It`s the month of Elul and a month of preparing our hearts, Teshuvah, returning and drawing near to God, and getting ready for the Fall Feasts, High Holidays.
The LORD bless you and keep you!
And a little short from my channel, its called New Wine, and I learned in Hebrew `Yayin Chadesh`! Enjoy!
יין חדש
I am the vine. You are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit, because apart from Me, you can do nothing.
Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My love!
Let Your ears be attentive to the sound of my supplications. Psalm 130:1~2
On the day before Yom Kippur, I saw this little girl feeding pigeons out of her hand. I stopped on my bicycle, and asked her mom if I could take a picture, and she said it was ok.
Just earlier in that morning I had been reading the book of Jonah, because the book of Jonah is read in the synagogue on Yom Kippur services, so I wanted to read it in advance. When I was reading it this time, I saw more than ever how amazing it is as a story of `Teshuvah`. That of course is why it is read at this time of year. I love hearing it, and reading it , partly because I relate to Jonah in my own story of `teshuvah`, or `return. I relate especially to how he thought he could run away from God, and of course, was found! This year after having been thinking a lot about Teshuvah, I noticed in the text of Jonah`s prayer how it is such an amazing `model` of teshuvah with the way the `turn` back to God is so clearly depicted in that prayer.
When I saw the girl with the pigeons I knew God was making a connection that He wanted me to see see in that moment!
He knew that I knew that I would see the connection of Jonah and the pigeons!!
Jonah and the pigeons, you ask?
well, yes! Because in Hebrew, the word Jonah
(actually its Yonah in Hebrew), means dove, or pigeon!!
dove, pigeon = יוֹנָה
Its something I learned this year, and I even call pigeons now `Yonahי
So I saw something in the little girl that was this peace she had and joy in feeding the pigeons, in being so at one with God`s creation!
Part of our `Teshuvah` is a sense of coming home to who we are in Him, or returning to God as who He meant for us to be, and it can be a little like connecting to the childlike parts of ourselves. I think that in showing me that little girl, He wanted to show me something of the joy that He has been wanting to return in me.
I made an on-the-spot upload to express something about that, and just to share a little `pre-Yom Kippur` message, here is the upload and the scenes of little girl!!
G`mar Chatima Tovah!
May you be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for a good year!
Hope you have/had a good and smooth fast and meaningful Yom Kippur!! Blessings and Love, Shayndel
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. James 1:17
Would you believe it, this challah was a gift, sent to me from Tokyo!! A good and perfect gift from our Father in Heaven, who sent it through the synagogue , surprise and touched my heart in ways that only He knows how!! (the perfect round challah in a perfect square box, the box had my name on it hand written all around the box!!!)
L`Shana Tova! A card for you!
This one I made! A three strand braid shaped in a circle like a crown
.
Praise is awaiting You in Zion, O God,
and to You the vow will be fulfilled.
Psalm 65:2
A few friends asked about how to make the round challah and to see `part 2` of shaping the challah, so I am popping in to share the upload for Part 2, and share a few reflections on the Feast days and the Ten days of Awe that we are in, as well as about the challah!!
So without further ado, here is Part 2. Sorry it doesn`t include the receiving of the challah gift described and pictured in top photos above!! I had already filmed the video!! But if you can, just imagine another doorbell ring, like in Part 1 when the sukkah was delivered from Abram the tent maker. This time it was a Japan postman at the door delivering a Round challah from the King!!!
As I have shared before, the round challah is my recommendation for all the fall `chag` (chag-im) feasts!! I am thankful for master challah teacher Tamar, who I got a lot of tips from for making the challah this year. I learned a few new things, including sifting the flour first, using oil instead of flour on the board for rolling and kneading if needed. I made three of the shapes she taught about (see upload!). I gave the ones I made to others, including of course one for my daughter, and to neighbors or friends to share about the holiday and God`s goodness. So I was extra grateful for receiving the challah (from) above!
