Parshat Bahalotcha

Two short vorts and two recipes for this week’s Parsha:

From the day the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was dedicated, it was covered by a cloud during the day, and a fire by night. When the  cloud lifted, it was an indication that God wished the Israelites to follow the cloud and continue  their journey until the cloud rested in a new location. The subsequent stays could last anywhere from one night to many years.

Rabbi Yitzchak Levi points out that the cloud  accompanied the people of Israel from the exodus from Egypt until the time that Moshe passed the leadership on to Yehoshua (Joshua). (Devarim/Deuteronomy 31:15) The cloud was an expression of God’s continuous presence among humanity. 

“In other words, the cloud expresses the revelation and resting of the Shekhina on Israel in the framework of God’s direct and unmediated miraculous governance of Israel that is characteristic of the period of the wilderness. When Israel follows after the cloud, they are in essence walking in the footsteps of God.” 

Here’s a recipe to commemorate that cloud.

Bamidbar/Numbers 9:15 On the day the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was erected, the cloud covered the Mishkan, which was a tent for the Testimony

Strawberry Cloud

Ingredients:

• 4 cups strawberries
• 3/4 cup canned coconut cream (this is the ingredient that makes it awesome)
• 2 1/2 cups crushed pineapple and pineapple juice (any combination is okay) 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• whipped cream, optional for garnish

Puree crushed pineapple in blender and then add remaining ingredients. 

###

This week’s Parsha discusses the ‘Chatzotrot’ the trumpets that Moshe was commanded to make. They were to be blown on various occasions such as holidays, assembling, and war. Shlomo Katz discusses the two distinct sounds that the trumpet makes. Teruah is a broken sound – like crying. Tekiah is a long continuous sound. For war time, the Torah tells us that the broken sound is made. According to the Gemara, however, any time the Teruah sound was made, it was preceded by the Tekiah, the long continuous sound.

Katz quotes Rabbi Mordechai Rogov (1900-1969):

Teruah is the sound of a groan and a wail, while tekiah is the sound of triumph and happiness. Our teruot are always accompanied by tekiot. Even when the sounds of wailing and groaning are heard in the camp of Yisrael, there is never total despair. At the same time, the tekiot are heard – the sounds of hope and trust. This is what the Torah is teaching us. When the oppressors come to our gates, we should sound the teruot together with tekiot. 

Here’s a trumpet recipe that is so delicious, I highly suggest doubling it.

Bamidbar 10:2: Make yourself two silver trumpets; you shall make them; they shall be used by you to summon the congregation and to announce the departure of the camps.

Here’s a peak at the King Trumpet Mushrooms: I bought these in Korea Town. I imagine they’re widely available where Asian foods are sold.

Roasted King Trumpet Mushrooms with Wine and Rosemary

• 5 King Trumpet mushrooms, cut diagonally in 1/4 ” slices
• 1/2 lb. smoked turkey, cut into cubes
• 2 tablespoons, minced garlic
• 6-8 chives, chopped
• handful of fresh rosemary, chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup dry  wine (white or red is fine)
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees. In a large pan sprayed with Pam, place mushrooms, turkey, garlic, chives, rosemary, salt and pepper. Roast 10 minutes. Gently mix up the pan and then roast another 10 minutes. 
• Add wine for approximately five minutes. 
• Add fresh parsley before serving. 
• It’s delicious hot or room temperature. Adapted from Martha Stewart. 
• B’tayavon and have a great Shabbos!

Shavuot – cheesecake!

Are you wondering why I’m posting a recipe for Shavuos when Shavuos is a mere…year away? It’s because of a little tragedy that occurred in our house. My beautiful cheesecake plunged to the floor of the kitchen on the first morning of Yontiff. (And no, it could not be salvaged.) So for Shabbos I recreated the cheesecake but this one was even healthier.

It was like a Tikkun on the cheese cake.

I’m posting this recipe so that I don’t forget it. A healthier version of the typical cheesecake, without flour, gluten, or sugar, but really, really awesome.

