I cannot believe I have never written about the Moshiach Meal!
This is on the last day of Passover. In Jerusalem it’s on the 7th day. Outside of Israel it is on the 8th day of passover. Irregardless, it’s the last day.
The Moshiach meal is in anticipation of the Moshiach of the future. This was started by the Ba’al Shem Tov.
Great article and video at the bottom of the hyperlink.
I was reading some different articles today. I stumbled on this one and then looked at the bottom of the page to learn of the artist. (Hyperlink of the article and arist at the bottom of page).
I love the artist renditions of his paintings.
According to his back story, he was a Jewish New Jersey guy who decided to move to Israel with only a back pack and $500.00. Now that is faith! Knowing the Creator of All, has a destination and purpose plus will carry you on the journey. The “About artist” has a YouTube video of how his entire art studio went up in flames and he lost 40 years of his art work. I can not fathum his pain. You put all of yourself in your art. You can tap into your feelings as your painting. And after it is completed, you can even remember those feelings. It a body and soul connection that created that art.
The website says there is a movie about his art. Sadly the hyperlink does not work.
https://www.yoramraanan.com/story Contemporary Israeli Art (go to the 3 dots on top right, then go to shop, you can see his gallery of art. Maybe even purchase from him.)
And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet grown; for G‑d had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not yet a man to work the land.
And there arose a mist from the earth, and watered the surface of the land.
In the land of Israel, the rains are confined to the half-year from Tishrei to Nissan (roughly, October to March). This six-month period is therefore referred to by the Talmud as the “Season of Rains” (yemot hageshamim), while the six months from Nissan to Tishrei (April–September) are called the “Season of the Sun” (yemot hachamah).
The calendar is more than a measure of time; it is a cycle that charts our inner life and our relationship with our Creator. And this spiritual cycle is comprised of two basic parts: a Season of the Sun, and a Season of Rains.
A Rising Mist
Sunlight and rain are both critical to the sustaining of life on earth. Indeed, there is a certain similarity in the manner in which these two sources of nourishment are bestowed upon us—both rain down upon the earth from above, drenching it with energy or moisture. In both cases, we seem passive recipients to a showering of blessing from the heavens.
But a closer examination reveals a significant difference between them. While sunlight is a unilateral gift from above, rain originates as moisture which rises from the earth, forms clouds, and returns as lifegiving waters. So the earth is not, in truth, a passive beneficiary of the rain falling from the heavens; it is she who generates it in the first place, raising columns of mist from her oceans and lakes to water the soil of her landmasses.
The earth, of course, could not do this on her own. It is the sun who stimulates the release and ascent of her watery stores; it is the sun who causes the weather patterns which carry them through the atmosphere and impel them earthward. In other words, the sun, ultimately, is the force behind both sunlight and rain. But the sun’s nurturing of life on earth takes two forms: a) nourishment which the earth simply absorbs from her benevolent provider, such as the sun’s light- and warmth-purveying rays; b) nourishment, such as rain, which the earth generates herself, with the sun serving as the catalyst that wakens her potential for self-nurture and assists in its realization.
All of the above also applies to the miniature world that is the soul of man. Here, too, there is sunlight and rain; here, too, the soul is dependent for both upon her sun, yet differs in her relationship with these two purveyors of her nourishment.
Ultimately, everything we possess, including our potential to initiate and create, is granted us from Above. Yet G‑d sustains our inner lives in two ways: a) with direct and unilateral bestowal of enlightenment and experience (sunlight); b) by enabling and assisting us to gravitate upward in our own search for truth and meaning in life, and thereby generate a spiritual nurturing of our own making (rain).
Both divine gifts are crucial to the spiritual life of the soul. On the one hand, we recognize our inherent limitations. We understand that if there is to be anything that is absolute and transcendent in our lives, we must open ourselves to a higher truth—a truth to which we can relate only as a wholly passive recipient, for it is beyond anything we could possibly generate by ourselves.
At the same time, however, human nature dictates that we identify more with what we ourselves have achieved: that something earned is more appreciated than a gift, that an idea independently conceived is more meaningful than a teaching from the greatest master. That for an experience to become real to us—for it to be grafted into our nature and personality—it must stem from within.
The real or the ideal? Mine or more? We need them both. Indeed, the tension between these two needs is crucial to our growth in all areas—intellectual, emotional or spiritual.
