Personal Parshah - Chayei Sarah

This week's parshah is Chayei Sarah (Sarah's life)...however we only hear of her death, burial etc. Immediately following is the famous "Isaac and Rebecca" (as most call it) narrative....in which both parties receive little air time. In fact the star of the story seems to be Abraham's servant, I mean if we are going to judge the "star" by the character with the most dialog.

Anyway the first thing I noticed was that Sarah died...obvious yes but hang in there....and just give some thought to the life of Sarah. All this time of waiting for some evidence of the promise of HaShem, hoping in the covenant of G-d to give them offspring....I don't think it is a stretch to say that this promise was just as important to Sarah as it was to Abraham, you can sense it in the urgency in which she hopes to gain seed through Hagar...whoops! A for motives...but pretty much a fail for "good plan". However She had complete faith that HaShem would deliver on what He said He would do even though she may have wavered(as well as Abraham) on the method. But by and by Isaac is born and the first morsel of the covenant is actually tasted!

Now Isaac grows up but Sarah goes to the grave before even seeing Isaac marry...for her there is really no "tangible insurance" that Isaac's name will continue. For some people that may have cause them to have a few doubts...my opinion here but I don't believe this was the case with Sarah. She had taken hold of HaShem's covenant and, I believe, she went to her grave in full faith that HaShem would bring about what he promised in the life of her son becoming a great nation and in ultimately One would come to crush the head of the serpent...the Redeemer Himself.

We would do well to follow in the footsteps of our mother Sarah, having assurance in those things hoped for, and the conviction of things not yet seen.

Yeshua said to him, "have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. John 20:29

By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Hebrews 11:11

Abraham also had this strong covenant focus. We see in the beginning of chapter 24 that "God had blessed Abraham in all things". It could have been quite easy for him to begin to "rest upon his laurels" so to speak, but just the opposite! All the wealth and earthly possessions did not in the least detract from the focus he had on the promises of HaShem and so he instructs his servant regarding a wife for Isaac. He is covenant minded not earthly minded.

Abraham knows by faith that HaShem had prepared a wife for Isaac, one that would be a help mate suitable, equally yoked and ready to carry on the covenant to the next generation and she was not to be found in Canaan but in the land of his kindred. Like himself she too would be called out from the land of her forefathers to go to a land that she knew not...she would be one who would walk by faith.

Even Eleazar, Abraham's loyal servant, has his eyes fixed in faith before him on these covenant promises as he obediently sets out to seek a wife for his master's son. Confident that the L-rd has gone with him and would bring him to the one He had selected.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1,2

My son, be attentive to my words;

incline your ear to my sayings.

Let them not escape from your sight;

keep them within your heart.

For they are life to those who find them,

and healing to all their flesh.

Keep your heart with all vigilance,

for from it flow the springs of life.

Put away from you crooked speech,

and put devious talk far from you.

Let your eyes look directly forward,

and your gaze be straight before you.

Ponder the path of your feet;

then all your ways will be sure.

Do not swerve to the right or to the left;

turn your foot away from evil.

Proverbs 4:20-27

Christ is the end(goal) of the Torah so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Romans 10:4

* I have no idea what is causing the white highlighting in the post...I have tried unsuccessfully to reformat the post so it would appear but to no avail *

So much for silence

Here it goes I am going to do my best to break the blog silence! Why have I not been writing for so long? Well many reasons I suppose, lack of time and energy being a main one.

It is a funny thing how life takes you through cycles. When I started this blog I seemed to be blessed with perspective and just enough extra time to give it a coherent voice! Lately, (and by that I mean at least the last year) that has just not been the case. Its been more of a "hanging on for dear life" kind of time ....I hope that means G-d has just added another brick to the load because I have gotten stronger, but I'll be honest, it feels more like I have gotten weaker as I struggle to remain centred on this little Rock of mine as everything swirls around me. I feel like I've been on the proverbial rack emotionally -- And am no longer living, just surviving. And that is not the most conducive to clear articulated inspiration thoughts(as this entry proves), even when they do occur the energy it takes to convey them often evades the ponderer long enough for the thought to vanish as quickly as it appeared.

Now you may think that sounds rather defeatist and you are entitled to your opinion but can you blame the pot for burning because all the water boiled away? 

But this too is fleeting and it too shall pass, but what is the conclusion of the matter? Fear G-d and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 

I'll live because He lives.

Shalom

Matzah Granola

Ingredients 

roughly half a package of matzah broken into small pieces(if you like it sweeter use less)

a big spoonful of honey

1/2 cup of butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup sesame seeds*

1/3 cup sliced almonds*

1/3 cup dried cranberries*

* or any nuts, seeds or dried fruit of your liking


Mix broken matzah, nuts and seeds in a shallow baking pan

Melt butter, honey and salt in a saucepan then stir into matzah until well coated.

Bake at 300 degrees stirring about every 6-10 minutes until toasted, around 25 min. Add any dried fruit 1/2-3/4 of the way through baking time.

10th of Tevet

Today, the tenth of the Hebrew month of Tevet, is the anniversary of the day Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem in the year 3336(425-BCE) which ultimately led to the destruction of the Temple(9th of Av) and our exile to Babylon for 70yrs.

This sad day on our calender is traditionally marked with fasting and reflection, both on those sad events of the past and also on our own personal path with HaShem.

The Sages explain:

  “Every generation for which the Temple is not rebuilt, is as though the Temple was destroyed for that generation.”

Just as at Pesach we are to celebrate the feast as if we personally came up out of Egypt, our Sages want us to also personally connect with the tragedies of our people as well. I think that is very wise. In any family there are going to be bumps and potholes, and also times for joy and celebration. What kind of person would one be if we showed up only for the celebrations and never for the deaths, the hard times, the losses etc?

Now I will be honest I did not grow up with this calender...and in many ways it still feels foreign...and unfortunately it is usually mostly at these times, the times of mourning. I don't want it to be that way, I want the words of my Master to be fulfilled in my life when He says: Blessed are they that mourn, for they will be comforted!" . When these days are turned into days of gladness and joy as the prophet Zachariah* says I want to be able to experience that to the full degree.

For more information on this day here are a few other links to check out:

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/102698/jewish/10-Tevet.htm

http://dancingtotherhythm.blogspot.ca/2012/12/his-eyes-are-on-it-continually.html

 "Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children..." -Deut. 4:9

Music Room Reno

Finally getting around to posting before and afters of the music room reno! 

It all started when I was held up in my "music room" and just couldn't take the outdated wall paper and the lack of space anymore and just started ripping the paper off the wall...

                          

Before: (I kinda forgot to take pictures before I started ripping but you get the idea...)

During:

and FINALLY after:

Absolutely NO regrets going red. I made the speaker shelves, desk and storage bench myself out of pallets! Recycled our old couch cushions for the bench. The total cost outlay was only in my primer, paint and screws. :) I am planning on adding a shelf or two under the turn table and perhaps one under the desk as well later on.

Pesach Snap Shot

I love Passover, yes even the cleaning and the prep! It makes the week so much more satisfying when it arrives. We had a small seder just my parents and Grandparents this year, we had invited a couple others besides but unfortunately they were unable to come. So in the end Elijah had more room at the table :). 

The funny thing about our seder's is they are never quite the same. Yes of course we do the same things every year but it always looks a little different, it keeps things interesting :)

So here is a snap shot of our Seder this year!

I made bookmarks for each place setting, not only did it serve the practical purpose of seating but everyone was able to use them as haggadot markers as well.

I made them ahead so I went for a neutral coloured paper and used strips of scrap fabric for the fringe.

Do to our table being significantly decreased in size since last year I no longer had table room to put extra matzot on my silver plates as I have in the past so I improvised really quick the night of the seder and took a spare linen towel and covered the matzah box with it, tied blue and white cotton crochet thread around it and finished it with a white flower hair clip. I think this wins thrifty award for the year if I do say so myself!



For our seder plate I used our glass pedestal cake plate and three small square dishes we had in the cupboard in which I placed the charoset, maror, and karpas.

 In the middle I put parfait type dish in the centre with the salt water for dipping. The empty spaces I filled up with the remaining items: sheep wool, a stone, and a few springs of thyme(which I consider a bitter herb). We used the sheepskin wool in lieu of the traditional shank bone this year. We choose to leave the egg off the plate and have instead a stone to remind us of three things: Pharaoh's hard heart, G-d's promise to remove our stony hearts and give us hearts of flesh, and lastly that the stones of the Temple will once again be raised up when Mashiach returns!

