Saturday, August 15, 2009

a look into our family Shabbat

More from a June 8th email...
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Sunday, First Day
The beginning of a new week. We begin to study the parasha (pare-ra-sha) and haftarah (haf-ta-rah, or haf-ta-rah) for the week. We also have a study in the New Testament, The B'rit Chadashah (Brit ha-da-shah), that is similar in concept to the haftarah.
One interesting thing to note is that the fourth commandment is not just to rest on Shabbat, but to work for six days. For Shabbat (sha-baht) to be a delight, you need to get your work done on the other days.

Wednesday, fourth Day
menu planning day. Since I will be doing all the cooking on Friday, the Saturday meals need to also be yummy served cold. Vegetarian/Middle Eastern/ Mediterranean meals are very well suited to this! I also need to plan for any guests, and any overnight. Challah can be the traditional braided egg bread, or the pita-type flat bread, or just a loaf of sandwich bread. It doesn't matter but challah is a good tradition to keep, although I haven't yet found a good gluten-free substitute.

Please be sure to stress to the VBS children that the children of Israel have a strict Kosher diet that is actually very healthy. Kosher means "fit." Some things that Americans eat isn't even considered to be food by the Lord: Pork, mammels that don't have cloven hoofs and don't chew the cud, birds of prey, birds that eat carrion, any water creature that didn't have scales and fins. All of these animals were created to be garbage disposals so they are just considered trash cans, not food.

The method of killing and butchering also has to be considered. Animals have to be "Koshered," which means they have to be killed quickly and humanely, the blood has to be drained, the fat removed, the nerve in the hip socket removed, the fatty lobe of the liver, the intestines... You can't eat a clean animal that died of natural causes or was killed by another animal, or by accident. That would render the clean animal un-kosher.

The practice of not mixing milk with meat is a Rabbinical teaching that is taken from Exodus 23:19, 34:26, and Deut 14:21,

"The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

But this is referring to the pagan fertility rite, not a method of cooking and eating. After all, Abraham served the three visitors meat and milk...

Here's an easy Kosher menu:
Shabbat Dinner
Challah
Garden salad
meatless taco soup
roast chicken
raw veggies & dips
fruit

Shabbat Breakfast
Rice chex cereal
vanilla rice milk

Shabbat Lunch
chicken wraps (with left over chicken)
or veggie wraps
or pb&j
salad

Supper
left over taco soup
chips & dip

Thursday, fifth day
Shopping. I have to be sure to have enough food prepared for any guests
make sure the children are studying the parasha

Friday, six day
Cooking and cleaning. Think of it as preparing your house for a very special guest. You are inviting the Father into your home!
Don't forget to fuel up the car, be prepared for any "emergencies" that might crop up. In our case, have extra diapers, toilet paper, tylenol,,,
Set the table w/ paper plates to cut down on clutter later, or set out your best china!

Shabbat night
light the candles, Zachor and Shamor (Remember and Keep)
I say a blessing
Clint says Kiddush (Santification of Shabbat said over the wine and begins with Genesis 2:1-3)
We have blessings we say over the bread, the wine, the children.
Clint recites the Aaronic blessing found in Numbers 6:24-
Num 6:24-26:

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: (25) The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: (26) The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
Then, we eat!

After dinner we clear the table, put away the food, visit or go over the parasha then go to bed

Shabbat day
sleep late!
eat breakfast
Bible study
history study
Hebrew language study
lunch
go outside
help the neighbor with something
go to Granny B's
visit the elderly neighbor down the road
play with the children
play Bible baseball, (I get smoked everytime!)
take a nap
watch a Hebrew study video
play games
take a walk
current events in Bible prophecy
play with the dog
mark the end of the day with a blessing (Havdalah)

Saturday night
End Shabbat
clean the house
wash the dishes
begin the laundry roll
run to the store
work, work work!

I hope this has helped you some. It wouldn't be difficult at all to come up with a "Moses Shabbat." What foods might they have eaten? How was it prepared? How might they have listened to the Torah? in large groups or individual families.... (they didn't have copies of the Torah ...)
You could make sukkahs (tents) from chairs and blankets, have them prepare for shabbat. How would they have filled their day? What about the animals they had how were they taken care of during Shabbat?
You could teach them the Hebrew blessings which arent' difficult. they all begin the same:
Ba-ruke a-tah A-don-ai, El-o-hey-nu me-lek ha-a-lome...
(Blessed are you Lord God, King of the universe...)

Maybe show them some paleo writing

I don't know how much time you have but this could be a really neat study...
I'll look up stuff on the Feasts, if you'd like...

A traditional greeting/blessing...
Shalom Aleichem (sha-lome ah-lek-em)
Peace be upon you

The traditional response...
Aleichem Shalom
Upon you be peace

~WOW


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