Healthier Cheesecake

Ingredients:

For the Crust: 

• 1 cup almond meal
• 4 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cheese Part:

• 1 1/2 pounds cream cheese (three bar packages)
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon stevia (liquid)
• 1/2 – 1 cup xylitol (to taste)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Melt coconut oil and mix with remaining crust ingredients. Pat into bottom of sprayed 8″ spring form pan.

Mix remaining ingredients and pour on top.

Bake at 375 F for 25 minutes. Turn off oven and leave inside for additional 30 minutes.

Parshat Naso

When the Mishkan (Tabernacle) was finally dedicated on the first day of the month of Nissan, the heads of each of the Shvatim (tribes)  together brought six covered wagons and twelve oxen to help transport the Mishkan. 

According to the Lubavitcher Rebbe: there is an important lesson to be learned from this. The nation of Israel is comprised of twelve different tribes, each of which is distinguished by unique characteristics, each bringing its own distinct contribution to the fulfillment of its spiritual mission. We also recognize that although we were blessed with something that our fellow tribes might not have, “it is they who provide us with what we lack.”

 Half a wagon is useless—we must combine our gifts in order to have something with which to transport the “Tent of Meeting” in our journey through the spiritual desert that is our material world. And while we may perhaps be able to produce a complete “ox” by our own efforts, it takes two oxen to pull our common wagon.

Here’s a recipe to commemorate the six ‘Agalot’  (wagons) that were brought by the twelve tribal chieftains in honour of the dedication of the Mishkan.

Wagon Wheel Pasta with Basil 

Bamidbar/Numbers 7:3: They brought their offering before the Lord: six covered wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon for each two chieftains, and an ox for each one; they presented them in front of the Mishkan.

This is a very casual recipe so amounts do not need to be exact.

Ingredients:

• 1 package Wagon Wheel pasta, cooked
• 2 onions
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 bunch fresh basil,
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoon pine nuts, crushed
• handful of grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• salt, pepper, and soy sauce to taste

Directions:

While basil is soaking in soapy water (to remove bugs) sautee onions in olive oil. Add garlic and then chopped basil, pine nuts and tomatoes. Toss with pasta and add seasoning.

Enjoy!

B’tayavon and Shabbat Shalom!

Parshat Bamidbar

This week’s Parsha describes the encampment map for all the Shvatim (tribes) of Israel as they journey through Sinai.

Bamidbar (Numbers) 2:2  says: Every man by his flag, shall the children of Israel camp

According to Midrash Rabbah,

Each tribe had its own prince and its flag whose color corresponded to the color of its stone [in Aaron's breastplate--see Exodus 28:15-21]. It was from the tribes of Israel that kingdoms learned to provide themselves with flags of various colors.

The tribe of Reuben has the ruby and the colour of their flag was red and embroidered with mandrakes. (Bereishit/Genesis 30:14)

Emerald was the stone of Zevulun, and the colour of their flag was white with a ship embroidered on it, a reference to the Pasuk, “Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea” (Gen. 49:13).

For a complete list of the stones and flags of all the Shevatim (tribes) please see the above link.

A lovely insight by Rabbi Yonatan Grossman:

The untamed desert bespeaks a world without boundaries: it is wild, devoid of order and regulation, a place without human habitation, a place where wild animals reign. Here, in the midst of the lack of boundaries that the desert embodies, a marvelous sight reveals itself: six hundred thousand foot soldiers, aside from women and children, journeying by tribes and by clans. It is specifically against the background of the desert that the splendor of the camp of Israel stands out: a nation that creates banners and tribes, that maintains clans and tents of families.

In a region where there are no boundaries, the Torah brings us God’s word; order, harmony, and guidance.

What can I say? It’s a camping Parsha, the weather is finally warming up, and I’ve got camping on my mind. (Hello Brian and Jeannine – are we heading back to Bon Echo this summer?)

Here’s a unique recipe from Candiquik. S’mores (we’ve got camping on the brain here) with a twist.

Parshat Bamidbar S’Mores – so simple and I had a blast making them

Bamidbar (Numbers) 1:52 The children of Israel shall encamp, each man by his own camp and each man by his division.

So simple:

• Stick a stick in a marshmallow.
• Dip in chocolate.
• Cover with crushed graham crackers.

Voila!

B’tayavon and have a great Shabbos!

