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
Friday, January 16, 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!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Parashat Miketz
Corn for Carnivores
This week's entry is "katzar v'lainyan," short and to the point. I apologize for the brevity: Somehow it is harder to do my parashah study and planning when my kids are home... Go figure! Bli neder, I will be back on track with richer stuff for next week.
Yosef rises to power when he successfully explains God's plans for Egypt as envisioned by Pharaoh in two dreams of fat and skinny cows and plump and withered corn. These dreams are the centerpieces of our menu for Shabbat dinner. We are going to feed our guests as if we were living during the seven fat and plentiful years: lots of corn and lots of meat! (wild rice and corn chowder, corn fritters/latkes, roasted squash and corn, popcorn cauliflower, beef roast, and a cornmeal cake for dessert)
If I had the guts, I would serve a leaner meal for lunch (maybe even milchigs) and then have "skinny cow" brand ice cream sandwiches for dessert, but we are having company who like their meat, so I am still thinking about lunch. I would love to do something that ties in with Yosef's accusation of his brothers as spies and Yosef's hiding his tears from his siblings. I guess I have a few hours until morning to keep thinking!
On a side note, if you click below and then scroll down to the bottom of the page you will find:
a short d'var Torah that explains the connection between the Yosef story and the Chanukah story .
Have a very happy rest of Chanukah and a Shabbat Shalom!
© Tammie Rapps 2008
This week's entry is "katzar v'lainyan," short and to the point. I apologize for the brevity: Somehow it is harder to do my parashah study and planning when my kids are home... Go figure! Bli neder, I will be back on track with richer stuff for next week.
By the way, if you are coming to our house for a shabbat meal, please stop reading here!
Parashat Miketz retells the story of Yosef's successful interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams, his consequent ascension to power in Egyptian court, and his initial reconnection to his brothers who journey to Egypt in search of rations during a famine.
Yosef rises to power when he successfully explains God's plans for Egypt as envisioned by Pharaoh in two dreams of fat and skinny cows and plump and withered corn. These dreams are the centerpieces of our menu for Shabbat dinner. We are going to feed our guests as if we were living during the seven fat and plentiful years: lots of corn and lots of meat! (wild rice and corn chowder, corn fritters/latkes, roasted squash and corn, popcorn cauliflower, beef roast, and a cornmeal cake for dessert)
After dinner, we will present each guest with a goody bag/Chanukah gift. In one bad, we will hide a small cup... and thereby launch a parashat hashavua discussion.
If I had the guts, I would serve a leaner meal for lunch (maybe even milchigs) and then have "skinny cow" brand ice cream sandwiches for dessert, but we are having company who like their meat, so I am still thinking about lunch. I would love to do something that ties in with Yosef's accusation of his brothers as spies and Yosef's hiding his tears from his siblings. I guess I have a few hours until morning to keep thinking!
On a side note, if you click below and then scroll down to the bottom of the page you will find:
a short d'var Torah that explains the connection between the Yosef story and the Chanukah story .
Have a very happy rest of Chanukah and a Shabbat Shalom!
© Tammie Rapps 2008
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Parashat Vayeshev
Colorful Coats and Dreams
There is tremendous pressure on me this week of Parashat Vayeshev. This is the parashah that my fourth grader has been learning in school this year with her rebbe. She knows all of perek 37 by heart and has a good chunk of perek 39 committed to memory. (Understandably, the rebbe glossed over perek 38, the Tamar and Yehudah story, with the vaguest of summaries.) The class has been delving into the peshat (literal) and rabbinic interpretations of the text of the Yosef story, so I have a real expert on my hands! She is so excited about this week!
For starters, the image that will dominate the décor of the table will be the special coat that Yaakov gave to his son Yosef. We have a beautiful, bright striped tablecloth that will make a striking setting for the table. Of course, there are discussion among the commentaries as to the nature and appearance of this coat, but we’ll stick with the most literal at this point. (Nonetheless, I do wonder if the striped woolen garment that Rashi describes as the coat is an allusion to tzitzit/a tallit... Hmmmm.) The kids (and grown-ups) will also be wearing the most colorful striped clothing they have. During dinner, we will definitely talk about the coat and consider why Yaakov gave it to Yosef, even though Yosef’s brothers might (and had) become very jealous. For a more popular culture twist, I am working in fitting some of the zemirot we sing to tunes from “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” a score our family knows quite well.
