Sweet Sound of the Shofar

More Elul reflections and stories and a little on Parsha Ki Tetze

 1.  The big Shofar and the little shofar, continued

This "blurb" (paragraph, below italics) is from a Prayer Sheet I am working on as part of a series of prayer sheets over one year to pray from the parsha (weekly Torah readings).   Each prayer sheet contains scriptures that have to do with themes from the parsha, and just in the blurb I write a little something to introduce the week.  This is for Parsha Ki Tetze (readings from Deuteronomy 21:10 ~ 25:19) ,

"In this week we read detailed commandments for all kinds of different situations like the mother bird and her young, and relationships including husband and wife.  It may be hard to even imagine in our human minds that the God of creation would care so much as to give us detailed do’s and don’ts of so many scenarios in everyday living.  And yet our God, who is the God of creation, and Maker of all things, is the Father who attends to every detail of our lives!!   Why even this morning, I had set my alarm to a certain time, and yet HE woke me an hour earlier to say to get up!!, that there was some place He wanted me to be!!"

This is what I reflect on in this week---continuing from something I started in the previous post about the "Big" Shofar blast at Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashanah) and the  "little " sounding of the shofar in Elul.  In Elul, I feel like a child as I approach and spend time with my Father and King, who is "in the field".  What I meant in the paragraph above, the unbelievable truth that the same King who is the Master of all Creation is also the one who attends to all the tiny details of our days  and cares so very much about all the ways we carry on in our every day life.  How He is present and active in our days to even the smallest details of waking us up earlier than the alarm we set if need  be!!!  (This very life which is given by Him!!) 

All this to say, that we are coming closer to that Coronation day and the Fall Feasts.  So even in the month of Elul as I start out in a sheer joy and delight of having this month to hold on to my Fathers hand and learn from Him in a  Father-daughter relationship, growing deeper in intimacy , I am aware in my spirit that its also time to buckle down and revere Him for who He IS as the King and Creator of the world and Judge who is holding a Feast for all His people to attend,  during the days of Awe and Repentance.   Time to to prepare my heart, my best clothes, be on my best behavior and get ready to attend the feasts.  I can feel that shift coming closer, and  move from leaping and jumping and exclaiming, to a posture of bowing down to His Holiness even as I go out with my little shofar in the latter part of Elul.  Whew.

Praise God!
  Our Father, Our King.

2.  More sweet sounds as we get closer to Rosh Hashanah

Yesterday I bought a few jars of made-in-Japan honey to give as Rosh Hashanah gifts, including one to bring to my daughter for a Sweet New Year.  On the way home, I  stopped to blow the shofar at the river.  So I took a few of the honey jars out of the shopping bag, with the apples that I also had bought to go with the honey, arranged them on the steps, and started to feel an early sweetness that we associate with the coming of the New Year!!   note:  it is a Jewish Holiday tradition to have apples and honey in the New Year!!  We are in the last days of the year 5779, the new year will become 5780 on the biblical calendar at the end of September.


3.  A butterfly meeting in Elul!!

This was sooooo Elul and such an amazing gift from God!!  I saw a butterfly and I knew she was the one who I prayed for in the Matot and Masei postings (here) from last year!! She had the same markings and was flitting around showing off how well her wings were working!! I tried to get her to stop and sit on my hand as she did that time, but no!   She was too busy flying with her wings all perfect and being who she is in wholeness, health and vibrancy---this day she wanted to just show me that!!!   I was so happy and want to remind you of what the Holy Spirit showed me----don't ever stop praying and believing for healing for those you love, and don't ever ever think its too silly or a waste of time to spend a whole day with a butterfly with a broken wing.  She will come back one day and fly to show you that she is healed and  show you even how good she flies and how she was meant to be, perfectly created and perfectly healed!!  Oh, and don't take it personal if she doesn't have the time to spend the whole day with you this time, she is doing what she was meant to do --fly!--- and just wanted to thank you for taking the time with her when she was broken and needed someone, and show you that He hears your prayers!!

4.  Elul transitions into Rosh Hashanah and the Fall Feasts.

In taking out my little shofar everyday of Elul I meet with wonder that is particular to this Hebrew month!!  I find new things in each day that can only be described as  "in Elul".