 

 

 

Parshat Behar-Bechukotai

Quick!

What does this:

have in common with this:

The answer is an inscription cast into the Liberty Bell that comes from  this week’s Torah portion, Vayikra /Leviticus 25:10: 

Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants there

This quote comes from the agriculturally based laws of the ‘Shmittah’ (Sabbatical year) in the Torah that teach about slavery. Vayikra/Leviticus 25:3-4 explains that in the seventh year the land must have a complete rest – a “Sabbath to the Lord” – in which the land can not be sown, tilled, or harvested.  After 7 Shmittah cycles we come to the Big One – Year 50. That year is called HaYovel – the Jubilee Year. The Torah calls Yovel  קֹדֶשׁ – holy and commands us to sanctify the 50th year.

In 25:25 the Torah teaches laws relating to slavery, prohibiting subjugation with hard labour and teaching owners to treat  them as employees. The  slave and his family are ultimately freed during the Shnat HaYovel. (Jubilee Year)  

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, otherwise known as Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain and the British Commonwealth, has an incredibly beautiful insight into the Torah’s attitude toward slavery.

The terms of the passage are clear. Slavery is wrong. It is an assault on the human condition. To be “in the image of G‑d” is to be summoned to a life of freedom. The very idea of the sovereignty of G‑d means that He alone has claim to the service of mankind. Those who are G‑d’s servants may not be slaves to anyone else. At this distance of time it is hard to recapture the radicalism of this idea, overturning as it did the very foundations of religion in ancient times.

So even if the terms of treatment are relatively humane, (not working on Shabbat, freedom in the Shmittah Year) why didn’t the Torah just ban slavery altogether?

Rabbi Sacks answers this question by citing the Rambam (Moses Maimonides) in The Guide for the Perplexed in which he explains that in all major transformation, time is a necessity. When we think of a fetus in the womb, or the maturation of the child, growth is a slow process and that all  processes in nature are gradual. The Rambam states that “it is impossible to go suddenly from one extreme to the other. It is therefore, according to the nature of man, impossible for him suddenly to discontinue everything to which he has been accustomed.”

That is the reason that God didn’t expect the Israelites to suddenly abandon everything that they were familiar with in Egypt.  “G‑d refrained from prescribing what the people by their natural disposition would be incapable of obeying.” God did not choose to transform the nature of the Israelites, although he could have if he had so wished. But as the Rambam says, “If it were part of His will to change the nature of any person, the mission of the prophets and the giving of the Torah would have been superfluous.”

Rabbi Sacks goes on to explain:

In miracles, G‑d changes nature, but never human nature. Were He to do so, the entire project of the Torah—the free worship of free human beings—would have been rendered null and void. There is no greatness in programming a million computers to obey instructions. G‑d’s greatness lay in taking the risk of creating a being, homo sapiens, capable of choice and responsibility—of obeying G‑d freely. G‑d wanted mankind to abolish slavery, but by their own choice, and that takes time. Ancient economies were dependent on slavery. The particular form dealt with in Behar (slavery through poverty) was the functional equivalent of what is today called “workfare,” i.e., welfare benefits in return for work. Slavery as such was not abolished in Britain and America until the nineteenth century, and in America not without a civil war. The challenge to which Torah legislation was an answer is: how can one create a social structure in which, of their own accord, people will eventually come to see slavery as wrong, and freely choose to abandon it?

Because this week’s discussion centred on the Torah’s attitude to slavery, I’ve got a recipe from the rich ‘soul food’ tradition of African American slaves in the south. (My kids went crazy over this recipe – it was quite delicious.)

Fake Fried Chicken – ‘Soul Food’

Vayikra 25: 10 And you shall sanctify the fiftieth year, and proclaim freedom [for slaves] throughout the land for all who live on it. It shall be a Jubilee for you

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken, cut into 1/8′s
• Oil to cover bottom of a large roasting pan
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups crushed corn flake crumbs (depending on the size of your chicken)
• 1/2 cup pareve soy milk
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon chili powder

Directions:

• Preheat over to 430 degrees and place large pan (with oil covering the bottom surface of the pan) on bottom rack.
• Place flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl.
• Rinse chicken, pat dry, and dip in flour mixture.
• Dip the floured chicken in the soymilk, mustard, and spice mixture.
• Crush cornflakes in food processor or plastic bag rolled over with a rolling pin. Place in a dry bowl. Dip chicken in crushed cornflakes.
• Place the chicken in the heated dish in the over. Cook for 20 minutes and then lower temperature to 375 degrees for another half hour. 
• Enjoy! B’tayavon and Shabbat Shalom. 

