Parashat Vayeitzei

Ladder of Years

This week's parashah opens with the beautiful dream of a ladder covered by angels that Yaakov has on his departure from Be'er Sheva. that opening scene will be the basis of our shabbat dinner. Even the challot we use will allude to the story. When Yaakov goes to sleep, he arranges a series of rocks to use as a pillow, but when he awakes, the stones have melded into one large rock, because, according to the midrash, they were all vying for the privilege of supporting Yaakov's head. A simple pull apart challah is made by rolling a series of balls of challah dough and placing them in a pan together so they fuse as they bake, a perfect representation of the stones under Yaakov's head.

{For a different take on the stones, see the amazing looking recipe at this new parashah blog to which a friend directed me: Elisha's Double Portion.}

As for the meal, it will include artfully composed dishes that are reminiscent of ladders such as asparagus, string beans, strips of London broil, a salad built with large juliennes of jicama and avocado stacked to look like a ladder, and, if time permits, skewers of vegetables and chicken. To accompany our ladders, we will serve angel hair pasta and for dessert, angel food cake.

For shabbat lunch, dessert will be the parashah highlight. I am going to pull out my lamb shaped baking pan so we can make a chocolate chip cake in the form of a spotted and speckled sheep, just like the vast flock that Yaakov amasses through ingenious genetic planning--and a lot of help from Hashem. We will also serve jasmine tea and some figs, both foods identified by mefarshim (rabbinic commentaries) as possibilities for the mysterious (and aphrodisiac/fertility inducing) dudaim that Reuven collects and Rachel begs from Leah.

Have a shabbat shalom.

Parashat Toldot

Please Pass That Red Stuff

Side note:
I don't know why my Chayei Sarah post never posted. Hmmmm. To recap last week: We had a beautiful pumpkin well filled with veal and seitan stew for dinner last week. Poached pear wells filled with pareve ice cream were dessert.
For lunch we were invited out to friends' and amazingly, we found a basket filled with treasures that had fallen off of one of Eliezer's camels to bring as a gift for our host. The basket overflowed with chocolate coins, candy necklaces and bracelets, and gems (the sunkist type :-) ).

As for this week:
We are back to red foods, so the kids can practice gentrifying Esav's request, "Gimme that red slop." We are starting with red lentil soup (of course), followed by red chicken and red tofu (proteins cooked in a tomato based sauce that tinges the food red), braised red cabbage, and a tomato salad. Our 6-year-old requested red jel dessert and our 10-year-old wants red berry kissel (a yummy compote of red berries cooked in grape juice).

Tomorrow for lunch we are doing dairy (see the Kli Yakar commentary mentioned in last years parashat Toldot posting). Thinking about that commentary that explains how being habitual meat eaters cultivates cruelty in a person, I cannot help but to think about the cooking in the parashah this week. Yaakov, the gentle man and gentleman, is cooking lentils according to tradition while Esav is back from the hunt. Clearly this very contrast vividly supports the Kli Yakar's thoughts. (I've also been thinking about Lord of the Flies and the hunts for meat that bring out the savagery of the boys, but those thoughts emanate from my teaching life rather than my parashah life.) Our 10-year-old has been waiting with bated breath for the week where we get to be vegetarians (even though we eat plenty of dairy and pareve on shabbatot in general....)!

Have a delicious and wonderful shabbat!

Parashat Vayera

Guest Blogger

My 10-year-old daughter composed this d'var Torah to share with her class at the annual 5th-grade school shabbaton. I thought you would like it. The regular Vayera post will follow.

Parashat Vayera: Dvar Torah

Shabbat Shalom! Welcome to the 5th grade shabbaton!!! This week’s parsha opens with the story of Avraham greeting the malachim. The torah gets all specific about how Avraham treats them, how he runs to prepare a meal, and hurries to make sure they’re comfortable, and goes out of his way to serve them nice food. Last week when we met Avraham we were introduced to someone who is considered the first person to believe in one G-d and to spread that there is only one G-d. How does the hachnassat orchim that Avraham shows in this week’s parsha connect? A rabbi from the 1800’s known as the Netziv, Rabbi Naphtali Tzvi Judah Berlin, has an explanation that I like. The explanation is that Avraham, who recognized Hashem in shamayim, is able to recognize people on earth. Because Avraham recognizes Hashem and believes in Hashem, he can see the spark of Hashem, the tzelem Elokim, in every person. Seeing the tzelem Elokim is what makes Avraham act with such chesed in welcoming anyone and everyone into his tent.

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!