of He who lives in me,  and apply it for the morning glories.  I got a new hope! I ran desperately back into the house fueled by a passion to want to straighten them and bring them back to life.  I grabbed some wari-bashi from the cabinet (disposable wood chop sticks) and  nylon string and got to work.  I sat with the wilting stems and lifted them up onto the chopsticks.

The next day, they were still standing, and little by little, with adjustments here and there, they made it to the top of the chopsticks.  They have sprouted the `vine` and today, one of the vines made it to the net and is on its way up the trellis!! Praise God!!

       2.                              Another scene---a few days ago I was having a sandwich and coffee for lunch in a nearby park, but not so nearby.  I hadn`t been there for about a year.   When I looked around, I noticed the beautiful purple hydrangeas.  After eating I took a walk around  looking at the hydrangeas, when an amazing thing caught my eye!! I saw little green plants being held up with chopsticks!! And then I saw a net around the tree, and that these little plants were morning glory, and some were even growing up and around on the net around the tree!! There was one flower!!

can you see the greens around the tree, and growing up the tree and supported by a net, a vine of morning glories!!  There was even one flower that was open

I felt filled with such great hope and confirmation that my morning glories too would make it to flower ! Seeing that I wasn`t the only one who used chopsticks to straighten the bent morning glories,  I felt the great presence of the Almighty God, here in this tiny detail of those greens so close to the ground!!!  As I looked around the garden, it was like a miracle unfolding.  Next I saw there was a great tree in the middle of the garden.  It was a palm tree!  And then I noticed...yes!... a net around the base of the Palm Tree.... for morning glories to grow up around!!  I wondered who made this garden, and at the same  I loved just sensing it was put there  from the G-d of Heaven to reveal something about His love and kindness and mercies that are new every morning for us here on earth!!

At the base of this great, straight, Palm Tree in the ....middle of the Garden!!...someone had planted morning glories!!!

Before I left the garden I began to notice tucked here in there in between shrubs and in quiet corners, I saw a watering can here, a shovel there, and then a box of garden gloves and other garden tools.  The hand of the gardener was there, and yet so sweetly she/he tried to hide her presence.  Then I saw her there, in a corner, pruning some plants.  She must have been 100 years old, her face full of lines almost hidden by a bonnet, as though she had been there, in that garden, tending it for a lifetime, plus lifetimes, waiting for someone to notice it`s splendour, to  wander through the garden just marvelling at its wonders.

Blessings and Shabbat Shalom!

Much Love,

Shayndel

Because of the mercies of ADONAI we will not be consumed, for His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning!

Great is Your faithfulness.

--Lamentations  3:22~23 TLV