In this month of preparation for Rosh Hashanah and the  Kingdom Feast time, I find that Elul is a time of seeking and reflection in preparation.

I just heard a rabbi teaching about the shofar who described the shofar blowing as a form of prayer without words.   I really love that, it was a beautiful point to hear!


 5.  Ice cream and Shofar

I am not really a big ice cream eater, but the other day somehow it just welled up in me,  I wanted an ice cream!! So I got an ice cream and brought it with me to a place by the river where its an open space to blow the shofar!! And what happened was that I was able to offer a sweet sound to the LORD by having the ice cream and delighting in it and in Him as I sounded my call for returning to Him.

6.  My Elul lesson

 Big You
little me
is the way its gotta be!!

That means I am "little" and God is "Big" and when I recognize that and especially He is not only Big, He is Infinite, and Everlasting, and yet He comes to meet little me in this wonderful divine-human partnership , oh that is har-mon-y!!  I also am learning that when the Huge God meets us in the "small things" , that is truly a miracle.  May we be thankful for the many daily miracles that we might have skipped over in this year, and go into the new year with a grateful heart and prepare for His return in readiness to meet Him in all our days!

Blessings and renewal to you as we get closer to the New Year and Fall Feasts of the KING!!  Still some time to prepare!! Wishing you a Happy, Sweet New Year, Shana Tova!!! 

Love,

♡

Shayndel

For your maker is your husband—ADONAI Tzva’ot is His Name—- 
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer.  He will be called God of all the earth.  

                                    Isaiah 54:5 (from the Haftarah reading from Parsha Ki Tetze)

Shabbat Shalom!

Days of the Fall Feasts 2019:
(note:  all days on the Hebrew calendar begin in the evening, which follow the Creation where God said first there was evening and then morning, one day)

The month of Elul Sept 1 ~ 29

Rosh Hashanah, Yom Teruah  (Feast of Trumpets, Head of the Year)
September 29 ~ Oct 1

Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
October 8 ~ 9

Succot (Feast of Tabernacles)
October 13 ~20

Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah (Joy of the Torah as one year Torah Cycle is complete
and scroll back to the beginning)
October 20 ~ 22

New Parsha/ Torah Reading Schedule for the new year 5780, 2019-2020
HERE

Elul!!

In His Tabernacle I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy.

I will sing, yes, sing praises to ADONAI.

--Psalm 27:6

 On the Hebrew calendar, it is the month of Elul!
The 6th month and last month of the calendar "year" as next month will be Rosh Hashanah, the head of the year, and the beginning of the Fall Feasts and end of one Torah cycle and beginning of the next!

 It is a Jewish tradition to blow the shofar every day of this month except the last day, in preparation for Rosh Hashanah.  Another tradition is to read Psalm 27 morning and night.  I love both these customs and when I found out about Elul just last year for the first time, I found doing them to be a wonderful way to deepen our experience of this special month.  In the Psalm, there are so many verses that bring us close to the LORD at this time of year and any time of course, but as in it there are references to the trumpet (offering shouts of joy), to the Succa (which comes after Yom Kippur, to dwell in the Succa), and maybe just overwhelmingly the theme of seeking His face, it is a wonderful Psalm to read and prepare for this time of repentance and renewal. 

 It is also said that "The King is in the fields" so this is another special aspect of this month as we can really seek the LORD very close by, as He is said to be in the fields, and there is a sense of His presence being very near.  So enjoy the month and a time to take stock of the past year and to seek Him for where we need to repent and also a time to clear and re-new, from things buried in our hearts, to things we put off, to seeking clarity and vision for the upcoming year, always with  thanks in each day.  And much more, but that is my brief introduction to Elul in this post!! 
 This is a little verse I wrote about Elul, and now that you read these paragraphs above, it might just make a little sense!  Happy Elul!!

Blow the shofar!
It`s Elul!!
This just might be my favorite month,
you know,
It is said, The King is in the Fields!

So sound the trumpet and proclaim His glory
 morning, noon and night
 Prepare our hearts for the Head of the Year

The LORD is our light,

Him shall we fear!

