Marlene's Shalom Connection

Goodbye, Elul - Hello, Tishrei

2012-09-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

Let's take a few moments to bid goodbye to Elul, the month of divine mercy and forgiveness. We started Elul with deep introspection. Then, we went on to ask each other for forgiveness and strengthen our personal relationships. As Elul comes to a close, it is time to renew our personal relationship with God, as we prepare to ask God to inscribe us in the Book of Life for another year.

Ani L'Dodi V'Dodi Li - This is from the Song of Songs 6:3. It means, "I am to my beloved as my beloved is to me". The Hebrew letters of Elul are actually an acronymn for this verse. Many people use this as a reference to husband and wife. Indeed, it is oftentimes inscribed on matching wedding bands. More deeply, these words describe perfectly the relationship between God and the Jewish people. During the month of Elul, God reaches out to us.

Tomorrow night, Erev Rosh Hashanah, God welcomes the new month of Tishrei, Adam's birthday. We often pray to God using the word, "Malkanu", which means king and we refer to God in our prayers as, "King of the Universe".

On Rosh Hashanah, we add "Avenu", Our Father, to "Malkenu", because we want to remind God that we are his children.

Each of us is created in the image of God; each of us has a spark of the Divine. Each of us is a child of God. So, we call God, "Our Father", in addition to, Our King, to ask him to treat us as his child and have mercy on us.
L'Shana Tova,
Marlene

Emily's Holiday Challah-Made With Love

2012-08-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

When my younger son, Nick, and my daughter-in-law, Emily, were students dating at FSU, Emily won Nick’s heart with her homemade holiday challah. She won my heart, too. Emily’s recipe does not include raisins, a usual Rosh Hashanah standard.

I should tell you that, in general, I am not a big fan of raisins. I think they are very tricky and sneaky and quite deceptive, as they try to impersonate chocolate chips. You bite into a cookie expecting delectable, mood lifting chocolate, and what do you get? –disappointment-raisins! But, that’s another story.

If you insist on being traditional and want to add raisins, here’s how to do it: Place them all around the flat piece of rolled out dough and then roll it up. When you go to shape the dough, the raisins will be hidden inside.

My sister, Helane, reminded me that our mother's advice on raisins was to rinse them with boiling water before eating. Back in the ghetto in Poland, it was to kill any possible bugs, she said. (Who knew?; they ate raisins in the ghetto?) Helane says professional bakers say it plumps them up - hydrates them - so that they don't leach moisture out of the dough, which would lead to dry pastry.

Well, that’s more than enough about raisins. Here’s Emily’s Holiday Challah recipe, made with love.

Enjoy,

Marlene

Ingredients
3/4 cup warm water (about 110-115 degrees F)
1 package active dry yeast
1 tbl. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tbl. oil
1 egg
3 cups flour
Egg glaze:

1 egg yolk
2 tbl. water

Directions
Mix warm water, yeast, sugar, oil, salt, egg and 2 cups of flour in a large mixing bowl. Beat well with a wooden spoon.

Add a little flour to your hands and a flat surface and knead for about 5 minutes, adding flour as necessary. The dough should be smooth.

Place the dough into a greased bowl and turn it over. Cover and place in a warm place to rise.
When the dough has doubled in size, press it down and cut into 4 sections.
Take your risen dough strands and roll them out gently as long as possible. Do this with four pieces of dough until they are all about the same length. Lay the pieces out in front of you, tic-tac-toe style.

Each strand should be placed in opposite directions; one side is over/under, the next row is then under/over. There should now be 2 sets of 2 strands each coming out from the four sides of the woven middle, one under and one over in each set.

From each set, pick up the one that was "under" and pull it over its partner, thereby placing each of these "unders" over their corresponding partner, in a clockwise rotation. Practically speaking, this means that the left piece of each set will be placed over the right piece of each set.

When this rotation is done, work in the opposite direction, clockwise. What was formerly the right piece, will now go over the left piece in the counter clockwise direction; the pieces are not yet next to each other as they are still apart from the first rotation; pull them close to each other and bring the right piece, i.e. the one you did not touch in the first rotation, over the left piece of the neighboring strand.

After this second rotation is done, do a third one, now going back in the other direction. Do one more opposite rotation if you have enough dough left.

To finish, pinch each set of two ends together firmly, then bring all four sets together towards the center.

Now comes the really fun part: carefully flip over your challah and look! You now have a beautiful, woven, round challah.

Leave to rise on a large baking tray that has been lined with parchment baking paper. Cover the challah loosely while rising. After 20 minutes of rising, turn on your oven to preheat at 400 F/200 C, as most ovens take 20 minutes to reach full temperature.