The next feast is Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement, and the holiest day on the Kingdom calendar, with the Shabbat of Return (Shabbat Shuvah, or Shabbat Teshuvah!) before that. It is very wonderful to see this year here in Asia, and many people now in the body of Messiah everywhere around the world, are beginning to more and more understand and enter into God`s appointed feasts. And to pray for Israel during these days. Many Jewish people still do not know their (our) Messiah Yeshua. Over hundreds, thousands, of years of history, He has become unrecognizable to the Jewish people, so removed even from His own feasts (*actually another word is `moedim` which means God`s appointed times and seasons). The Feasts of the LORD are the appointed days that Yeshua made as part of His plan of creation and redemption and for heaven and earth to meet in Him. From the beginning it was all in place. At the Restoration of the Kingdom of God on earth they will be continue to be celebrated and they will be fulfilled by Yeshua Himself, the coming King. On this Shabbat of Return, and in this year 5781, May He reveal Himself to the Jewish people and to the world that He is the Messiah of Israel and Savior of the World!! This is a time of restoration of all things and its exciting that we each have a part to play!!!
And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
" The Deliverer shall come out of Zion.
He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."
Romans 11:26~27 (referencing Isaiah 59:20~21, 27:9, and Jeremiah 31:31~34)
Oh, so of course no challah on Yom Kippur as it is a complete fast, for 25 hours, but you can have a challah prepared in advance for the break-fast, or for the continuing days of the feasts through Succot!!
By the way I started putting up my Succah today!! Its my first real succah, and I can recall how it harkens back to the Tabernacle and forward to the wonderful day when God will dwell with us here on earth!!!
I am trying out a "Challah-cast" (like "pod-cast"), to start a new
series for the New Year.
I was inspired to try something new in the New Year and do a weekly series of "Challah-cast"
video uploads to share about themes from the weekly Torah portion using
"challah" as the basis to tell it!!!
My goals with it would be each week to share a little something about the week we are in on the Hebrew calendar and to relate some of the themes of what we are reading in the Torah portion for that Shabbat to tell some Torah insight or personal testimony or something that could be an inspiration to others, as we encourage each other to draw closer to God using the "ingredients" from our God-given lives!!
So that is the idea, and here is the first "Challah-cast" practice!! Practicing!
Shabbat Shuvah is the Sabbath of Return, that comes between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
In
terms of Challah, it is customary to make a challah in the shape of a
"spiral" to represent "return" as well as to echo the creation in the
shape, and give honor and glory to the LORD, our Creator.
Please watch if you can and let me know any
comments to if it is something you might want to see more of, and if
there is any ways that it would be more appealing for you , for example
regarding the content, length of time, tone, etc etc. A work in progress! Please do let me
know!!
Shana Tova!!
G’mar Chatima Tovah!
May you be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life for
good year!
A round challah, pomegranate seeds, apples, honey, and even yogurt--milk and honey! are all symbolic of the Biblical New Year!! Happy and Sweet 5780 to you! May we honor our Creator all the days through!
Let heaven and earth praise Him, the
seas and everything moving in them.
Psalm 69:35
A sweet and exquisite first day of the Year 5780 to all!
Rosh Hashanah morning. Before going to synagogue with my Dad, I took a bicycle ride down to the beach with a New Year's round challah (*note, it is a challah from the bakery) in my back pack! A challah adventure of the New Years kind. When I was growing up on Long Island, my family always walked to the synagogue. My Dad always said that it never rains on the Jewish Holidays!! So there is a kind of weather I associate with the High Holidays, and it was just that weather this New Year.
There would be feasting with the congregation later, but in the morning, a quiet time. The ocean was High tide, and the sky was like it might have looked on the first day of Creation!! Today the day, yes, the day the Big Shofar is blown. When I set the round challah down on the beach blanket, immediately its shape echoed the sky and the sun rising already up above the horizon. It is also an echo of "Return". The High Holidays are about "Teshuvah", which means to return, as in to return to God our Father. Not only personally, but nationally as a people as well. The circular shape, it goes around and around, a reminder of the shape of His days, always bringing us closer and closer to Him, the Creator of all things, welcome O welcome to the King of all Kings.