Dreams will play the greatest role in our menu. Each place setting will be set with a goblet of grape juice and an individual roll. The grape juice goblets will have a plastic fly in each and the rolls will have a raisin—I don’t think a rock will do—stuck inside each one. These items, reminiscent of the sar hamashkim (sommelier) and sar haofim’s (baker) dreams, will hopefully set the stage for a discussion of Yosef as one who understands God’s messages sent through dreams. I would like our kids to think about how Yosef inherited his understanding of how to analyze dreams from the experiences of his father. While Yosef’s brothers might have thought initially that his dreams were delusions of grandeur, they and Yaakov Avinu come to realize that the dreams are actually expressions of nevuah (prophecy), as evident in the fact that the motifs of the dreams are repeated/doubled.
To further the dream representation on the table, I am going to repurpose one of my ideas from last week and create sheaves of wheat out of carrots stick bunches tied with scallion. For Yosef’s bundle, I will use string beans tied similarly, but that bundle will be grander and larger, and positioned differently on the serving dish. For Yosef’s second dream that he reports to his siblings, I will once again pull out my star shaped baking pan for eleven star shaped muffins to accompany a squash sunshine and mashed potato moon (see Parashat Bereishit).
We will also highlight the darker parts of the parashah—Yosef’s time in the pit and his brother’s elaborate scheme to make Yaakov think that Yosef had met his demise at the mouth of a wild beast. To remind us of the pit, we will make a dish that is a pun on the Hebrew text describing the pit. (My fourth grader and I thought of this several weeks ago when she had to read the verse and the accompanying Rashi over and over for homework one night.) The Torah says that the pit was empty; it contained no water, “Ve’ha’bor rek, ain bo mayim.”) If you say “bor rek” (the pit was empty) many times in a row, it begins to sound like borek or borekas, so we have to have those at Shabbat dinner (and there will be no mayim in our borekas!) For the main course, I will serve several bowls of dipping sauces and have strips of food (meat, chicken, vegetables, etc.) that can be drenched in the red sauces.
And that will be this year’s rendering of Parashat Vayeshev!
Shabbat Shalom!
© Tammie Rapps 2008
There is tremendous pressure on me this week of Parashat Vayeshev. This is the parashah that my fourth grader has been learning in school this year with her rebbe. She knows all of perek 37 by heart and has a good chunk of perek 39 committed to memory. (Understandably, the rebbe glossed over perek 38, the Tamar and Yehudah story, with the vaguest of summaries.) The class has been delving into the peshat (literal) and rabbinic interpretations of the text of the Yosef story, so I have a real expert on my hands! She is so excited about this week!
For starters, the image that will dominate the décor of the table will be the special coat that Yaakov gave to his son Yosef. We have a beautiful, bright striped tablecloth that will make a striking setting for the table. Of course, there are discussion among the commentaries as to the nature and appearance of this coat, but we’ll stick with the most literal at this point. (Nonetheless, I do wonder if the striped woolen garment that Rashi describes as the coat is an allusion to tzitzit/a tallit... Hmmmm.) The kids (and grown-ups) will also be wearing the most colorful striped clothing they have. During dinner, we will definitely talk about the coat and consider why Yaakov gave it to Yosef, even though Yosef’s brothers might (and had) become very jealous. For a more popular culture twist, I am working in fitting some of the zemirot we sing to tunes from “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” a score our family knows quite well.
Dreams will play the greatest role in our menu. Each place setting will be set with a goblet of grape juice and an individual roll. The grape juice goblets will have a plastic fly in each and the rolls will have a raisin—I don’t think a rock will do—stuck inside each one. These items, reminiscent of the sar hamashkim (sommelier) and sar haofim’s (baker) dreams, will hopefully set the stage for a discussion of Yosef as one who understands God’s messages sent through dreams. I would like our kids to think about how Yosef inherited his understanding of how to analyze dreams from the experiences of his father. While Yosef’s brothers might have thought initially that his dreams were delusions of grandeur, they and Yaakov Avinu come to realize that the dreams are actually expressions of nevuah (prophecy), as evident in the fact that the motifs of the dreams are repeated/doubled.