After the full 40 minutes of rising time, glaze your challah with egg glaze (mix the egg yolk with the 2 tbl. of water) and place them directly into the hot oven, for optimum baking results. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top and bottom are golden.

Justice, justice, shall you pursue...

2012-08-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

Last post, we talked about using the time of the beginning of the month of Elul for deep introspection. Perhaps each of us needs to break free of beliefs that no longer serve our personal development. Then, embrace new ideas in order to thrive.

Next step - your relationships...

This past Shabbat's parsha, Shoftim, reminded me of witnessing a defining moment in the relationship between my older son and his sister-in-law, my younger son's new bride, Emily. Jordan and Emily didn't know each other very well. Fortunately, Emily and Nick were able to make the trip at the beginning of Thanksgiving week to celebrate Jordan's passing the Massachusetts bar. As a surprise congratulatory present for Jordan, Emily made an oil painting of the justice scales (in Jordan's favorite color, blue) with the quote from the parsha.

For me, "Justice, justice, shall you pursue", marked the start of their relationship.

According to Caroline Myss, Ph.D., the energy of the partnership (relationship) chakra begins to pulsate and become distinct around the age of seven. This week, focus on relationships. How can we learn to Honor One Another? Take the time to do so, step by step. Review your relationships, connect with your friends and family and aquaintances. Call, send an email, a card, flowers, photos, do something kind... What's your idea of how to connect with the people in your life in a good way?

When Jordan, Nick and I were visiting Israel back in the late '90's, Jordan had an argument with his friend, Paul, while swimming. Who could remember what the argument was about? It is the relationship that is more important than the circumstance. It is the treatment of a person with respect and dignity that is more important than the issue or situation.

This week, ask each other for forgiveness. It is imperative to forgive each other before we can move toward asking God for forgiveness.

B'Shalom,

Marlene

Shavua Tov!

2012-08-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

Isn't it so Talmudic to answer a question with a question?
Last post we left off with a question.
Preparing ourselves for the Day of Atonement can start off with deep introspection. We were created to develop. Each of us is a work in progress. What are our working parts?
First, we have nefesh - the force that invigorates physiologically.
Then, we each have ruach - other than the physical;
our spirit, essence, thoughts, intellect...
And we all have a neshumah - the human soul which is Godly. According to Rabbi Twerski, it is a mistake to ascribe to the neshumah the emotions of a physical human being such as envy or anger. The neshumah resembles God in 5 ways.
1. God fills the entire world
The neshumah fills the entire body
2. God sees but can't be seen
This is also true of the neshumah
3. God sustains the world.
The neshumah sustains the body.
4. God is pure
The neshumah is pure.
5. God is concealed.
The Neshumah is concealed.

So, would you like to pause for some deep introspection and think about all this?

B'Shalom,
Marlene

Hodesh Tov!

2012-08-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight begins the new crescent moon for the new month of Elul. Since this month has two days of Rosh Hodesh, the first Rosh Hodesh is on the last day of the previous month (Av).

It was on Rosh Hodesh Elul, that Moses went up Mount Sinai for the second time and came back down forty days later, with the second set of tablets of the Ten Commandments. That day corresponds to Yom Kippur!

What happens after morning prayers every weekday starting at the beginning of the month of Elul? The Shofar is blown!

WAKE UP! WAKE UP!, the shofar implores us. Get ready for the Day of Atonement. How do you prepare yourself to ask G-d to inscribe you in the Book of Life for another year?

Shabbat Shalom,

Marlene

Havdalah Happening Rehearsal

2012-08-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

I love the creative process! Rose, our Cantorial Soloist, directed a rehearsal today of our Temple Shalom musicians. And what a talented group they are - Len and Mike played guitar (they love the Villages Folk Singing Club on Mondays), Debbie made her violin sing, Julie played the flute with flair and Rita kept the rythmn on her drums. All this to get ready to lead the congregation in a total participatory Havdalah Happening sing-a-long on Saturday night, September 8th. If Orlando's Lou Pearlman could launch the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, then, who knows? -maybe Rose can launch the Temple Shalom musicians! We're all jazzed at the possibilities.
B'Shalom,
Marlene

Rosh Hodesh Preview Presentation

2012-08-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

This coming Monday, August 6th, I'll be leading an ensemble presentation for our Temple Shalom Sisterhood meeting. The program will be a preview of what to expect when we start our women's Rosh Hodesh gatherings in the fall. To find out more about this monthly women's holiday, and for a 5773 schedule of our gatherings, click on Celebrate the New Month.
B'Shalom,
Marlene