The Echad

Aerial view of the table

 

After polishing the candle sticks I discovered I had used the last of our shabbat candles....hmmm well no problem I pulled out our trusty crown mason jars and a couple of the half burned votives from my sisters wedding last year (wow yes that was exactly a year ago!) and viola.


Menu for this year consisted of honey chicken, garlic-horseradish mashed potatoes, and Thai cucumber salad.

Homemade lemon ice cream and lemony coconut macaroons for dessert.

Chametz chamtez everywhere but not a crumb to eat

Pesach is rushing to arrive and we are once again hit with that question: "So what is chametz again and what do I need to take out?" 

Chametz is the Hebrew word almost universally translated "leaven" in our English bibles and most often is attributed to risen baked products or just bread that has been baked with yeast. While it's true that both these fall into the category of chametz it may not totally answer the question?".

Our ancestors in Egypt did not have "yeast" as we have today, instead they had to wait for their dough to "become leavened". So how does dough become leavened then? 

Naturally leavened breads rise over time as they draw in wild yeast spores from the air. As the unique and complex family of friendly bacteria thrive on the nutrient rich whole grain flour they produce carbon dioxide gas, this is was causes air bubbles in your dough and ultimately gives a finer texture to your bread. But while it takes some time to make a full fledged risen sourdough bread it doesn't take long for leavening to begin. Our sages of blessed memory observed this process closely noting that when rye, wheat, spelt, oat, or barely flour are mixed with water they naturally begin the leavening process in as little as 18min*. Therefore if dough was not rolled and cooked within that time frame it would not be matzah("unleavened bread") but it would in fact be chametz dough.

This is also why all chametz isn't necessarily full out risen bread. Yes all breads are chametz but all chametz isn't “risen” bread. Pasta, cookies, crackers, breaded fish, pitas, grain based alcohols, etc. are just a few other things that are chametz because they have all been allowed to become at least partially leavened. Which dawned on me this year that I can't stop at the obvious, I can't assume I know the appearance of sin or arrogance, it could very well be hiding behind the appearance of good. I need to be diligent to search it out because just because it doesn't possess the obvious appearance of leaven doesn't mean it isn't...a little bit of leavening still leavens the whole lump...hmm that sounds familiar..... :]

For more a more in depth article about chametz I recommend the below article written by Tim Hegg.

http://torahresource.com/EnglishArticles/Chameitz&Pesach.pdf

The following is a list taken from the above article and what we personally go by when it comes to removing the chametz from our dwellings:

1.Any of the five grains or flour made from them, to which water has been added and allowed to sit long enough to begin the fermentation process (18 minutes is the accepted time according to the Sages). If fermentation occurs, they have become leavening agents. They are not to be used during the festival.
2. All prepared foods that contain any of the five grains (sandwich breads, even pita bread, since it may have been allowed to sit too long before being baked; cereals, cookies, crackers, etc.) are prohibited. Prepared foods made from kitniyot do not need to be removed (unless one wants to adhere to the additional Ashkenazic rabbinic fences). So, for instance, corn tortillas are okay, as are foods made from rice.
3. Noodles purchased from the store, made from one of the five grains are prohibited, unless they are marked as Kosher for Pesach. (You can make your own noodles as long as they are cooked right away after water is added to the flour, if you are using flour ground from one of the five grains).
34. Beer, whiskey and the like, which are made from fermented grains, are prohibited. (Not all alcoholic beverages are prohibited. For instance, some vodka is made from potatoes and does not therefore contain chameitz).
5. Substances containing leaven or leavening agents but which are never eaten do not need to be removed, since the primary commandment is that one is not to eat leavened foods nor have leavening agents that would be added to foods. Thus, cleaning agents, pet food, etc. that contain one of the five grains do not need to be removed. 
6. Medicines containing leaven are not prohibited during the festival, on the principle (pikuach nefesh) that those things necessary to sustain life generally take precedents over other commandments.
7. Wine and vinegar (other than grain vinegar) are not considered chameitz because they are not made from grain products, and are therefore useable during the festival
                         -excerpt from "What Foods are Prohibited During Chag HaMatzot?" by Tim Hegg

* note that the 18min is calculated using cold water only. If one uses hot water the fermentation begins much faster! When making matzah coldest is best!