To further the dream representation on the table, I am going to repurpose one of my ideas from last week and create sheaves of wheat out of carrots stick bunches tied with scallion. For Yosef’s bundle, I will use string beans tied similarly, but that bundle will be grander and larger, and positioned differently on the serving dish. For Yosef’s second dream that he reports to his siblings, I will once again pull out my star shaped baking pan for eleven star shaped muffins to accompany a squash sunshine and mashed potato moon (see Parashat Bereishit).
We will also highlight the darker parts of the parashah—Yosef’s time in the pit and his brother’s elaborate scheme to make Yaakov think that Yosef had met his demise at the mouth of a wild beast. To remind us of the pit, we will make a dish that is a pun on the Hebrew text describing the pit. (My fourth grader and I thought of this several weeks ago when she had to read the verse and the accompanying Rashi over and over for homework one night.) The Torah says that the pit was empty; it contained no water, “Ve’ha’bor rek, ain bo mayim.”) If you say “bor rek” (the pit was empty) many times in a row, it begins to sound like borek or borekas, so we have to have those at Shabbat dinner (and there will be no mayim in our borekas!) For the main course, I will serve several bowls of dipping sauces and have strips of food (meat, chicken, vegetables, etc.) that can be drenched in the red sauces.
And that will be this year’s rendering of Parashat Vayeshev!
Shabbat Shalom!
© Tammie Rapps 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Parashat Vayishlach
This week's post will be much shorter than usual. I don't know if I am facing creative difficulties for this week because we will not be home for our shabbat meals so I am not as motivated to think, or because the subject matter in this parashah is pretty intense and complex: Yaakov and Esav's tense reunion, Yaakov's nocturnal battle with the angel and his subsequent name change, the violation of Dina and the subsequent massacre in Shechem, Rachel's death, and Reuven's questionable actions in Bilhah's tent. None of these topics make for really light, fun, colorful, or even age-appropriate additions to the shabbat table.
But, because I have made a commitment to myself to try to do the ENTIRE year of parashah, here's a lame (o.k., maybe that's the tie-in!) attempt, that I hope will gain strength next year:
When Yaakov realizes that he is about to encounter Esav whom he had not seen in decades since angering him upon receiving Yitzchak's blessing, the younger brother prepares for the meeting in three ways. He sends gifts to Esav in an attempt at diplomacy, he prays to Hashem, and he divides his camp as preparation for battle. This three-pronged approach to combating an enemy is the paradigm that the Jewish People has often followed (see Megillat Esther, for example). I think that the first approach, diplomacy, lends itself nicely to the table. I would wrap three large boxes and use them as the centerpiece for the meal. Under one would be small gifts for every guest, under the second would be birchonim, and under the third would be toy soldiers. During the meal we would discuss why using diplomacy should be the first communication between enemies. We would try to bring the conversation down to a micro level and talk about interpersonal relationships in the house and how Yaakov's example could help us in our own interactions at home.
As for other parts of the parashah, the only other section I would highlight would be Yaakov's wrestling with the angel. Angel food cake could cover that (as rump roasts aren't kosher!). We would certainly talk about why the Torah states that the violation for eating the gid hanasheh, the sciatic nerve, is Jewish law even until today (when the Torah does not make similar assertions for other mitzvot).
Once more I will ask for you to send any amazing (or even lame) ideas for this parashah. I clearly need to revisit this one for next year!
One more note: a dear friend who has been working on recipes for each parashah suggested making small packages or bundles (puff pastry? vegetables ties up with scallion?) to represent the "pachim ketanim," little bundles that Yaakov forgot on the banks of the river; it was those baskets that he went alone to retrieve when he met up with the belligerent angel.
Have a shabbat shalom!
© Tammie Rapps 2008
But, because I have made a commitment to myself to try to do the ENTIRE year of parashah, here's a lame (o.k., maybe that's the tie-in!) attempt, that I hope will gain strength next year:
When Yaakov realizes that he is about to encounter Esav whom he had not seen in decades since angering him upon receiving Yitzchak's blessing, the younger brother prepares for the meeting in three ways. He sends gifts to Esav in an attempt at diplomacy, he prays to Hashem, and he divides his camp as preparation for battle. This three-pronged approach to combating an enemy is the paradigm that the Jewish People has often followed (see Megillat Esther, for example). I think that the first approach, diplomacy, lends itself nicely to the table. I would wrap three large boxes and use them as the centerpiece for the meal. Under one would be small gifts for every guest, under the second would be birchonim, and under the third would be toy soldiers. During the meal we would discuss why using diplomacy should be the first communication between enemies. We would try to bring the conversation down to a micro level and talk about interpersonal relationships in the house and how Yaakov's example could help us in our own interactions at home.
