Challah Diary--Two Loaves for Shavuot! Part 1!

we each made two loaves, so actually there were 4 loaves in all!!

You are to bring out of your houses two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour.  They are to be baked with hametz as first fruits to ADONAI.   

                                                  Leviticus 23:17 TLV

Its always exciting to get to that day after the 49 days of counting and be ready for the holiday of Shavuot!!

I was preparing to make two loaves of Challah for Shavuot that morning, and had an unexpected surprise, which was that I had the chance to make the loaves together with a friend!

It was an extra blessing of having the chance to make the two loaves for Shavuot challah with my *AHAVA* prayer partner.  We had been praying together the morning before Shavuot, and both said almost at the same time that after our prayer time we were going to make challah, two loaves, for Shavout!! So we decided on the spot to do it together.  It was a wonderful time to make challah together and to meditate on the feast of Shavuot.  As one of the significances of the two loaves is that they can be said to represent Jew and Gentile together in Yeshua, we felt that making the challah together brought in that special meaning and it became a special time to make the loaves!!

I also made it *with you* as a way to share in the making and also that it could be my first "tutorial" on the whole process of making the challah from start to finish!! Some parts are more detailed than others, and some are just *tips* for how to make it, but overall I think it can give you a spring-board (seasonal pun intended!) to make challah for those who have always wanted to try it!!

I know we are already heading into weeks after the Feast of Weeks, hope you all had a blessed time for the Feast of Shavuot!!

There is also an exciting aspect of the spring feasts as a `challah maker` in that bread is featured so prominently in both Passover -- the unleavened bread, or Matzah--, and then Shavuot where two leavened loaves are waved as an offering. 
 
Blessings and stay tuned for parts 2&3!!  

Part 1 : making the dough from the start, including laying out the ingredients and getting started
Part 2 :  some behind the scenes and challah tips, showing the process as two of us did it together via `Zoom`!!
Part 3:  Finishing the loaves together,  our challah offering to the LORD 

Love (heart!)
Shayndel

PS I am on a new computer and this is embarassing to show my technical skills, I can`t find how to make my `heart`!! Should get it back soon, meanwhile sending extra Love!!

Daily Bread Post-card(s)!

 On Shavuot we are commanded to offer two loaves of bread to the L-RD, to ADONAI, the Almighty Creator of the Universe.  And to bring them from wherever we are!

Today`s Daily Bread Post-card* is a double portion!
In honor of the feast of Shavuot.

This week, I will share two postcards!!

With two loaves of bread in each!!  The scripture is the same in both, Leviticus 23:17.
I send them to you.

They are both about bringing the offering of two loaves of bread, and waving them as a `wave  offering` to ADONAI.  One is a drawing I made at Shavuot last year (below) and one is a drawing I made this year (above).

This is the drawing I made last year :





This year,  I went out early in the morning once more to wave the loaves up to the G-d of Heaven! When I lowered my hands to bring the loaves back down, there was a flash of light on the `sole` of the two loaves in my hands!!! When I saw this flash of light, I thought of the lightning at Mt. Sinai at the giving of the Torah.  I felt that I received something from the L-RD, and everything became peaceful.  My heart had a moment of existing in His great Shalom!!!

Later on, I tried to draw something about the experience.  I looked at my drawing from last year.  Although there was something the `same` about my experience this year, I knew something was different. 

The Feast Day of Shavuot is an appointment to meet the G-d of Heaven.  During the 40 days since Pesach we anticipate this meeting and what it will be, as we work on the cleaning of our hearts and making ourselves ready for that meeting.  This time I felt He really was there to receive it!  In the drawing (top of this post)  I wanted to express that `meeting`, as we lift up the loaves.

For each person, Shavout brings a unique moment for each of us to re-live that experience of the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai every year, to offer our `firstfruits`, and to re-new our commitment to Him!  I hope the drawings can communicate even the least of that in the two postcards this week.

