A Challah over Mt. Fuji

challah wrapped in a `tenugui` cloth on the airplane table in front of the window

can you see Mt. Fuji?  There is is, you see! The mountain top!

Drawing from the plane, So close to heaven, God so near! 

Landed, with the Challah, in Tokyo!

Travelling from South to North, to Tokyo for Succot,
A challah in my hands.
Hoping to get a view of Mt. Fuji
before the plane lands.

There it is!! You see, the  mountain top!
The challah, on the table, prop (propped!)
Mt. Fuji and a challah in one view,
I hope one day you`ll see those two

Oh what a thrill
when it appears

So close to heaven
God so near

 Give thanks to the God of heaven

His love endures forever.   ---Psalm 136:26

Blessings and Shalom!
from Challah and Cherry Blossoms correspondent,

Shayndel

♡

Challah and Mt. Fuji notes on this story:

The challah is a Red Bean challah! I used THIS RECIPE for the dough, with a few variations, and for the filling used  red bean paste (secret: the red bean paste, called azuki,  I used this time was ready made,  from 7-Eleven!),  You can also make your own!
(Variations:  I often make this recipe as is, but for this red bean version I made the following variations.  I note this here as sometimes I will go back to make a challah and I forget what I did!  So this is like my  diary of making the challah, and of course I welcome you to try it too!!
instead of honey, I used Tensai-to which is a Japanese sugar made from daikon radish;  I substituted Grapeseed oil, instead of Olive Oil; and doubled the recipe, one loaf went with me to Tokyo, and the other stayed home and was for our Shabbat, see in posts below).

The first Red Bean Challah I made was in this past year for Abraham, you can see the Red Bean Challah in This post and This post.

note:  The challah is wrapped for travelling in a Japanese Tenugui.  Click in the *labels* at right side bar or beneath this post under `tenugui` and there you can find out more about these cloths.  The design on the tenugui I was carrying this Challah in had a picture of a red Mt. Fuji!

note:  If you see in the photos, you might not even realize where Mt. Fuji is, but please look close and you can see the dark shape of the top of the Mountain coming out from the clouds!! You can also see more Mt. Fuji views and posts on this blog, some readers may already know my Mt. Fuji and challah fascination!  

Also noted:  often we make a foil `tent` for the Challah in the oven after about 20 minutes, depending on your oven so the top doesn`t burn while the inside cooks.  I noticed this time as I was making the foil tent, that this Challah is for Succot and at this time we are commanded to dwell, rejoice in tents!!
This photo below is the Challah in it`s tent.

2 Dahlias... and a Challah!

Two Dahlias

Two (pink) Dahlias and a pink tent!

Two Dahlias and a Challah!!

Shabbat Shalom!

♡

Shayndel

 
for Dahlia!*
(a friend from Israel!) 

and for Sandi!  when I saw the flowers today,  I  thought of  your 3 yellow roses!! ) 

Chag Sameach Sukkot! Happy Sukkot!

 

Shalom

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:  Say to the Israelite people:
On the fifteenth day of this seventh month there shall be the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) to the LORD, (to last) seven days.    ---Leviticus 23:33~34

On the first day you shall take the product of hadar trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.   You shall observe it as a festival of the LORD for seven days in the year; you shall observe it in the seventh month as a law for all time, throughout the ages.   You shall live in booths seven days; all citizens in Israel shall live in booths, in order that future generations may know that I made the Israelite people live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, 

I am the LORD your God.    --Leviticus 23: 40 ~ 43

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I made a succa on the verandah!
I feel like such a child, and maybe, maybe ,
 I do hope...  Father in Heaven is smiling!   ---a feeling I had after making a succa on our verandah.  During this holiday we make a `tent` and spend time in the succa over the 7 days of the holiday, as per Leviticus 23、above scriptures.  

A succa is booth, or tent, made for this festival of Sukkot.
It represents the booths, or tents, that the children of Israel lived in the years in the wilderness.

They had no permanent physical homes or shelters, as they were wandering and on their way to the Promised Land of Israel.  They were living so closely and dwelling intimately with God in those days, as He guided them through the wilderness.  They saw that all their provisions came from Him.  When they were hungry, he provided them with manna from heaven and continued to do so in all their days in the wilderness, and when they were thirsty He gave them to drink water from a rock.

Of course, He is the Bread from Heaven and He is the Rock!!

Today when we make a succa, it is to remember those times in the desert/wilderness and it is also to remember that no matter what we have in the physical realm, it is temporary.  Only God is eternal, and our constant Provider.  It is also a tent of God`s love, as after the High Holy Days, cleansing, repentance, and forgiveness, we rejoice in His Love, in the intimacy of dwelling with Him under His wings, in His protection, in  the Succa!!

My daughter came out to see what I was doing, when I called her to see the moon through the tent!
I think she was surprised!  At dinner I told her about the Feast of Sukkot and what the tents represented, and she understood it in some way.  But I think when she came out and saw the moon through the tent, and the intimate dwelling place that it was on the balcony, I do think she had some feeling in her heart of being in the `succa`.

I admit, I was late to make my succa.  I really hadn`t planned on it, but as the day was getting near to a close, approaching erev Succot (the eve when the holiday begins), I just scurried out to gather some materials to make a succa!

 Returning to my opening sentence, I think being late was less important than realizing in my heart how much I longed to make a succa and dwell in G-d`s presence beneath it!!!

Love and blessings to you in this week of Sukkot!

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Shout for joy, Fair Zion!  For lo, I come; and I will dwell in your midst---declares the LORD.

 ---Zecharaiah 2:10

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Photos below:
The moon through the tent, and reading Psalms in the Moonlight!　

Psalm 72

Let them fear You as long as the sun shines,

while the moon lasts, generations on end.  

 ---Psalm 72:5, 

illuminated in the moonlight ( with a flashlight )

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The first meal in the succa--Red Bean Buns !  (somehow I had the inspiration to make them this holiday, red beans in rice are celebratory in Japan, so I felt that celebrating Succot in Japan went with red bean bread, in Japanese called `an-pan).

Blessed are you, Lord, our God, sovereign of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to dwell in the sukkah (Amen).

Making a lulav and etrog using a Kabosu and some 100 yen shop leaves and grasses!!

 Other posts on Succot to follow!  How to make Succah Sun Catcher Citron decorations HERE

this leaf says `Shalom` in Japanese writing

And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.  

---John 1:14