Fear in the sense of revere Him with awe
Read Psalm 27 and confess our sins,
Coming to the end of the scrolls 
prepare to usher a New Year
In!!  As we approach the season of coronation,
and to welcome the Messiah, the eternal King!!

The Beloved is mine and I am His.

Catching up!

Happy Elul!!

For my first  post about Elul please see HERE!! It is a post I wrote last year this time when I first became aware of this month on the Hebrew calendar!!
For a moving picture with sound (video) of me blowing my shofar, you can click HERE!! I still need practice in sounding the shofar, as you will hear!!

One thing have I asked of ADONAI, 

that will I seek:

to dwell in the House of ADONAI

all the days of my life,

to behold the beauty of ADONAI, 

and to meditate in His Temple.

--Psalm 27: 4

Elul story by the sea

 

Blowing the shofar at Elul is like the little shofar before the BIG Shofar Blast that we are approaching at the Feast of Trumpets.  Lining up our little selves with our BIG and great LORD and King!   I love taking my little shofar and blowing it each day of this month of Elul  in "preparation" .  As you may have noticed from the number of Elul posts!!  

How do we  prepare for the Day of the Big Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah, Rosh Hashanah)  and the Big Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) ?  One daily way is, Repentance in the small things (big things too of course, but hoping that some of the big ones have been clear and of course Salvation is the only way to do that!)!   Seeking God for where we need to clear out those parts of us that still need to be gotten right  -- the bitterness in our hearts, unforgiveness, what else? --- ask Him to show us---there are always those places---!!

When we seek Him with a desire to see His face and to  draw closer to Him, He answers!  Sometimes it is through the Holy Spirit showing us a cloud that takes the shape of the shofar and gets longer and wider!! Sometimes it is with a blue sky that appears on a super cloudy day. ...  you had brought a raincoat with you on your ride, as it was getting grayer and grayer and then as you meditate on His greatness,  the next time you look up what do you know,  the sky has cleared and is all blue.  Can we "blow away" the clouds ?? No, we cannot do anything in and of ourselves.  Can we ask Him to show us where we need to grow and stretch and enlarge our tents?  Yes, we can seek His face and we can take a step each day to draw closer in wanting to know His heart.   The story of Elul, from Shayndel's reflections today,  is to step out in action and take the small steps to seek Him.  As we read each day of this month in  Psalm 27, Your Face Lord I seek!  

In Your behalf my heart says:

"Seek My face!"

O Lord, I seek Your face.

Psalm 27:8b

(JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh )

Blessings and a happy Elul day to you!!

 

Love,

♡

Shayndel

Enlarge the place of your tent, 

stretch out your tabernacle curtains.

Do not hold back--

lengthen your cords,

strengthen your stakes.

Isaiah 54:2  

(from this week's Haftarah reading)

A shofar "centerpiece"on the Shabbat table during the month of Elul

S H A B B A T      S H A L O M !!!

Shabbat Shalom!

 

Related post on this blog, with a little more explanation about Elul, HERE
＊
For a Torah Teaching on repentance in the month of Elul, Teshuvah (Repentance) and this week's  Parsha Ki Tetze , HERE .  This teaching and inspiration is on a weekly podcast by Jewish pop singer and Torah Teacher Ari Goldwag  

Shabbat Flowers ~ and an Elul Story

I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.
    He browses among the lilies. 

Song of Songs 6:3

Chodesh Tov!

Blessings in the new month of Elul! （though already as I am posting this we are already well into the month and almost the full moon!!)  

The sixth month on the Hebrew calendar is a time of repentance and return to God, a time of preparation to meet our Messiah and crown Him as King, in anticipation of the Fall Feasts of Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur,  culminating with tabernacling with Him,  as One with each other at the Feast of Sukkot! 

Also in this month it is said to be a time of drawing near to the beloved and a time when `the King is in the Fields`.  The verse above from Song of Songs is also associated with Elul. *

* The 4 letters from the first letter of each word of the  verse,  spell out the word ELUL in the Hebrew! 

 I find that in this month the LORD speaks to me in intimate ways and even shows how He is hearing my heart and bringing things to pass in a way that is very .... Elul!