As for other parts of the parashah, the only other section I would highlight would be Yaakov's wrestling with the angel. Angel food cake could cover that (as rump roasts aren't kosher!). We would certainly talk about why the Torah states that the violation for eating the gid hanasheh, the sciatic nerve, is Jewish law even until today (when the Torah does not make similar assertions for other mitzvot).
Once more I will ask for you to send any amazing (or even lame) ideas for this parashah. I clearly need to revisit this one for next year!
One more note: a dear friend who has been working on recipes for each parashah suggested making small packages or bundles (puff pastry? vegetables ties up with scallion?) to represent the "pachim ketanim," little bundles that Yaakov forgot on the banks of the river; it was those baskets that he went alone to retrieve when he met up with the belligerent angel.
Have a shabbat shalom!
© Tammie Rapps 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Parashat Vayeitzei
Stones, Sons, and Speckles
Because we are all a bit under the weather, this Shabbat will be low key for us—no company and no invitations out. Therefore, in this blog-entry, I will recount what I am doing this Shabbat just for us, and what I could envision doing had we opted for company this week.
Parashat Vayeitzei overflows with amazing images and possibilities for the Shabbat table. For Friday night, we will focus on the first episode in the parashah: Yaakov’s amazing dream of a ladder filled with ascending and descending angels. For no good reason, other than to make the ladders, we are having an Asian meal this evening. Let me explain: I’ve taken chopsticks and tied ribbon rings/rungs around them to create a ladder and then I slipped a cut-out of an angel (although probably not an image of “our” angels—an excellent point of discussion, by the way: How do we understand and envision the angels in Yaakov’s dream, the angels who escort us home on Friday nights from shul, and any other instance of angels from Jewish tradition?) as the place card. These ladder place-settings will appear at every seat. For dinner, I have steamed asparagus and carrot sticks that I will form into a ladder on a tray and I will drape it with angel-hair pasta. As another reference to the story, we will eat steamed dumplings, which could certainly remind us of the stones that Yaakov put under his head. For dessert, the kids can make their own ladders out of licorice and pretzel rods. During the course of the meal, we plan to talk about angels (as mentioned above), tefillah (because this is when Yaakov davened tefillat aravit and instituted the evening prayer service), and images of ladders (why did Yaakov dream of a ladder reaching to the heavens? What does the ladder symbolize, etc.?).
Shabbat lunch will be a celebration of the 12 children born to Yaakov this parashah. The table will be set with baby bottles, 11 “it’s a boy” and 1 “it’s a girl” signs, pretend pacifiers, and the like. The meal itself won’t really reflect the parashah. Rather the décor and activities/discussions will. I’ve created a simple matching game in which players turn cards over to match the right child with the correct mother. Next year, I hope to add the traditional images associated with each of the shevatim to the cards so each match will have three cards! If we were to have company, I would like to put hidden namecards under each plate and have each person at the table assume the identity of one of Yaakov's children. Everyone at the table would have to guess the identity of everyone. I would also attempt to think of different foods to represent the different children, although that would take a long time to think up, let alone prepare. I could also incorporate something jasmine flavored (jasmine tea--or even Jasmine rice), becasue some think that the "dudaim" that Rachel wants (presumably for their therapeutic fertility qualities) are jasmine.
As a second topic of discussion, I think it would be meaningful for our kids to learn about how the shevatim were named and how we follow the example set forth by Leah and Rachel in giving our children names with powerful meanings. We would like to explain to our children the meanings of their names (in addition to telling them about the people for whom they are named), so they can understand the significance that their names carry on a literal, literary, and symbolic level.
