Parashat Vayera

It feels like cheating a little when I have to plan a Shabbat meal around a parashah that prominently features food. Recipes take the back burner, so to speak, and the challenge is to incorporate the food fromm the parashah into an atmosphere that brings the Torah reading to life in a different way.

This week our shul is encouraging a Shabbat orchim, a Shabbat of guests, in which families invite others not in their usual circle of friends. This initiative emulates Avraham’s hospitality in this parashah, when he greeted his guests with enthusiasm and energy, even while recovering from his circumcision. We are not faced with the same challenges as he was, but we strive to follow his example the best we can.

I hope our guests are willing to sit on the floor!

Our dining room will undergo a transformation this week. It will become Avraham and Sarah’s tent; I have a few tension rods that I can hang in the doorways with tab curtains attached. We also have multiple tablecloths that can serve as interesting fabrics that might have adorned Avraham’s tent. On the floor I will place some big pillows for seating and some low tables for the meal. All will be covered with more cloths in deep, rich, exotic colors.

The Torah maps out the meal pretty well based on what Avraham and Sarah served the angels/guests. I think I can translate their cakes, breads, spreads, and meats into modern fare. When Avraham orders that a young, tender calf (which sounds to me like, veal) be cooked for his guests, Rashi explains that Avraham was really preparing “leshonot v’chardal,” tongues and mustard, which must have been delicacy either in Avraham’s day or Rashi’s. I have no desire (nor do I have the knowledge of how) to make tongue (or veal for that matter), but we will have a chardal/mustard taste test with a variety of mustards available for the event (most purchased at the National Mustard Museum in Mt. Horeb, WI this summer!). As for the meat, I think we will nod to an event later in the parashah—the fate of Lot’s wife as she peered back at the burning S’dom—by eating salt beef (the Brits’ name for corned beef). The rest of the meal will include wine (an allusion to Lot’s daughters) and Middle Eastern cuisine.

For dessert, I have begun searching for a horn shaped basket (i.e., cornucopia), a perfect stand in for a ram’s horn to remind us of the binding of Yitzchak. I haven’t yet decided what will go into the cornucopia, but I still have a say or two to think about it. Again, suggestions are welcome!

After the past to weeks, I've realized that because our parashah meals are somewhat labor and imagination intensive, they may have to be limited to one per shabbat, so that's why this week is a bit scaled down.

Shabbat Shalom!

© Tammie Rapps 2008