Shavuot is also the day that we read about in the book of Acts when the Disciples of Yeshua were gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem.  It was on the Feast Day of Shavuot that the Holy Spirit was poured down on the disciples and they received the Spirit of the L-rd!  Did you know the holiday known as `Pentecost` was not a `new` holiday, but rather it was on Shavuot,  First Fruits, exactly 50 days (Pentecost means the fiftieth day, in Greek) after Pesach, that the Holy Spirit was poured out!!!

One of the meanings of the two loaves is that they represent Jew and Gentile, together as one in Messiah Yeshua!  

Hope you had/having a blessed holiday!  Chag Sameach!

Love,

Shayndel


*Each week for the past ...weeks I have been posting a  Daily Bread Post-card.  Bread in this feature refers to Challah, which this blog is themed on.  In a larger sense, it refers to the word of G-d, which is our daily bread!  Because man (and woman) cannot live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of G-d (Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4).  And to take that further, Bread also refers to Messiah Yeshua because He himself is the Bread of Life. 

＊

He afflicted you and let you hunger, then He fed you manna--which neither you nor your fathers had known--in order to make you understand that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of ADONAI.  ---Deuteronomy 8:3  TLV

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💖

 

 

 

Shavuot Loaves and Shavuot LOVE!

 

You are to bring out of your houses two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They are to be baked with hametz as firstfruits to Adonai.  LEV 23:17

Dear Friends,

I apologize for my longer than expected blog break!! I have been well, thank you to friends who inquired!!  Sorry I couldn`t return comments, as the blog was not even enabling me to leave a comment, that made me realize I may have been gone too long, so I am popping in to say "Shabbat Shalom" and "Chag Sameach" as we are approaching the joyous Feast day of Shavuot!!! 

I made Challah for Shavuot a little early!!  The two Loaves became ONE in a HEART!!

 Love in Yeshua, 

Shayndel 

Sending Love to you for Shavuot!!

 

 

 

 

Love, Shayndel ❤️

“I pray not on behalf of these only, but also for those who believe in Me through their message, that they all may be one. Just as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You, so also may they be one in Us, so the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory that You have given to Me I have given to them, that they may be one just as We are one— I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them as You loved Me."   John 17:20~23

 

 

 Sivan 2, 5782

Posted by Shayndel, Japan for Challah and Cherry Blossoms

 

 

 

Shavuot Diary--Postcard from Shavuot & Story of Two Loaves, in pictures

From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread as a wave offering of first fruits to the LORD.

--Leviticus 23:17

I love the spring feasts center around bread!!

Israeli oranges in Japan

(with Israeli oranges, and following the feast days, an `otsukaresama-de` cranberry smoothie)

something new

PS  my Shavuot postings are late! But as its still the month of Sivan...still within the Hebrew month, I am seeing if I can smoothly insert them in!
For more postcards from Shavuot, please enjoy posts here. 


Blessings and Shalom! Love, ♡　Shayndel

Banner of Love!

 HIS BANNER


Over Me

Over YOU

Over US

can you see the Hebrew letters, AHAVA, they spell *love*

 IS

LOVE!!!!

וְדִגְלוֹ עָלַי אַהֲבָה

song of songs 2:4  His Banner over me is LOVE

In Hebrew *LOVE* is AHAVA
I received this banner on the morning of Shavout, a Shavuot gift from Heaven.

brought forth from a creative collaboration on earth!
I had drawn a drawing of an AHAVA banner inspired from a photo I took in Israel least year, and have always wanted to make it into an actual banner.  During this season I remembered it as I was preparing for something I will be participating in with the theme *His Banner over me is Love* and sent my drawing to a worship sister who makes banners.   She took on the challenge and made it so beautiful with the hand-painted Hebrew letters!!

I am happy to return after a few weeks away from the blog with the Banner!! I started to post the two Shavuot loaves first, but The Holy Spirit reminds me that the last postings I did were of the message, His Banner over *us* is Love, and that this post comes first!!

