Parashat Tetzaveh provides an in-depth look at the special clothing worn by the Kohanim. Last year we learned about their clothes and made Kohen paper dolls [see here]. I thought about further pursuing our organization theme and working to organize the clothes in their closet and drawers with an improved system.
Instead I rewarded their good behavior with something entirely fun.
"What is your favorite piece of Kohen clothes?" I asked.
"The me'il. I like the rimon and bells, which make music whenever you walk," Gabi replied. [Gabi loved the paper dolls last year and thought about the clothes a lot. Once she told me, 'I dreamed I married a Kohen and he was very good as his job. He liked being a Kohen so much that he even slept in his special clothes. Except his migbat hat kept falling off in bed."]
Cohava said, "The choshen with the pretty stones."
I explained to the girls that they weren't just pretty stones, and began to explain the Urim V'tumim but it is a deeply profound concept which either went over their heads or just seemed like an ipad. Either way they weren't overly impressed.
What impressed them was the project. Edible Choshen!
I put up the image of the Choshen for them to see the colors. They each got a plate, knife, and graham cracker.
Tova started on her graham cracker right away, while the girls and I discussed the color of each stone on the Choshen. Then I took out the massive container of Jelly Bellys that are on sale at Costco this month.
We carefully sorted to make sure the color of each jelly bean was as close as possible to the color of each stone. And we counted to twelve, over and over. Ruti practiced her colors. Cohava did some addition and subtraction.
Gabi tried to stick the jelly beans on the plain graham cracker but Cohava knew to wait. I gave each girl a plastic knife with white icing on and then they diligently got to work.
I thought these special treats would be gone in a second but the girls (the bigger two) were too enthusiastic to eat their art.
They put the edible Choshen in their lunchboxes to show off at school.
If we were home this week for Shabbat meals, we would make a bunch of these for dessert.
Shabbat Shalom!
This post is dedicated to Amanda. You opened my eyes (and mouth) to the true glory of fruit and trees. [This is the same Amanda who taught me to pickle olives, and countless other things.
Happy birthday trees!
This week we celebrate Tu b'Shvat, commonly known as 'the birthday of the trees'. To read more about Tu b'Shvat, read my husband, Rabbi Ben Hassan's blog, here.
This year, this holiday means even more to me because of my new and improved appreciation of the bounty from trees.
For most of my life, if you asked me to name fruits off the top of my head, the list would be something like, 'apples, oranges, pears, and bananas'. If I thought about it some more, 'berries, melons, pineapples, and pomegranates' would be added to the list. And how many types of apples are there? I would have said something like, "Red, green, and yellow." It wasn't until very recently I discovered the incredible diversity of apples.
There are over 7,500 types of apples! 7,500!!! They are each different, with their own tastes, purposes, and strengths. Wow! One type of apple would be enough. The enormous multitude of apples are there for us to enjoy. Each apple is a gift from Hashem. One apple is delicious- the variety of deliciousness is mind-blowing!
Biting into a fresh apple is one wonderful way to enjoy an apple, crisp- wet and delicious, but not the only way. I am an avid food dehydrator. Dehydrated apples are crunchy and taste complete different to fresh one. Of course there is also, baked, juiced, frozen or stewed apples.
As a lead-in to Tub'Shvat, the family will sample 6 different ways to enjoy one apple. 7500 X 6 = 45,000 ways to enjoy an apple without adding any ingredients! One type of fruit and 45,000 different ways to enjoy it! And apples are one of thousands of different types of fruit. The incredible diversity of food from trees exists for your palate to savor! It might be the tree's birthday, but the gifts are for you!
In addition to our apple party, during my weekly preschool program, we will also have a different type of Tu B'shvat celebration.
The children will be decorating these templates and folding them into party hats.
Additionally, I was thrilled to discover that mid-January in Seattle is the ideal time to plant pomegranate seeds. We will be trying that as well.
And reading:
This morning I successfully laid hot cinnamon buns on the floor, without the children seeing.
"Ema, breakfast is on the floor," Cohava announced.
"Yup!"
"Because...?" she was confused but by now she knows it must be Torah related. "Umm, because Moshe, umm. I don't know the reason. But these taste incredible!"
"You found incredible tasting food on the ground and..."
"It is man! But, you actually put it on the floor. So really, you are like Datan and Aviram," Cohava concluded and returned to her pastry.
A few minutes later Gabi entered the kitchen and screamed, "Why did Ruti throw my breakfast on the floor?"
Eventually she was placated and the girls were eating happily. I realized that although called 'manna' in English, the Hebrew is 'man' or 'mon', coming from the phrase "mon hu?" "what is this?"
More importantly, it is 'Nom' backwards. As in Cookie Monster is yelling mon backwards whenever he eats.
Shabbat Shalom! Nom nom nom
mon mon mon
