Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Parashat Beshalach Addendum

Into the Sea

Several years ago we established the family tradition of serving tofu and honey cookies for this past parashah to symbolize different descriptions of the taste of the manna. This year I found myself on a fifth grade shabbaton for Parashat Beshalach. Of course, as an organizer of the event, I put those manna stand-ins on our shabbaton menu and even had an activity Friday afternoon to allow the students to bake the cookies themselves. That wasn't enough for my students, however They demanded some dish even more connected the parashah; unfortunately, I had a difficult time thinking up a food that would fulfill their request. Leave it to my amazing students, though, who have begun looking at their Shabbat meals through the parashah lens. One of the most sacred traditions in our school is one school lunch. So beloved is this meal that our student begged to have it served on the shabbaton: seashell pasta. Bless the child who yelled out at Kiddush on Shabbat morning, "I know why you're serving seashell pasta. It must be for the splitting of the Yam Suf. " I'm adding this new food to the family tradition.