When the banner arrived, the first thing I did on Shavuot morning was to take it out for a spin(click for view)!!!

Thank you to ALL FOR HIS GLORY Ministries!!

And now, stay tuned after all the unleavened posts, for the two LEAVENED Shavuot loaves!!

Blessings and Love!
AHAVA!!

SHayndel

Two Shavuot Loaves! (1) A story of AHAVA in the time of Harvest!

 

wheat sheaves from Japan!

  

You are to bring out of your houses two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour.  They are to be baked with hametz as firstfruits to ADONAI.  Leviticus 23:17

 

This year was the second time I made the two Shavuot loaves with my AHAVA Prayer partner in Japan.   We are in  2 different parts of Japan, so we made them together as we met on Zoom!!

We had  an intimate and wonderful time making them.  The night before our meeting, we had met with friends from our AHAVA fellowship and read the book of Ruth together (also on Zoom!*).   Being able to connect around the world on Zoom has been such an amazing blessing during this time of `shutdown`.  We read about the meeting and marriage of Ruth and Boaz in sonorous voices with accents from many nations.  God showed us revelations in His word as we read about Ruth the Moabite (as she is called in the early part of the story) and Boaz, the Goel (kinsman redeemer) from the line of Judah~~ and how they came together in this beautiful love story in the time of the Harvest!! Of course, from their union came Messiah Yeshua ...(how many?) generations later!!

So back to the loaves ( I hope to share some of the insights from book of Ruth on another post!).  

We came together as Jew and Gentile to make and lift up two loaves to Yeshua!  We were getting a little giddy as everything came together in His AHAVA.  As we counted 6 Tablespoons of sugar, Aimei said, `6 Tablespoons, 6 weeks!`.  and when we put in the 2 eggs we said, `2 eggs, 2 loaves!`.  We were counting numbers and counting omer as we also are reading in the Torah just now in starting in the book of Numbers!!

We Praise you LORD for your Love!

AHAVA in Hebrew means, Love.

Our Thanksgiving verse this week was perfect for the Bride.

Counting up to the day of Shavuot we invite the Holy Spirit to pour out afresh on us and on the Body of Messiah. To bring His Shalom upon Israel.

Reading the Word of God and making Challah go together well!  Man cannot live by bread alone!  So in the time when the bread was rising and when it was baking we prayed through our prayer sheet for our children and loved ones and Israel and nations.  

You can find our prayer sheet from the parsha Bamidbar HERE, which is the week we were in when making the loaves.

As I had a little dough left out from the loaves, I made a heart challah to represent two loaves becoming one!! (more on that in the next post). 

May we be One in Yeshua in this season of Shavuot/Pentecost and may the harvest be great and an outpouring of God`s love as brothers come to together and dwell together!! May we see the true peace in Yeshua, Prince of Peace, upon Israel!

Much Love and blessings,

Shayndel (Joanne)　❤️

 

I in them and You in Me-- that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them as You loved Me.

John 17:24

❤️

 

＊reminder if you missed this post, please check it out HERE and receive the AHAVA prayer sheets weekly, and invitation links to AHAVA zoom meetings which we hope to do more of periodically!! Thank you sister blogfriends who have joined! Blessings and AHAVA , Love, to all !

 

Weeks!!

 From wherever you live,
bring two loaves of bread as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord.

---Leviticus 23:17

Happy Shavuot!
Did you know the name of this holiday, or Feast Day on the Kingdom Calendar, means `Weeks` in Hebrew.  Weeks!

We counted seven weeks from the second day of Passover to arrive at Shavuot.

Seven Shabbatot!

We did the math a few posts down!

It feels like on Shavuot time turns upside down and inside out as the King and Creator of this whole great and wonderful Creation comes so close to us.  After we counted up in anticipation to meet Him on His appointed day, He comes `down` to meet us just as He promised, and to let us know something very wonderful.  That we do `count`.  i.e., we count.   We count on Him.  We count to Him.  He created each of us, me and you and she and he and all of us, He created us all perfectly and wonderfully made（＊）.  He takes delight in knowing us, and all of Creation seems to be alive in a new way as He walks among us!!!

