Three's a Charm
While last week's title may suggest that this week I will focus on the remaining three makkot that God hurled onto the Egyptians, I chose to focus this week's shabbat festivities on a more positive aspect of the parahsah. Locusts. darkness, and slaying of the firstborn were a bit too gruesome and challenging for me. Instead, this week's Torah reading introduces three mitzvot that were given to the fledgling Jewish nation.
The mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh is the first full mitzvah given. Because the Jewish months are set according to a lunar calendar, our table will be adorned with moons of all sorts: 3-D moons, half moons, crescent moons... some edible and some not. The edible moons will be mashed potatoes, crescent rolls, and slices of white-flesh melon.
Our main dish Friday night will be a nod to the second mitzvah mentioned in the parashah--the Korban Pesach, the Pesach offering. For this I am serving lamb chops on a bed of romaine with a horseradish dressing and a side of vegetable laden matzah farfel (yes, our family might be the only one that loves matzah all year round), reminiscent of the mandate to eat the offering with matzot and merrorim.
Finally, dessert will focus on the third mitzvah--the commandment to place the blood of the Pesach offering on the doorposts and lintel of every Jewish home, the precursor to the mitzvah of mezuzah. For that, I will serve canolis (sort of mezuzah shaped) on a plate that has been brushed with three lines of strawberry sauce.
I'd love for us to get into a discussion about the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh and why it is the first national mitzvah. I'd also love for our kids to be able to recite the Hebrew months in order. :-)
So that's it: very short and very to the point this week.
Have a wonderful shabbat!
© Tammie Rapps 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Parashat Va'era
Seven Out of Ten
A shorthand entry this week, because I just returned from the other coast and am dealing with some jet lag and kids' jet lag:
The parashah introduces the first seven of the ten plagues that God sent down on Egypt. The plagues will form the meal... rather than just be represented by a drop of wine as at the Pesach Seder.
Dam/Blood: Tomato Red Pepper Soup
Tzefardea/Frogs: Chicken wings (frogs legs supposedly taste like chicken, ;-)) I also have frog decorations for the table.
Kinim/Lice: Rashi explains that the Egyptian sorcerers were unable to replicate the plague of lice because magic cannot happen on things smaller than a grain of barley, so... barley pilaf
Arov/wild beasts: More table decor (animal print napkins) and a lion made of a round squash kugel surrounded by a mane of spaghetti squash
Dever/cattle disease: Does dead meat count for this?
Shchin/Boils: Boiled potatoes ???? Other boiled vegies? If it were dessert, I would serve red gushers that would pop in one's mouth! In fact, I might do both!
Barad/hail: Again, thanks to a good friend who devised "barad balls"," round white cookies with flaming red hot tamales baked in the middle to simulate the fire encased by hail. The same effect would work with white toffuti balls around hot tamales.
Have a wonderful shabbat!
A shorthand entry this week, because I just returned from the other coast and am dealing with some jet lag and kids' jet lag:
The parashah introduces the first seven of the ten plagues that God sent down on Egypt. The plagues will form the meal... rather than just be represented by a drop of wine as at the Pesach Seder.
Dam/Blood: Tomato Red Pepper Soup
Tzefardea/Frogs: Chicken wings (frogs legs supposedly taste like chicken, ;-)) I also have frog decorations for the table.
Kinim/Lice: Rashi explains that the Egyptian sorcerers were unable to replicate the plague of lice because magic cannot happen on things smaller than a grain of barley, so... barley pilaf
Arov/wild beasts: More table decor (animal print napkins) and a lion made of a round squash kugel surrounded by a mane of spaghetti squash
Dever/cattle disease: Does dead meat count for this?
Shchin/Boils: Boiled potatoes ???? Other boiled vegies? If it were dessert, I would serve red gushers that would pop in one's mouth! In fact, I might do both!
Barad/hail: Again, thanks to a good friend who devised "barad balls"," round white cookies with flaming red hot tamales baked in the middle to simulate the fire encased by hail. The same effect would work with white toffuti balls around hot tamales.
Have a wonderful shabbat!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Parashat Shemot
The Moshe Chronicles
Originally, when I began pondering this whole blogging-the-parashah idea, I joked that reaching Shemot would be strange, because why would I want to make Pesach in January. How could I be creative when the Seder itself is a pretty creative event?!? As I reviewed Parashat Shemot, though, I was taken by how easy it would be to shift the focus of this shabbat's ParshahMom activities away from the slavery experience and take advantage of the opportunity to shine the spotlight on Moshe Rabbeinu, who receives none of the limelight come Pesach. Because Parashat Shemot serves as a brief biography of the greatest Jewish leader, highlighting Moshe seems to be the best approach to this shabbat.
