Hmm, I thought I started posting on one of these long ago, perhaps it got lost in the format change, into the great beyond, the place where things like missing socks go..........................
So what to say? What's on my mind lately? What I've been doing? What ails me?
Today is Shabbat and the first of July, the month when I'll be another year older. Will I be able to say I'm wiser? I hope so, I think I've learned quite a bit in the last year, much I would rather I didn't know, others that I am grateful to know and things I've been blessed to know; all of which is a nice variation.
I got to having one of my Shabbat eve, 'thinks', things that just pop into my mind and thoughts combine and I end up saying to myself 'why didn't I think of that before?', probably because the time wasn't right, I wasn't ready, and God is in control. That's good enough for me.
I could go on for hours (and I have before)proclaiming the wonders of the foods that God has so generously supplied for us, all the flavors, textures, varieties, colors, that engage our senses, and shout out 'There is a God!'
How else could all this goodness just 'happen'. I don't think that it is all 'happenstance', and when I get to think deeper I realize that foods that 'go together' may also have a reasoning behind them. Then throw in the complexity of the palate, the different parts of the tongue that taste different kinds of flavors, sweet, salty, sour, bitter. The combinations are endless and mind boggling!
Then I think about the forty years in the desert how they ate only what G0d gave them to eat, was that to be like a bodily cleanse?
This weeks Portion of the torah to read is called -Shelach - and consists of Numbers 13:1-15:41
Shelach means 'to send' or 'Sent', it is the base for the Hebrew word for 'Apostle' (Sheliach) . This is when the representatives of the twelve tribes were send to reconnoiter the land. So in reality 12 Apostles were sent from the wilderness into the land of Canaan. Much later 12 Apostles came out of the same land to the world.
It is interesting to note that while I am wondering about food that was eaten back then and what was allowed in the Torah for G0ds people to eat there is an admonishment for them to bring some food back.
Imagine eating nothing but manna for less than a year and seeing grapes the size of baseballs coming from the land the Lord promised your ancestors! Having trouble finding water too , so food and water in one source, it must have been overwhelming, yet they were convinced to be afraid and not to want to go there. How often does G-d offer us the impossible or astounding and we are afraid and reject it?
Grapes from Israel today, still an impressive size!
The Season of the first ripe grapes is the beginning weeks of June so this parsha is timely.
I am reminded by this passage of years ago being at the Messiah Conference and giving a Mezzuzah to a woman who wrote a book about being on the Road to Damascus and why most Jews can't see Jesus for who he is right now, just like those two who traveled with him didn't recognize him till he opened their eyes. She in turn gifted me with a little crystal cube that had an engraving of two men carrying between them ONE cluster of grapes, held up on a pole on their shoulders. I was fascinated with that image. It is a picture of a miracle, a gift from God but rejected because of fear. A good lesson to contemplate.
Well there's more I'd like to ponder on this and perhaps record more, but for now after reading the parasha and writing this, I'm a bit tired. So this will be my first entry on this new blog,
Anyone reading and wishing to comment, please do, ask questions, contribute thoughts, and I thank you for taking the time.
Lulav
So what to say? What's on my mind lately? What I've been doing? What ails me?
Today is Shabbat and the first of July, the month when I'll be another year older. Will I be able to say I'm wiser? I hope so, I think I've learned quite a bit in the last year, much I would rather I didn't know, others that I am grateful to know and things I've been blessed to know; all of which is a nice variation.
I got to having one of my Shabbat eve, 'thinks', things that just pop into my mind and thoughts combine and I end up saying to myself 'why didn't I think of that before?', probably because the time wasn't right, I wasn't ready, and God is in control. That's good enough for me.
I could go on for hours (and I have before)proclaiming the wonders of the foods that God has so generously supplied for us, all the flavors, textures, varieties, colors, that engage our senses, and shout out 'There is a God!'
How else could all this goodness just 'happen'. I don't think that it is all 'happenstance', and when I get to think deeper I realize that foods that 'go together' may also have a reasoning behind them. Then throw in the complexity of the palate, the different parts of the tongue that taste different kinds of flavors, sweet, salty, sour, bitter. The combinations are endless and mind boggling!
Then I think about the forty years in the desert how they ate only what G0d gave them to eat, was that to be like a bodily cleanse?
This weeks Portion of the torah to read is called -Shelach - and consists of Numbers 13:1-15:41
Shelach means 'to send' or 'Sent', it is the base for the Hebrew word for 'Apostle' (Sheliach) . This is when the representatives of the twelve tribes were send to reconnoiter the land. So in reality 12 Apostles were sent from the wilderness into the land of Canaan. Much later 12 Apostles came out of the same land to the world.
It is interesting to note that while I am wondering about food that was eaten back then and what was allowed in the Torah for G0ds people to eat there is an admonishment for them to bring some food back.
Imagine eating nothing but manna for less than a year and seeing grapes the size of baseballs coming from the land the Lord promised your ancestors! Having trouble finding water too , so food and water in one source, it must have been overwhelming, yet they were convinced to be afraid and not to want to go there. How often does G-d offer us the impossible or astounding and we are afraid and reject it?
Numbers 13:20 "And take pains to bring back some of the fruit of the land.”—Now it happened to be the season of the first ripe grapes."
Grapes from Israel today, still an impressive size!
I am reminded by this passage of years ago being at the Messiah Conference and giving a Mezzuzah to a woman who wrote a book about being on the Road to Damascus and why most Jews can't see Jesus for who he is right now, just like those two who traveled with him didn't recognize him till he opened their eyes. She in turn gifted me with a little crystal cube that had an engraving of two men carrying between them ONE cluster of grapes, held up on a pole on their shoulders. I was fascinated with that image. It is a picture of a miracle, a gift from God but rejected because of fear. A good lesson to contemplate.
Num 13:23 They reached the wadi Eshcol, and there they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes—it had to be borne on a carrying frame by two of them—and some pomegranates and figs.
Well there's more I'd like to ponder on this and perhaps record more, but for now after reading the parasha and writing this, I'm a bit tired. So this will be my first entry on this new blog,
Anyone reading and wishing to comment, please do, ask questions, contribute thoughts, and I thank you for taking the time.
Lulav