Parshat Emor

In Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:10 we read about the Omer barley offering on the second day of Pesach (Passover) which inaugurates the  seven-week  ’Omer’ leading up to Shavuot with its wheat offering.

Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you come to the Land which I am giving you, and you reap its harvest, you shall bring to the kohen an omer of the beginning of your reaping.

According to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Kabbalah teaches that every person has two souls; one animal (our physical needs) and one Godly ( ’our transcendent drives.’) The animal soul contends with self-preservation but the Godly soul engages with meaning and spirituality and it is that part of our being that differentiate us from animal and define us as human. Both elements are integral to our beings.

Even as we stimulate the divine in us to rise above the merely animal, we must also develop and refine our animal selves, learning to cultivate the constructive aspects of selfhood (e.g., self-confidence, courage, perseverance) while weeding out the selfish and the profane.

Wheat in the Torah is a staple of human diet while barley is associated with animal food. (Psalms 104:15 and I Kings 5:8, Talmud, Sotah 14a). Wheat is therefore symbolic of our Godly nature while barley is indicative of our animal soul – both necessary components in our earthly mission. The seven-week Omer period raises us from Egyptian exile with our barley/animal oriented soul up to the giving of the Torah, symbolized by the wheat offering.  This week’s recipe is a delicious slow-cooker barley soup. It’s going to need a good ten hours on low or less on high. It would make an excellent Friday night soup, especially if you’re in the Great White North where winter is just not letting go.  This photo isn’t great, but I have to tell you that this is a fabulous soup.

Vayikra/Leviticus (23:15) “You shall count for yourselves, from the morrow of the rest day when you bring the omer of the waving, seven weeks they shall be complete”

 

Beef and Barley Soup for the Slow Cooker

• 1-2 lbs beef chuck (I used meat scissors to cut it up)
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 large chopped carrots
• 1/2 red pepper, cubed
• 4 mushrooms, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 tomatoes, chopped (or a can stewed tomatoes)
• 1/2 cup corn niblets
• 1/2  - 1 cup fresh green beans, cut
• 2/3 cup barley
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 6 cups water

Chop vegetables and place meat on top. Wait. Eat. Enjoy.

B’tayavon and Shabbat Shalom

Parshat Vayishlach

This is going to be a very short posting. I’m one week behind on the Parsha and stuff is happening!

This Parsha includes angels. Yakov sends angels ahead of him to Esau who is in Edom. They return with the ominous news that Esau is coming with four hundred men. The night after he sets up his family, an angel wrestles with him all night. Yakov demands to know his name and then asks for a blessing.

According to the most wonderful Rabbi Lazer Gurkow of London, Ontario (who I had the wonderful fortune of meeting one Tisha B’Av in London, and enjoyed a lovely dinner after the fast with him and his wife) angels are constantly interceding on our behalf. According to Rabbi Gurkow:

Our sages taught that every word of our prayers summons an angel who collects it, cleanses it and perfects it, and presents it to G‑d. If the word was enunciated improperly, the angel remolds it so that it is presented correctly. If it was said without proper mindfulness, or worse, if it was chanted with inappropriate thoughts, the angel removes the stray thought and presents the prayer to G‑d in pristine form.

And so, with angels in mind here comes this Parsha’s recipe.

I know, it’s too obvious.

It had to be angel food cake. Right?

Problem is, I wanted something a little healthier. So I found this AMAZING website that’s low-carb, gluten-free, and sugar-free. The thing about her site though… is that the food isn’t gross! As in not ugly, health-foody, dishes. So I baked a recipe that looks like angel food cake but is incredibly healthy. Here it is: Healthy Cake with a Secret. (unbelievable – you will not believe it.)

I’ll let you go to the link – here’s my version of it: