Parashat Lech Lecha

Bagels, Lox, and Stars, oh my!

A quick post....

Beginning lunch with bris food (as per my note to self last year) to commemorate the covenant that Avraham entered into with God in this parashah. We're serving bagel chips, smoked salmon, sliced vegies, and dollops of pareve cream cheese as the appetizer. Then, as a bow to our tradition-driven ten year old, we will return to stars and sand--the promises to Avraham about how numerous his offspring would be. For stars, I made star shaped squash kugel muffins, star pasta, and I used a cookie cutter to form stars out of vegies for a green salad (peppers and raw zucchini work best). For sand, we have couscous.

Dessert consists of a flip flop cake (sort of like feet going where God sends them). Enjoy the example below; this is not my photo! Ours is far less professional--and much more Avraham-esque, i.e. no bright colors and girlie looking accessories. To make the sand under the flip flops, I ground tea biscuits.

Sorry so short: Shabbat Shalom!

Parashat Noach

I discovered last week that my children, especially the oldest, maintain a strong sense of tradition. When I dared to make any changes to the parashat bereishit menu that we had served in previous years, they balked and complained. So, for this week, maybe I'm taking the easy way out, or maybe I'm bowing to the sanctity of tradition :-): We will do towers and rainbows just as we did last year. See the October 2008 archives for a detailed description.


For next year, though, I am already thinking (and polling friends) about foods with animal names. For right now, I think it would be difficult--and somewhat unhealthy--to create a shabbat meal around hot dogs, hush puppies, pigs in a blanket, bear claws, and elephant ears. I'm open to any suggestions, by the way.


One last note:. At school last week, the b'not sherut (two Israeli young women who come to the U.S. to do a year of their national service in an educational institution) sponsored a contest in which students were instructed to make replicas of Noah's ark using recycled materials. Our oldest fashioned her ark out of cardboard boxes, magazine pages, cotton balls, etc. Only later did I discover this great project online at one of my new favorite blogs Creative Jewish Mom that would have made for a wonderfully competitive piece will also serve as an equally adorable centerpiece for shabbat.


Have a colorful and dry shabbat!

Bereishit Addendum

Just a quick addition to the Bereishit menu--something for the vegetarian in our family:
tofu va'vohu and seitan (kri/read: satan). The tofu dish will contain a kitchen-sink-full of ingredients, a veritable mish mash of flavors. The seitan might be interesting if I cook it with some apple, fig, and a little etrog zest to recognize the various traditions about the fruit from the etz hada'at that the snake/Satan tempted Chava to eat.

I'm Back!!!

Parashat Bereishit Revisited

One of the wonderful things about the month of Tishrei is that it affords us new beginnings. With the celebration of Simchat Torah, we renew our dedication to Torah and the cycle of weekly parshiyot begins again. So, with that in mind, I am going to renew my commitment to creating ParashahMom menus, divrei Torah, and decorative Shabbat ideas.

As I was learning parashat Bereishit yesterday with a good friend, I was struck by the image of Hashem separating in order to create. I imagine that the tohu vavohu described in the opening of the Torah is not a void and nothingness, necessarily. Rather, I see it more as a giant scribble, a huge knot of elements that cannot work because they are so jumbled and confused. To create, then, Hashem separates the elements and pulls out distinct, productive, and unique components from the mass tohu vavohu and renders them purposeful. Hahsem uses the same M.O. throughout the rest of the Torah: G-d separates Noach from his corrupt generation, Avraham from his peers, Yitzchak as a sacred gift, Yaakov as a courageous and victorious wrestler and father, Yosef as a gifted interpreter and leader, etc. Not only are individuals separated from the rest to serve G-d's purpose, but the entire nation is separated from other peoples at Har Sinai with the acceptance of the Torah. Every halachah in the Torah can be seen as a means of providing the Jewish People with a distinct and G-dly mission. By creating our own separations, we create a holiness in ourselves and join G-d in creative partnership in the work of making the world a meaningful, productive, good place.

So--how to make that idea accessible for kids? Hmmmm?
For starters, I to have a large bowl in the middle of the table with a jumble of objects in it. The objects will represent the various days of Creation. Over the course of the meal, we'll ask the kids to extricate the objects that apply for each given day. (Note to self: make sure this isn't a borer issue.) That way they can review the days of creation and see how organizing the elements ion the bowl make the world neat, orderly, and comprehensible.

As an alternative (if borer is a problem)????? I'll have to work on that. Check back later in the week for an alternate plan!

As for a menu: I'll have to stick with last year's. It's too good not to replicate.

Shabbat Shalom!