That`s the only way I can describe it! So let me give it a go with the Elul Story about the Shabbat Flowers!

Since I returned to celebrating the Shabbat, here in Japan, I always love to buy flowers on Friday afternoons to welcome the Shabbat. The joy of walking home with flowers through the city is a great delight.  I experience it as a wonderful time,  bathed in His love, like a child excited to give flowers to her Daddy or a wife to her husband on their special day.  Yeshua says keep My commandments, abide in My love, and make my joy complete!

So on with the story, 

When I  buy flowers on Friday afternoons,  I also try to  picture how it must be in Israel, the women scurrying to do their shopping and greeting one another with their bouquets on their way to their homes for Shabbat.  This picture of the city filled with joy for Shabbat and for honoring the beloved Yeshua, the LORD of Shabbat, bubbles up in my heart with joy!!   I have longed for my city that we would honor God`s Shabbat and the women would be out on the streets like that on Friday afternoon, doing their shopping to make a special meal for the family, and in the flower shop greeting each other with, Shabbat Shalom! In Japanese,

 シャバット・シャローム！

I have been going to the same flower shop that is close to where I live, and have developed a friendly relationship with them.  Over the years have shared a little about Shabbat with he staff since they always see me on Friday,  a few have asked about that!

Recently God has opened a door and answered a prayer to share about Shabbat in the local church.  They are a small congregation who loves Israel and has become interested in returning to do the things of God and connecting to our Jewish root in the faith, as `one new man` in Messiah.

We had our first Shabbat last month, and already the second one this past Shabbat which was also the beginning of the month of Elul.

This church is right down the street from the flower shop where I buy flowers, so I was excited both times to order a `delivery` of Shabbat flowers to the church to have for our Shabbat to honor the LORD  and make a beautiful table for our celebration.

The first time when I placed the order I asked if they could write `Shabbat Shalom` in Japanese on the card. And they did.

Then when I came again the next time I once again asked if they could write the same message.

When I came into the flower shop later that afternoon, I saw the arrangement was in the glass case, and the words `Shabbat Shalom` on the message card filled my heart with joy!!

It was like a first `drop` from Heaven of the glimmer of the vision of the Shabbat being honored in Japan! ( I shared a little about this vision of Shabbat in Japan in an early post HERE).   And more than that, it is the LORD of Shabbat, Yeshua,  being honored in Japan when we observe Shabbat we say clearly that we are giving honor and praise and glory to the God of the Bible, the God of Creation, the God of Israel who invites us all to be a part of His glorious Kingdom through Messiah Yeshua!!

Glory to His Name!!  Oh LORD how we pray for all the nations to know you, the Holy One, and the Maker of Heaven and Earth, Saviour of all the world..., maybe it will be one Shabbat bouquet at a time!!

Hence I call it an Elul story, as it takes place in this month of repentance and return! A month when `the King is in the fields` and where we seek the face of the beloved from the `fields` where we are and may He meet us here!

With love to all and to all be God`s Love!!❤️

Love, Shayndel

He has brought me to the banquet house
    and his banner over me is love.

Song of Songs 2:4 

pS i just found the post where I first had the prayer/vision about Shabbat in Japan, amazingly it was 6 years ago!! Thank you LORD for hearing my prayer and bringing such encouragement in this Elul!! I pray for multiplication and seeing it come about more and more by the power of Your Ruach Ha Chodesh, even to be a revival of the Shabbat Shalom ・Teshuvah kind!!

Quoting from the post, this line below: 

I am so excited for when the people of Japan will know ADONAI and will celebrate the Shabbat, and on Friday afternoons people will greet each other in the town with シャバット・シャローム ,
 Shabbat Shalom! As they scurry to buy food and flowers and prepare for Shabbat!

 

Shabbat Shalom--some thoughts on Rosh Chodesh Elul and Parsha Re'eh!

Happy is the people who know the teruah (joyful shout of the shofar)
                                                       Psalm 89:16

       Parsha Re`eh,
       Almost Elul!!!

This week (Friday) we will enter into the new month of Elul, the 6th month of the Hebrew calendar.

As Elul is the preparation month for the Fall Feasts, that means its getting close to the Fall Feasts, which begin with Rosh Hashanah,  in Tishrei, the 7th month and a `New Year`on the Hebrew calendar.