Now, I happen not to be at home this shabbat (although my husband and 9.5 year old are), but I do happen to be spending shabbat with my family who is amenable to my cooking some of the meal and decorating the shabbat table as I would like. So, in collaboration with my sister, shabbat dinner will become a "This is Your (Early) Life, Moshe" feast.
For starters, we are going to create baby Moshe in the basket hors d'oeuvres. At the suggestion of our very imaginative 5-year-old, we are going to make baby Moshes in small twice baked potatoes. His body will be made of carrot sticks, and our kindergartner would like his eyes to be raisins or black beans.
The next major episode in Moshe's life, killing and hastily burying the Egyptian task-master, will be represented by a big tray of sand-colored couscous.
For the Midian events, we will have a large well (made of crackers surrounding dip and crudite). We will also serve biscuits cut in the shape of sheep. And of course, Moshe's wife will be represented by chicken (Tzipporah=Bird... I know, a stretch!).
Finally, the burning bush will be the centerpiece of the table. We are still working on a safe and "shabbati" way to use greenery, red and yellow cellophane, and illumination on the table. I think we'll make a trip to Michael's to see if they have any of those LED votive "candles" that run on batteries.
Finally, dessert will be the otot, signs, that God teaches Moshe to prove to Bnei Yisrael that he was in fact sent by God. We will have pretzel staffs and gummy snakes; finger-shaped cookies dredged in white powdered sugar and coconut flakes (a hand covered in coconut leprosy would be too much!); and blood-red cherry juice.
At dinner, we hope to discuss Moshe's leadership qualities and what each of these episodes in his life helped to shape him as a leader.
Have a wonderful Shabbat! If you are on the East Coast or in the Midwest, stay warm.
Shabbat Shalom!
© Tammie Rapps 2009
Originally, when I began pondering this whole blogging-the-parashah idea, I joked that reaching Shemot would be strange, because why would I want to make Pesach in January. How could I be creative when the Seder itself is a pretty creative event?!? As I reviewed Parashat Shemot, though, I was taken by how easy it would be to shift the focus of this shabbat's ParshahMom activities away from the slavery experience and take advantage of the opportunity to shine the spotlight on Moshe Rabbeinu, who receives none of the limelight come Pesach. Because Parashat Shemot serves as a brief biography of the greatest Jewish leader, highlighting Moshe seems to be the best approach to this shabbat.
Now, I happen not to be at home this shabbat (although my husband and 9.5 year old are), but I do happen to be spending shabbat with my family who is amenable to my cooking some of the meal and decorating the shabbat table as I would like. So, in collaboration with my sister, shabbat dinner will become a "This is Your (Early) Life, Moshe" feast.
For starters, we are going to create baby Moshe in the basket hors d'oeuvres. At the suggestion of our very imaginative 5-year-old, we are going to make baby Moshes in small twice baked potatoes. His body will be made of carrot sticks, and our kindergartner would like his eyes to be raisins or black beans.
The next major episode in Moshe's life, killing and hastily burying the Egyptian task-master, will be represented by a big tray of sand-colored couscous.
For the Midian events, we will have a large well (made of crackers surrounding dip and crudite). We will also serve biscuits cut in the shape of sheep. And of course, Moshe's wife will be represented by chicken (Tzipporah=Bird... I know, a stretch!).
Finally, the burning bush will be the centerpiece of the table. We are still working on a safe and "shabbati" way to use greenery, red and yellow cellophane, and illumination on the table. I think we'll make a trip to Michael's to see if they have any of those LED votive "candles" that run on batteries.
Finally, dessert will be the otot, signs, that God teaches Moshe to prove to Bnei Yisrael that he was in fact sent by God. We will have pretzel staffs and gummy snakes; finger-shaped cookies dredged in white powdered sugar and coconut flakes (a hand covered in coconut leprosy would be too much!); and blood-red cherry juice.
At dinner, we hope to discuss Moshe's leadership qualities and what each of these episodes in his life helped to shape him as a leader.
Have a wonderful Shabbat! If you are on the East Coast or in the Midwest, stay warm.
Shabbat Shalom!
© Tammie Rapps 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Parashat Vayechi
Blessings for the Present and Future
Note: I would like to dedicate the learning that I did for this week's parashah to the chayalim who are protecting Medinat Yisrael. May their mesirut yield success, safety, and security for our people and land.
This week's parashah serves as a coda to the stories in sefer Bereishit. Yaakov has lived for the final seventeen years of his life in the embrace of his family--with all his children and grandchildren. Yaakov is the only one of the avot to see and interact in the text with his grandchildren. Through Efrayim and Menashe, Yaakov sees the future of Bnei Yisrael. These grandchildren of his do not have a relationship riddled with rivalry; they inherit Yosef's--and Yaakov's--commitment to Jewish attitudes, values, and behaviors, even in the midst of the seductive excesses of Egypt. They are worthy of their grandfather's blessing: they are the ultimate role models by which future generations of Bnei Yisrael will be blessed.