Seasons of the Soul
In the cycle of the Jewish year, the six months from Nissan to Tishrei are the Season of the Sun, and the Tishrei to Nissan months are our Season of Rains.
During the Season of the Sun, we celebrate and re-experience the great unilateral acts of divine involvement in our destiny: the Exodus on Passover, when G‑d descended to Egypt to take for Himself a nation from the womb of a nation, amidst trials, signs, wonders and battles; the giving of the Torah on Shavuot, when G‑d came down on Mount Sinai to grant us His blueprint for life and our charter as His kingdom of priests and holy nation.
The Season of Rains, on the other hand, is a half-year characterized by human endeavor and initiative. The month of Tishrei—the month of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the Ten Days of Repentance—is a time of teshuvah, of soul-searching and self-improvement. The “Season of Rains” also contains the two rabbinical festivals of the Jewish year—Chanukah (25 Kislev to 2 or 3 Tevet) and Purim (14 Adar). Unlike the biblical festivals, which were unilaterally commanded by G‑d, these are humanly initiated festivals, instituted as our response to the milestones in our relationship with G‑d which they commemorate.
Another winter festival is the New Year of Chassidism, celebrated on the 19th of Kislev. The teachings of Chassidism emphasize the need for intellectual appreciation and emotional experience in our fulfillment of the divine commandments (as opposed to mere mechanical observance). Chassidism thus belongs to the “rainy” area of our spiritual lives—our capacity for involvement and initiative in our relationship with G‑d.
Sometimes More, Sometimes Less
The Jewish calendar is based upon the lunar cycle, with the beginning of each month falling within a day or two of the new moon. Since the moon completes its orbit of the earth every 29.5 days, the Jewish month alternates between 29 and 30 days. A 30-day month is called a malei (full month), and a 29-day month is called a chasser (lacking month).
Generally speaking, the months follow a set pattern: Nissan is always full, Iyar always lacking, Sivan full, Tammuz lacking, and so on. However, two months, the months of Cheshvan and Kislev (the second and third months after Tishrei), have no fixed length: in certain years both are full, in other years both are lacking, and in others still, Cheshvan is lacking and Kislev is full.
In other words, the summer months are fixed and unvarying, while the months of the Season of Rains are subject to changes and fluctuations.
In this, too, our calendar reflects the dynamics of the seasons of the soul. The “sunlight” aspect of our spiritual lives is fixed and unvarying. When we surrender ourselves to a higher truth, we also surrender our human frailties and inconsistencies. We surrender to what is infinite, perfect and unequivocal, and what we receive is likewise infinite, perfect and unequivocal.
But when we turn to our “rainmaking” self, our initiatives and achievements are subject to the rises and falls of a finite, imperfect self. This is a season with fluctuating months, sometimes lacking, sometimes full, reflecting the vacillating nature of everything human.
Therein lies the weakness of our rainy season, as well as its strength. By all objective criteria, this is the lesser half of our internal cycle, plagued by the instabilities and deficiencies of the human state. But it is also our more flexible half, where a lack might be transformed into a gain and a vulnerability exploited as a source of blessing.1
Based on the Rebbe’s writings and talks, including a number of talks delivered during the month of Kislev 5750 (December 1989), and a journal entry dated “19 Kislev” (Reshimot no. 1, pp. 8–9).
To think how crazy I was trying to rush to get things done and now the first two days are coming to a close. Of course there are places way ahead of us in the global time. Which means they are on the next day of passover week.
We started the counting of the Omer. This counts our way up, not down to Shavout. Like I said, time is flashing before mine and your eyes. Where does the past time go? Is it just something in our head or does it really get archived somewhere? I do not know that answer. But we have journals, or logs, or calandars with notes all in their daily spaces. Something to look back at or something to just say, wow I did that back then?
Look at life. A dear friend became a 1st time grandma the other day. Baby arrived before passover by a few hours our time. But if you go by Jerusalem time, she arrived during passover 1st day. Now she is on her way home with her mommy and daddy. All three get to start a new life together. Gone is the 9 month prep time. Now it’s mommy, daddy and baby, makes 3! Every moment is special when you start your family. The child changes so much on a daily basis. Even minute by minute. You just have to cherish each minute. Then you look back and your child has grown and accomplished so much in the 1st five years. Just think. It learned to walk, talk, eat, potty, say words, then 3 word phrases. Eventually talking up a storm.