I love the month of Elul itself, and feel like I need to even prepare in these few days before Elul to prepare for Elul!! 

Prepare to prepare ??  What does that mean?  I would say, it means to strip away everything that is not focused on the beloved Yeshua!!  To have the whole month clear for meeting Him in the fields and in every encounter.  So as to precious-ize (not a word maybe?! but just making that word for the situation!!) each moment in anticipation of His return.  As we know the Fall Feasts are a time of celebrating the beginning of Creation, and the blowing of the Shofar to announce the Kingdom come, as well as the leading up to the day of Atonement, a time of individual and corporate repentence and return,  and after that the rejoicing in the Feast of Succot.  

And ultimately tabernacling with the God of Creation, our very beloved Yeshua.  Of couse there will be dancing and a feast of feasts for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  The spring feasts have been fulfilled in the Messiah`s first coming and although we don`t know the day of when He will return, we want to be prepared!!  The time of the Fall Feasts will be the fulfillment of His return and of His Coronation and His dwelling with us!!!   Indeed now is a time of preparation.   Halleluyah!

The word Re`eh, the name of this week`s Parsha, means `See`!!

It is the root word of Yireh, which may be known to many, as that is the word for ADONAI Yireh, The LORD who Provides, one of the names given to God that we read in the book of Genesis when Abraham saw the ram in the thicket and says `The LORD will Provide`, which also can be translated as `The LORD is Vision`, since it is from the root word See.  He sees the end from the beginning and the beginnning from the end.

I pray a blessed month to all and a month of `Seeing` what it is that God has for us individually and as a body of Messiah.  

Much Love, 
 ♡
Shayndel 

Psalm 27, morning glories, and a little about Elul

 One thing I ask of the LORD,

only that do I seek:

to live in the house of the LORD

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD,

to frequent His temple.

---Psalm 27:4

This month is Elul, the sixth month on the Hebrew calendar.  It is the  last month of the Biblical Year 5777.  The first day of the next month will be the `Head` of the year, Rosh Hashanah,  also known as the Feast of Trumpets.  Rosh Hashanah is the start of the Fall Feasts and days of repentance leading up to Yom Kippur.  The month of Elul is a time of preparation for the Fall Feasts and a time to seek forgiveness as we reflect on the past year and seek to better ourselves and draw nearer to God in the year to come. 

There is a Jewish custom to blow the shofar and read Psalm 27 every day in the month of Elul (excluding the last day, the day before Rosh Hashanah).  I have been incorporating these and love reading the Psalm in the morning and evening.   I have a small shofar, and don`t get a big sound, but the morning glories reaching out over the balcony seem to amplify the sound...   It feels as though they are echoing the call of the shofar to wake up to God`s glory!  

With blessings and Shalom to you in this month of Elul!

♡

Your face, Lord I seek!

---Psalm 27:8

It is good to give Praise to our Maker and rejoice and give thanks to Him as we seek repentance and to draw closer to Him in this month of Elul!

Happy Almost Elul, in progress!

An Elul Fan!

I get so excited for the month of Elul, this time can't contain myself, and making my first ever Happy Elul painting!!   The fan that Shirah is holding says AHAVA!! I named her Shirah because it means SONG and in ELUL we sing the Song of Songs!! AHAVA means LOVE in Hebrew.  Its one of my favorite words, close in the running with SHALOM!!

Much love and A very HAPPY almost ELUL, SHABBAT SHALOM!! Love, Shayndel

♡

Happy Elul!

Happy is the people who know the TERUAH (Joyful shout of the Shofar )  Psalm 89:16

Tonight begins the first day of the month of Elul!!

Elul is the month of preparation before the High Holy Days, it is a month of `Teshuvah`, of return, and of drawing nearer to the Beloved Yeshua!! The shofar is sounded daily as a call to repentance and return, a wake up call ! and a preparation of our hearts to clean out those places that are holding us back from nearness to God.  I love listening to the shofar, as well as I hope to get better at sounding my little shofar during these next 30 days!!