Dessert for lunch will guide us in one other parashah direction. I've unearthed an old lamb-shaped cake pan that had belonged to my Savta (zichronah livrachah). I am baking a chocolate chip cake in it to represent the speckled and spotted sheep that Yaakov miraculously amassed as compensation for his work for Lavan. I love this part of the parashah because it allows us to see how Hashem rewarded Yaakov Avinu for his toils, how Yaakov uses cleverness to collect his due, and because there is an awesome allusion to it in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice when Antonio tries to describe the interest that Shylock exacts from his debtors.
One aside: Musician Yoshie Fruchter on his CD Beyond the Book explores the emotional state of Biblical personalities through musical soliloquies. His song about Leah is haunting and sad, and lends a fascinating insight into her mindset. It is well worth a listen!
Have a Shabbat shalom!
© Tammie Rapps 2008
Because we are all a bit under the weather, this Shabbat will be low key for us—no company and no invitations out. Therefore, in this blog-entry, I will recount what I am doing this Shabbat just for us, and what I could envision doing had we opted for company this week.
Parashat Vayeitzei overflows with amazing images and possibilities for the Shabbat table. For Friday night, we will focus on the first episode in the parashah: Yaakov’s amazing dream of a ladder filled with ascending and descending angels. For no good reason, other than to make the ladders, we are having an Asian meal this evening. Let me explain: I’ve taken chopsticks and tied ribbon rings/rungs around them to create a ladder and then I slipped a cut-out of an angel (although probably not an image of “our” angels—an excellent point of discussion, by the way: How do we understand and envision the angels in Yaakov’s dream, the angels who escort us home on Friday nights from shul, and any other instance of angels from Jewish tradition?) as the place card. These ladder place-settings will appear at every seat. For dinner, I have steamed asparagus and carrot sticks that I will form into a ladder on a tray and I will drape it with angel-hair pasta. As another reference to the story, we will eat steamed dumplings, which could certainly remind us of the stones that Yaakov put under his head. For dessert, the kids can make their own ladders out of licorice and pretzel rods. During the course of the meal, we plan to talk about angels (as mentioned above), tefillah (because this is when Yaakov davened tefillat aravit and instituted the evening prayer service), and images of ladders (why did Yaakov dream of a ladder reaching to the heavens? What does the ladder symbolize, etc.?).
Shabbat lunch will be a celebration of the 12 children born to Yaakov this parashah. The table will be set with baby bottles, 11 “it’s a boy” and 1 “it’s a girl” signs, pretend pacifiers, and the like. The meal itself won’t really reflect the parashah. Rather the décor and activities/discussions will. I’ve created a simple matching game in which players turn cards over to match the right child with the correct mother. Next year, I hope to add the traditional images associated with each of the shevatim to the cards so each match will have three cards! If we were to have company, I would like to put hidden namecards under each plate and have each person at the table assume the identity of one of Yaakov's children. Everyone at the table would have to guess the identity of everyone. I would also attempt to think of different foods to represent the different children, although that would take a long time to think up, let alone prepare. I could also incorporate something jasmine flavored (jasmine tea--or even Jasmine rice), becasue some think that the "dudaim" that Rachel wants (presumably for their therapeutic fertility qualities) are jasmine.
As a second topic of discussion, I think it would be meaningful for our kids to learn about how the shevatim were named and how we follow the example set forth by Leah and Rachel in giving our children names with powerful meanings. We would like to explain to our children the meanings of their names (in addition to telling them about the people for whom they are named), so they can understand the significance that their names carry on a literal, literary, and symbolic level.
Dessert for lunch will guide us in one other parashah direction. I've unearthed an old lamb-shaped cake pan that had belonged to my Savta (zichronah livrachah). I am baking a chocolate chip cake in it to represent the speckled and spotted sheep that Yaakov miraculously amassed as compensation for his work for Lavan. I love this part of the parashah because it allows us to see how Hashem rewarded Yaakov Avinu for his toils, how Yaakov uses cleverness to collect his due, and because there is an awesome allusion to it in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice when Antonio tries to describe the interest that Shylock exacts from his debtors.
One aside: Musician Yoshie Fruchter on his CD Beyond the Book explores the emotional state of Biblical personalities through musical soliloquies. His song about Leah is haunting and sad, and lends a fascinating insight into her mindset. It is well worth a listen!
Have a Shabbat shalom!
© Tammie Rapps 2008
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