Kabbalah By Heart

Happy Birthday?

Yes! On Jewish calendar, today is the first day of Creation. And tomorrow is the 2nd day of creation and so on. We start the countdown of the first 6 days of creation today, leading up to the holiday of Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year. We celebrate the new year on the 6th day of creation - the day human beings were created.

Jewish Calendar:

Recipes!

Today I will share some fun things with you about the Jewish New Year. Recipes mostly! I have a 2lb brisket in my fridge that I will put into a crock pot on the Friday night after Rosh HaShanah. And I plan to bake an apple cake. These are traditional foods for Rosh HaShanah. But why make it on Friday when the holiday is over? Answer: See Shabbos Shuvah below!

But first, you should know that according to Judaism, creation started in the year 3761 BCE.

Gematria of the Date

This year will be 5783 on the Jewish calendar! Gematria is Jewish numerology where each Hebrew letter is also a number. So if you spell out the year in Hebrew, gematria can be done with the date in order to look deeper at what this year will be all about.

A Kabbalist I love to learn from looks at the letters for each year and finds passages in Torah (the Jewish literature, including "old" testament, psalms, etc.) and lets us know what the new year holds through it's letters! He said that if you spell out this year, each letter starts the Hebrew words that are translated as "May it be a year of great wonder" Learn more about Rabbi Ginsburgh here.​

Purpose

So yes, today is a birthday of sorts! But the new year is not counted until the creation of mankind on the 6th day. That's how important our purpose is to this world!

And what is our purpose? Why were we created? Isn't that just the most important question of our existence? What am I here for? Why was this world created? And what am I supposed to be doing with my life? I created a Kabbalah card for the concept of "Dira B'Tachtonim" which are the Hebrew words for the purpose of creation:

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Shabbos Shuvah

Friday night between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur is Shabbos Shuvah - the Shabbos (Sabbath). For 25 hours, the world is replete with the strongest energy of the entire year that can help us renew and return to our Purpose in Life! Shabbos Shuvah is from sundown next Friday night through sundown Saturday.

If you have any amends to make, this is the time to do it.

Here's a great video/song for Rosh HaShanah:

 youtube.com/watch?v=VlF8SZFs44I

Challah

Do you know what Challah is? (the "CH" in Hebrew is pronounced like the gutteral H in German.) Challah is the traditional bread served on Shabbos and holidays in the Jewish religion. If you've never tried this delicious bread, you are in for a treat. Go check it out at Trader Joe's!! They sell it! It comes long and braided during the rest of the year but during this time of year, it comes in a round loaf - symbolizing the round cycle of the year. Traditionally it can be made with raisins for a sweet new year.

A Sweet Year

We also eat apples dipped in honey to symbolize the wish for a sweet new year. We greet each other with "Shana Tova oo'Metooka!" meaning "Have a good and sweet new year!" Why sweet? Because in traditional Jewish thought, everything is "good", as G-d said in Genesis when He created everything. Still, we may not be able to know why something is good because it makes us feel bad! So not everything feels good which is why we wish for a "sweet" year too. For even medicine, which can heal you, can be bitter, just like the good things in life that feel bad.

I Love to Cook

I used to bake my own challah every Friday and when my kids were little, they'd each get their own dough to braid. The house would smell awesome on Fridays! Unfortunately, my house is empty now (except for me) and since I still love cooking, I end up with too much food over here! It's just - who will eat all this food with me? That can be a problem...because, yeah, I don't want to eat an entire loaf of challah all by myself - which I could do since I love it so much!

This weekend I have a friend who just went through surgery and so I asked her if she will eat red meat.... Not everyone does these days! And she said she loves brisket. Yes!!! So, she'll be getting some of my food, instead of my freezer!

Recipe Links

Here are links to the recipes I plan to make:

Brisket like my mother-in-law used to make:

​allrecipes.com/recipe/70096/cousin-davids-slow-cooker-brisket/​

Apple Cake instead of Honey Cake - but I'll add less sugar!! And replace it with a sugar substitute, like honey and stevia!

Instagram.com/reel/CiqWMfAATVx/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link​

Here's my recipe for Challah:

Mix one packet of yeast and 1/3 cup of sugar into 1 1/3 cups of lukewarm water. Let stand and dissolve for a few minutes.

Add 1/3 cup of oil, 2 eggs and 1 1/4 tsp of salt

Add 3-4 cups of flour and mix and knead, adding more flour to make it not too sticky - up to 1 or 2 more cups but the less flour you add, the better.

Once it's done kneading and is a smoother dough, turn into an oiled bowl and then turn dough over in the bowl to get all sides coated with the oil from the bowl.

Cover and let rise for an hour until doubled in size. I put in a warm oven that's been turned off.

Take out, divide and braid. Then brush beaten egg over the loaf.

Bake for 1/2 hr to 40 min. depending on the size of the loaf. This recipe can make 2 small loaves or 1 large one.

So Eat on Rosh HaShanah because 10 days later is the fast day of Yom Kippur!!

But in the meantime, Hear the Shofar. On Rosh HaShanah and all of the past month we've been hearing the haunting sounds of the Shofar. Take a listen and tell me if it doesn't do something inside of you to hear this!

youtube.com/watch?v=ljr17hqY-ig

Blessings for a sweet new year!

Allison

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