Note: I would like to dedicate the learning that I did for this week's parashah to the chayalim who are protecting Medinat Yisrael. May their mesirut yield success, safety, and security for our people and land.
This week's parashah serves as a coda to the stories in sefer Bereishit. Yaakov has lived for the final seventeen years of his life in the embrace of his family--with all his children and grandchildren. Yaakov is the only one of the avot to see and interact in the text with his grandchildren. Through Efrayim and Menashe, Yaakov sees the future of Bnei Yisrael. These grandchildren of his do not have a relationship riddled with rivalry; they inherit Yosef's--and Yaakov's--commitment to Jewish attitudes, values, and behaviors, even in the midst of the seductive excesses of Egypt. They are worthy of their grandfather's blessing: they are the ultimate role models by which future generations of Bnei Yisrael will be blessed.
The blessing of Efrayim and Menashe--with Yaakov's switching of his hands to bless the younger with the greater blessing--sets the stage for Yaakov's deathbed blessing of his children. The commentaries discuss how Yaakov was blind, but was still able to see with insight and understanding. He glimpsed, through the gift of divine sight, the future of his grandchildren and the greatness that they would achieve. Yaakov was also blessed to see the personalities of his children and understand how those personalities would influence their futures. Thus, while many of the blessing sound less than positive, Yaakov really "gets" his sons and uses his insight to point out their shortcomings and bless their future endeavors. (Just as a side note, the mefarshim describe that while Yaakov lost his divine vision when it came to discussing the arrival of mashiach with his sons, he still retained enough vision to bless them appropriately.)
Our meal for Shabbat lunch will be a traveling one--which adds another challenge! We are cooking for a friends who just had a baby and are bringing the meal to them. To add to the challenge, the mom is a Tanach teacher.. so that ups the ante!
For lunch, I've devised a menu that includes a food or idea to represent each of the blessings that Yaakov bestowed on his children. Note that the chart below includes the sons, their blessings, and the food or idea associated with them., but I will not serve in the order in which they appear. Zevulun and Yissachar will be the appetizer and Yosef, Binyamin, will accompany a Chazak, Chazak, Venitchazek cake for dessert.
I hope you enjoy the list below. I'm, admittedly, underwhelmed by my Reuven, Naftali, and Binyamin choices, so if you have any good ideas, I invite them!
חזק חזק ונתחזק
Shevet/ Symbol--Berachah/ Menu ItemReuven/ like a gushing stream /water beverages
Shimon/ anger and zeal--separate from Levi /hot & spicy chicken wings
Levi /anger and zeal--separate from Shimon /spicy garlic eggplant
Yehudah /lion cub,kingship, abundant vineyards /stuffed artichoke crowns and wine marinated turkey
Zevulun /ships and commerce /fish and cucumber boats
Yissachar/ donkey carrying a load, symbolizing yoke of Torah study (Rashi: blessed with land producing good produce to make more learning time available to them) /confetti salad
Dan /a snake that attacks at the heel/ roasted veggies plated as a snake
Gad /a troop /Israeli couscous (bunches of grains sticking together)
Asher /olive oil & bread, i.e., the fat of the land /olive tapenade on flatbreads
Naftali / swift, agazelle-like messenger / messages and blessings in the napkins
Yosef /fruitful, golden, and strong /fruit cup
Binyamin /a wolf /Lone Wolf mocktail
Efrayim & Menashe /models for future generations and blessings of fruitfulness/ criss-cross lattice topped fruit kugel
Shabbat Shalom!
© Tammie Rapps 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Parashat Vayigash
Subliminal Messages
First, my apologies for the post-shabbat post. We spent the last week without computer access (yes, in the waning days of 2008!!!) and with various viruses (the real-life type that cause runny noses, stomach flu, and ear infections). So, the post for this past shabbat will be several ideas that I had for the parashah that I hope to use, G-d willing, next year.
Parashat Vayigash recalls Yosef's dramatic revelation of his true identity to his brothers after Yehudah gives an impassioned plea to release Binyamin from servitude. Yosef then lavishes gifts on his family and requests/suggests/demands(?) that the brothers return to Canaan, talk to Yaakov, pack up their households, and return with their father and families to Egypt so they can live out the harsh famine in a fertile land. This invitation is, of course, the beginning of the exile in Egypt, although G-d appears to Yaakov and promises him that G-d will not forsake Bnei Yisrael when they are in Egypt.