From wherever you live, bring two loaves

A day in His Courts is like a thousand elsewhere!!

Chag Sameach!
Happy Shavuot!!

 ＊

I praise You,

for I am awesomely, wonderfully made!

Wonderful are Your works--

  and my soul knows that very well.   

---Psalm 139:14

Mt. Fuji Torah Challah for Shavuot in Japan!

writing the Hebrew letters in dough, a new Challah challenge!

A Mt. Fuji Torah Challah for Japan, under a Mt. Fuji patterned Challah Cloth.  Shabbat Shalom!

in challah, Mt Fuji with the 10 commandments and a Torah scroll at the top!

Alef, bet, gimel dalet, hey!  Vav, zayin, chet, tet, yod.

Have a piece! Which letter did you get!?

evoking a mood on the Shabbat table of going up to the mountain to receive the Torah! For Shavuot, the mountain, the Torah, the flowers, and the feasting are all part of the holiday

I am a lily of the valleys.  --Song of Songs 2:1

"Come let us go up to the mountain of ADONAI, 
to the House of the God of Jacob! 

Then He will teach us His ways,
and we will walk in His paths." 

For Torah will go forth from Zion
and the word of ADONAI from Jerusalem.

Isaiah 2:3

Inspired by  Mt. Sinai and Ten Commandments challot (plural of challah!)  that I had seen for Shavuot (plural of Shavua, week!),  this one became a Mt. Fuji Torah Challah! Can you see the first 10 letters of the Hebrew alphabet?   They represent the Ten Commandments, and on top of the mountain, a Torah Scroll!! 

Shabbat Shalom!! 

Challah note:  I followed  this recipe for a Ten Commandments Challah.  Once I started rolling the shapes, the  inspiration came to make it a Mt. Fuji Torah Challah.   The recipe uses less yeast than a regular challah recipe, and few eggs (just one egg yolk) so it is a manageable dough and great recipe to use for making shapes and for making the Hebrew letters in challah.  Thank you Joy of Kosher! 

Blog note:  See a related post on a Ten Commandments related Challah that I made HERE in a somewhat earlier parsha!

The islands will wait for His Torah.       ---Isaiah  42:4  

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.

Sakura Rolls and Counting the Omer

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

--Song of Songs 2:4

＊

Passover has `pass`-ed, but one thing I am learning about the celebration and observance of the Kingdom feasts, they are not `over`.  Rather, the days that we observe on the Kingdom calendar make up an ongoing cycle and each one brings us closer and closer to learning about the heart of our Creator.  Each one seems to roll open an opening to the next.  That is what the counting of the omer seemed like this year.   Counting the omer is not a feast, but rather it is the days between one feast, Passover, and the next, Shavuot.  As part of my `diary` of this first year of studying Torah and the biblical Feasts and observances, I will just share a little of what I am learning!

 Well, first of all what I am learning in this year of celebrating the Kingdom feasts, is how much we learn about His heart of Love when we enter into each appointed day.  What happens next, is the counting of the Omer which started during the first days of Passover.  It is my first year of counting the days of the omer.

Today is the 12th day, that is, one week and five days in the omer.

＊

Then you are to count from the morrow after the Shabbat, from the day that you brought the omer of the wave offering, seven complete Shabbatot.  Until the morrow after the seventh Shabbat you are to count fifty days, and then present a new grain offering to ADONAI.     ---Leviticus 23:15

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This refers to the 49-day period from the second night of Passover to Shavuot, and marks a period of the first grain offerings, as well as spiritually a counting up to when the Children of Israel were to receive the Torah at Mt. Sinai. 