Can you image what the Creator of All has seen in every one of us as (his) children. He saw your soul before it was sent to earth with job to do. Call it your mission statement. The angels taught your soul the torah. It’s up to your soul to enable the body that was created, to find that inner torah. How you will grow to learn it, speak it and convey it to others. The life’s purpose of the soul is to steer the body towards the good. Keep it from straying, keep it on a path. Sometimes we get derailed. We learned as a child to pick ourselves up, brush off the dirt and find a better path. Ironically, no matter how the path changes we eventually get to the proper destination, from life’s journey.
WE need to ask ourselves, “where am I in my lifes journey”? Is there something I have completed? Can I ask for more things to do, so that I can live longer? Why end at the one achievement, when I can keep moving forward. Life is too short when you look back at 60 or 70 years.
I have watched and seen many people I knew in grade school, high school already passing from this life on earth to the next life. Returning to the place of souls. When this happens, I look at the life I once knew them from. And realized how short and precious life is. Every breathe we take.
Stop and smell the freshness of life. Act on the life you were given.
Trying my hardest to finish getting ready for passover (Pesach).
Seems every year I get way behind the “eight ball”. I have great ideas of how to do this and I have wanted to start around late December the year prior. Going room by room just deep cleaning. Seeing as passover has zero yo do with “spring cleaning”, I get myself all backed up because my mind is on hyper speed trying to do it all. Which is so goofy of me.
I decided in February to get my rugs cleaned. So that was completely done 2 weeks ago. I’m so glad I scheduled that. I just was not able to deep clean this year due to a torn menincus. Not great timing at all for this injury. I also had Lupus organization pick up clothing that no longer fit and have not been worn in 3 years. So that made a great mitzvah to give to an organization and help others out. When I was going through my cabinets for chemetz, I pulled all unopened boxes and that went to a local family in need call that Mitzvah #2. Now I am on the next step. Last night, the microwave was cleaned and koshered. You put a cup or bowl of water in it. Microwave on high 5 minutes. Being careful once it is done. You can let it cool down so you do not burn yourself with the water. It is nice amd steamy inside the microwave, which helps get any stuck on items off. Dry well and wash all internal parts, tray and round wheel that helps turn the plate. Whalla, done! Next I washed the inside of my toaster oven. Racks and all. If there is a separate tray, wash that too. It amazes me how much crumbs get under and behind the toaster oven! Got that done! I am in a mini roll! (No pun intended). Stove top was next. After cleaning that. I put the burners on so the grates get koshered. Do that for approximately 5 minutes. You need to stay close to observe it, so it does not cause a fire with the open flame. I have natural gas stove. So it can get really hot. That ended my night. Having worked closing at my retail job. It was a long day!
This morning, I woke to having to finish more kitchen koshering. So I took the pans and grates out of the oven, because they would impeed koshering the oven. Wiped inside of oven down with white vinegar. Then put the oven on at 500° for 1 hour. I was so blessed today it was really cool in the apartment, so it was nice to get this done now. After it was done. I waited for it to completely cooled. Then sprayed white vinegar and paper towels to get all the gunk off.
Today was also cooking day. Menu is brisket, potatoe salad, deviled eggs, crosett and salad. Set the table cloth, put silverware and plates out. I have a cup for Miryam and one for Elijah. My schemorzah mataz will go in my decorative cloth napkins. I was getting my candles ready, especially the one for yom tov’s that can last days. I was unable to find my sedar plate! I looked in all the spots it could or should have been in. Nope, can’t find it. So I am using a beautiful jewish Ceramic platter. I love putting the sader plate, where an empty seat for Elijah. He has his own setup, awaiting his arrival to my sedar.
Well the brisket is still in the slow cooker. Time to make the deviled eggs.
Pesach Chag Semeach!
This Year May ee go to Israel! Normally, we say “next year in Jerusalem”!
This is really good. Some is very deep when Shifra brings kaballah into this.
I have been asked in the past why the messianic times women will be evated. I am quite sure this answers that question. Others have asked, can the moshiach be a female, like queen Esther. That is a no. The moshiach has to be a male, son, from King David via his son King Soloman’s lineage. The Davidic kingdom.
One of my many favorite scriptures. How Elijah proved the false prophets to be be heretics. The Creator of All, sends fire down and consumes the entire sacrafice, wood and wisks away every drop of water that was around the bull.
miryamdevorah 