The episode in which Yaakov learns that Yosef is still alive captures my imagination. The midrashim offer a fascinating narrative for how Yaakov learns that his favorite child is alive and well and prospering in Egypt. The midrashim indicate a point later in the parashah, when the Torah delineates the seventy souls that descended to Egypt, to explain how Yaakov was intentionally prepared for the startling news of Yosef that his sons brought him. In the list of names one woman in mentioned, Serach, the daughter of Asher. To provide a rationale for singling her out, the midrash in Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer teaches that Serach was assigned by her uncles and father the task of preparing Yaakov for the big revelation. She was a singer and musician (harpist?) who sang and played for her aging grandfather. Embedded in the lyrics of her songs were the almost unintelligible words that Yosef was alive in Egypt, the father to two young boys. Serach's song was a rhyming triplet that she sang while Yaakov davened. Although Yaakov was focused on his tefillah, he subconsciously integrated the words of Serach's song into his thinking and was thus ultimately able to accept the report about Yosef as true--without dying. For her part in caring for and preparing her grandfather emotionally, Serach was rewarded with a long life that ended without death. More midrashim explain how she functioned at the times of Moshe and King David , and how she ultimately went to Gan Eden alive!
I am intrigued by this figure of Serach and her subliminal messages she sends to Yaakov. For Shabbat, I was thinking of ways to hide messages about Yosef in the decor a the table. I wanted to use items that might allude to Yosef's name (cups of coffee, or Joe, baby kangaroos, yo-yos, for example) to build a centerpiece. I also wanted to use fancy writing that could be obscured in curlicues and decorations to write, "Yosef is alive and living in Egypt."
On a different topic, my husband and I were talking about how we could impress on our kids the idea of seventy individuals who went to Egypt. We thought of using cards (such as index cards) to help them build a family tree for Yaakov with all the names mentioned in the parashah. We wanted them to also do the same activity with cards with our own family names listed on them, so they could get a sense of how much seventy is and how closely related the seventy souls were.
I hope to be back on track this week, bli neder, with the Parashat Vayechi post published on Wednesday night!!!!!!!!!!!
Shavua Tov!
First, my apologies for the post-shabbat post. We spent the last week without computer access (yes, in the waning days of 2008!!!) and with various viruses (the real-life type that cause runny noses, stomach flu, and ear infections). So, the post for this past shabbat will be several ideas that I had for the parashah that I hope to use, G-d willing, next year.
Parashat Vayigash recalls Yosef's dramatic revelation of his true identity to his brothers after Yehudah gives an impassioned plea to release Binyamin from servitude. Yosef then lavishes gifts on his family and requests/suggests/demands(?) that the brothers return to Canaan, talk to Yaakov, pack up their households, and return with their father and families to Egypt so they can live out the harsh famine in a fertile land. This invitation is, of course, the beginning of the exile in Egypt, although G-d appears to Yaakov and promises him that G-d will not forsake Bnei Yisrael when they are in Egypt.
The episode in which Yaakov learns that Yosef is still alive captures my imagination. The midrashim offer a fascinating narrative for how Yaakov learns that his favorite child is alive and well and prospering in Egypt. The midrashim indicate a point later in the parashah, when the Torah delineates the seventy souls that descended to Egypt, to explain how Yaakov was intentionally prepared for the startling news of Yosef that his sons brought him. In the list of names one woman in mentioned, Serach, the daughter of Asher. To provide a rationale for singling her out, the midrash in Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer teaches that Serach was assigned by her uncles and father the task of preparing Yaakov for the big revelation. She was a singer and musician (harpist?) who sang and played for her aging grandfather. Embedded in the lyrics of her songs were the almost unintelligible words that Yosef was alive in Egypt, the father to two young boys. Serach's song was a rhyming triplet that she sang while Yaakov davened. Although Yaakov was focused on his tefillah, he subconsciously integrated the words of Serach's song into his thinking and was thus ultimately able to accept the report about Yosef as true--without dying. For her part in caring for and preparing her grandfather emotionally, Serach was rewarded with a long life that ended without death. More midrashim explain how she functioned at the times of Moshe and King David , and how she ultimately went to Gan Eden alive!
I am intrigued by this figure of Serach and her subliminal messages she sends to Yaakov. For Shabbat, I was thinking of ways to hide messages about Yosef in the decor a the table. I wanted to use items that might allude to Yosef's name (cups of coffee, or Joe, baby kangaroos, yo-yos, for example) to build a centerpiece. I also wanted to use fancy writing that could be obscured in curlicues and decorations to write, "Yosef is alive and living in Egypt."
On a different topic, my husband and I were talking about how we could impress on our kids the idea of seventy individuals who went to Egypt. We thought of using cards (such as index cards) to help them build a family tree for Yaakov with all the names mentioned in the parashah. We wanted them to also do the same activity with cards with our own family names listed on them, so they could get a sense of how much seventy is and how closely related the seventy souls were.
I hope to be back on track this week, bli neder, with the Parashat Vayechi post published on Wednesday night!!!!!!!!!!!
Shavua Tov!
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