This period marks the beginning of the barley harvest when, in biblical times, the Children of Israel would bring the first sheaves to the Temple as a means of thanking God for the harvest. The word omer literally means “sheaf” and refers to these early offerings.   ---paraphrased definition 

All G-d`s feasts are expressions of His perfect plan.  As we count the days from Passover to the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, we remember the continuity from what transpired long ago with our ancestors at Passover and continue to mark the days through this counting and blessing.  We experience that same anticipation when counting them today.  The omer is counted in the evenings.  The 49 days also correspond to the days just after Yeshua`s death and resurrection to the receiving of the Holy Spirit by His disciples.  They extend into each other, and we learn more about the Spring Feasts,  of what is in His Heart, and draw closer to Him.

In terms of our observance of these days, we can see how all preparation and the `clearing` that we did at Passover continue in the counting of the Omer as we desire to be more and more `clean`, and holy as in anticipation of receiving His Torah.

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For I am ADONAI your God.  Therefore, sanctify yourselves, and be holy, for I am holy.

--Leviticus 11:44 

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Before I received Salvation in Yeshua, I never thought of  holiness.
I also never thought of sin.  I had no concept of either.   I lived my life having no idea how deep I was in sin, from the smallest behaviors and thoughts to the outright obvious ones.  The first time I read in Scripture, `Be holy as I am holy`,  I couldn`t imagine it.  Me, holy? 　The two didn`t go together.  But amazing as it is true,  He has taken our sin as the Passover Lamb, and through His blood we receive atonement.  This is what the Resurrection and the Passover are about, the deliverance and redemption and atonement that we experience in the freedom of the Exodus and ultimately in Yeshua.  In Him, we become new, and only through Him can we begin to see that we can be holy as He is holy.  Not only can we, but we must!  It goes together with obedience, and the first Commandment to Love the Lord thy G-d with all our hearts and all our souls and all our strength.
We begin to see His commandments as wonderful, joy-filled, delight-full.

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Oh, how I love your Torah!     ---Psalm 119:97

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 I love you!

Oh,  speaking of delight-full I know you are curious about the sakura rolls in the post title!
When the Passover ended and we were able to eat `hametz` again, i.e. bread and things with leaven,
I wasn`t sure what to eat.  Somehow to go back to leaven seemed like ...uggh! I was feeling so clean and  leaven-free.  To eat something with leaven just didn`t seem so desirable, and so I asked the L-rd to show me to the right moment to break the fast,  so it wouldn`t just be any old leaven, but something that would keep the meaning of the fast and be a good transition....

And guess what He brought to the banquet table! Well, yes! I gave it away in the title!

Cherry blossom rolls!  note:  Sakura = Cherry Blossoms

After my Passover week of rolling in the delight of the Cherry Blossoms and their connection with birth and death and Resurrection (see Passover posts below!),  He brought me to the banquet table and served a basket of all you can eat Cherry Blossom Rolls!!

 I couldn`t have made it up myself, it was that perfect!  Simple and subtle, tinged with pink... fluffy and full of essence of the Holy Spirit who knows our hearts and leads us to taste in His goodness...

Thank you Father for the way your Feasts nourish us.  Thank You for the blessings that you bestow upon us when we are obedient to your commands, and the loving ways in which you reveal your Love and your Holy Spirit.  Father, I continue to pray that someone reading this will desire to know You more and know the life changing power of the Resurrection power of Yeshua, and moving from a life on the `world`s` calendar to living on Your Kingdom calendar.

Please continue to bring us closer to you and make our hearts cleaner in anticipation of the day of Shavuot, also known as Pentecost.  May we be humble as we rejoice and delight in your Torah and the giving of the Ruach Kodesh, the Holy Spirit.

Blessings and Shalom!

A few links:  

For further reading on the Counting of the Omer: Here (Hebrew4Christians ) and Here (Chabad)

An excellent post on the same topic on a friend`s blog Here

For a highly recommended book about the Kingdom Calendar and observing the Feasts of ADONAI, this book was transformational for me:   Touching the Heart of God, by by Paul Wilbur

A sweet song taken from You Tube, enjoy !  His Banner over me is Love