Today is the first day of Elul, first evening actually.  This month it is said that the King himself is in the fields, so may we look  to meet Him as we are and to ask Him to show us those places that we need to work on in this month of teshuvah.   Oh, and remember, the name Elul is said to be an an acronym made of the first letters of the Hebrew verse in Song of Songs, 6:3, I am my beloveds and He is mine, Ani le Dodi ve Dodi li.  I also love the tradition of reading Psalm 27 daily in this month.  As we are just in the first day, I  wanted to mention these observances if anyone might be moved to enter into this preparation month for the Fall Feasts. So many now in the Body of Messiah are realizing that they are for all God`s people which is so exciting to see, as shofars are being blown in Malaysia and Australia and Singapore and Japan! and all around the globe to call for nations to return to Him and as well of course calling out to Him to hear our voice united as one!!!

Listening to the sound of shofar everyday is a beautiful part of this month.  If you are moved to find some shofar sounding videos (there are many!) and listen each day,  let your soul hear the sound that is said to be a call to return,  representing the voice of God and remniscient of the  shofar sound at Mt. Sinai as well as the sound of the great shofar blast that will usher in the return of Messiah and the gathering of peoples of every tribe and nation to Him . 

Blessed Elul to all! 

Love, 
Shayndel


 

Shabbat Table, Shabbat Shalom!

an extra  smaller challah joined the 2 loaves, like a family of challah!

Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.

With trumpets and sound of the shofar
blast a sound before the King, ADONAI
                                Psalm 98:6

As I am on an Elul series, I could call this post Elul Shabbat!
This month is my favorite month (I also have other favorite months, but this is one of them, especially this time of year!), so when I was aware that we were nearing the beginning of the month,  I was watching for the new moon of Elul!!

I like how the shofar goes well as a centerpiece on the table.
We blow the shofar on Shabbat, and during Elul, so it has a double place on this Shabbat!

And a happy Shabbat to set a place for my daughter, as she was home for her summer holidays!!

I think the Challah came out extra shining to reflect my heart at being happy for my daughter being home on Shabbat!

I made a dish with one of our local special citric tastes, Kabosu.  It is like a lime but round in shape
and with a unique fragrance similar to a lime but a little different.  People where we live use kabosu on everything, and it is one of the specialties of our Prefecture!

Kabosu, like a lime, but as you can see they are completely round. Other tastes include ginger, oregano, salt, olive oil, and in this recipe apricot jam!

I think the Challah came out extra shining to reflect my heart at being happy for my daughter being home on Shabbat !!

Blessings and Shabbat Shalom, a new Shabbat, by the time this is posted!!
Would anyone want to share a  `shofar` scripture in this month? Something fun for Elul I might make a post of some to follow in this week, please share any, or another scripture that is on your heart if you are moved to!!

Much love,

♡

Shayndel

God is gone up amidst shouting,

ADONAI amidst the sound of the shofar.   

Psalm 47:7

 

 

 

 

25th of Elul! on the first day of Creation!

This day, making round challah (above), when the doorbell rang and a `sukkah` package arrived from Abram the tent maker

Today is the 25th of Elul, in Jewish history this day marks the first day of creation

Just as I was starting to make a round challah to practice for Rosh Hashanah, I remembered that Elul 25th is said to be the first day God created the world, and I thought, oh, I better check what day today is, and I looked, and I saw on the Hebrew calendar...!! It is Elul 25th.  

On Friday sundown it will be Rosh Hashanah--called Yom Teruah or Day of Trumpets in the Biblical Feasts, and known as the New Year on the Jewish calendar.  We celebrate the anniversary of when God created the world, by honoring Him, the creator and King! It is also the day of the coronation of the King and of course will be the Coronation of the King and Messiah upon His return.  Every year there is this Coronation celebration honoring the King of Glory, the Maker of Heaven and Earth.

 I hadn`t realized though until this year, that this anniversary of  creation, is actually day 6, when God created mankind! 

Of course we, mankind, were banished the next day from the Garden, but if not for that, we wouldn`t have this amazing time of Return!  All a part of God`s great plan of redemption.

I`m starting a little early on the Rosh Hashanah round Challah!!!   We make a round challah at this time of year shaped like a crown.  The round shape also could be said to represent the cycle of time.  Our  Eternal Creator is without beginning and without end! 

As I was starting the challah---and yes, a new challah-cast--- the doorbell rang!! A delivery of the building materials for the succah!! Sent from Abram!! Abram, the tent maker.  Yes, this is all true!! 

Praise God!! The Maker of Heaven and Earth, the Master of all things!!

Stay tuned for more on the round challah (challot!!) for Rosh Hashanah!! Back to the making, and hopefully there will be a challah-cast to follow as well!!!

Many blessings to you on this day

Love and Blessings,

Shayndel/Joanne

 PS officially my first post (in progress) on the `new blogger`!!!  Thank you friends for the encouragements in your postings!! xoxo

Fans show Praise Report!Beloved Fans!

Can you see the word `Beloved` written on this fan? A highlight of the show!

Visitor in Pink! The color of AHAVA=Love

Another highlight, The words, `Ani LeDodi VeDodi Li` written on the wall with the Hebrew letters cut out from Origami paper

Thank you for your encouragement for the fans exhibit! It went well, already almost 2 weeks ago and I just am catching up to post, Some Highlights included this fan pair (yes, like fan fare), I was so excited how this mother and son entered in and made their fans.

Because of the regulations and concerns in the pandemic we made everything user friendly and `individually created sets` for making your own fan, with each set containing a blank side to draw on, a patterned side  prepared in advance that you can choose, and four colors, as well as a sheet of stickers and ribbon if you would like for decorationg!!

Everything is `take home` so that there was no need to worry about many people handling the materials.    It could have been daunting and discouraging from having it, but I am glad we did it!! There were many precious moments.






Back to the beloved...
This mother and son worked on their fans, each with their set of colors and created a beautiful fan.  When I asked if they would like to add a word, anything that comes to their heart to put on the fan, the mother said she wanted to use the word Beloved!!! She had just learned this word from looking through the exhibit and seeing the word on the fan in the show and the theme scripture which I explained to her, I am the Beloved`s and the Beloved is mine.

They didn`t have this word in their vocabulary until this day!!

Praise God!!

Truly the words we use, the words we say, the words we write on our fans and express even here on our blogs, have significance.  I was joyous and my heart lept for joy when she chose that word to express and then doubly when I saw her son also chose this word Beloved!!!

This was the second annual Elul `Shalom fans` Exhibit!! You may recall the first annual from my post here! It seems like yesterday when we had the first one year ago!! HERE*

Other highlights:  writing the Psalm 27 on the Palm trees was much fun as well as at the end of the day having an Elul communion in fellowship.

You can see photos of Israel interspersed between the fans.!!! I wanted to also share about my trip to Israel last May and include an Israel awareness theme to the exhibit as well, as a celebration of Elul!!!  As you know it is my prayer for the Japanese people to know their Messiah and Saviour Yeshua, and to share His love with them and introduce Him to them through His word and His love.  I am so excited for when the Knowledge of the LORD fills the earth as the waters cover the sea.    The island nations wait for His Torah!!

...the way it works is, you choose your pattern for the back, and draw on the front with the 4 colors you select!! Then option to decorate with stickers or a ribbon!! The mother and son both chose to write the word `Beloved` on their fan.  I believe they experienced God`s love in the fans making workshop today.  Thank you Yeshua. 

Psalm trees!! For the celebration of the month of Elul, we wrote the words of the Psalms 27 on the Palm Trees in the exhibion space!! This one in Hebrew, in progress!! two photos down a friend completed the words in English on another Psalm tree!!!

Today!! This day!!

Photo of me in Jerusalem, at the Western Wall, 2019, holding a Shalom fan

a visitor to our exhibition with the Smile fan she made!!

Fellowship is wonderful! Helping to set up!

A photo of an olive tree that I took in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Part of the exhibit of Photos from my Israel trip that were displayed with the fans

Nice choice of ribbon!!

You know this, is the Eastern Gate where Messiah Yeshua is said to return. 

He is with us! He is with you!

The day this time was a little scaled down due to the circumstances, but the Glory of God was there and we could feel His LOVE maybe even more so as His presence filled the day.



♡

Love,
Shayndel