Skip to main content

A Very Special Dinner


I just took my round loaf of Hallah bread out of the oven. My brisket of beef is still cooking in the spices and will be ready to eat tonight at sunset when we reflect on our Jewish Roots and celebrate Rosh Hashana! I’m going to post tonight’s dinner on my recipe blog tomorrow.

The evening begins when my husband blows the shofar. Rosh Hasanah is a wonderful holiday to celebrate because the Jewish calendar calls it their New Year. “Shanah Tovah” is the way they greet one another and it means “May you be inscribed for a good year; may God bless you!

In a nutshell, Rosh Hasanah beckons us to pray. We should be giving our very best money gift during this season. We should repent and especially forgive all who have hurt us. We should do good for others and help them. We should watch our words and show God we are serious about following Him.

This is a season of repentance and if I had to offer a counterpart in the New Testament, I would quote Romans 13: 11-13:

Now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.

And Ephesians 5: 14-16:
Awake you who sleep. Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

“Shanah Tovah” to you, my family and friends! May God bless you in every way abundantly in the coming year.

Comments

  1. LorenSeptember 8, 2010 at 3:05 PM

    Shanah Tovah Mary!

    I love you so much!

    I know tonight will be one of the most special of the year! Celebrate our Lord. Our Jewish roots and Eternal future.

    I know the Lord is so pleased!

    ReplyDelete
  2. DeniseSeptember 8, 2010 at 5:59 PM

    Shanah Tovah dear sis, be sweetly blessed. I love you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JackieSeptember 8, 2010 at 11:42 PM

    Beautiful, Mary......My Spirit witnessed with every word in your post here and my heart lept as I thought upon the beautiful sound of the shofar. Oh, what a wonderful God is He!! Thank you for sharing, dear friend!

    Shanah Tovah and Shalom Shalom!

    Love,
    Jackie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Michele WilliamsSeptember 9, 2010 at 8:54 AM

    Shanah Tovah to you dear friend.

    ReplyDelete
  5. RCUBEsSeptember 9, 2010 at 9:10 AM

    To be reminded about forgiveness and repentance is what I needed today!!! Thank you for sharing with us an important celebration. God bless you sister...

    ReplyDelete
  6. AlleluiabelleSeptember 9, 2010 at 1:20 PM

    I couldn't of said it any better than Jackie...how beautiful and to hear your husband sound the shofar...gives me goosebumps filled with immense love for our God.

    Shana Tovah to you my sweet smiling friend!!

    Love you,
    Alleluiabelle

    ReplyDelete
  7. http://bitsandpieces-sonja.blogspot.com/September 9, 2010 at 3:16 PM

    How wonderful this was to share today. Your history and descriptions just come alive. What a glorious heritage you have! I can just hear the shofar blowing!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cindy AdkinsSeptember 9, 2010 at 6:41 PM

    Dear Mary,
    Shanah Tovah! Wishing you a very Happy New Year filled with blessings...

    Thank you so much for your prayers...When I was at the hospital, the only prayer I could even think of from memory was "The Lord is My Shepherd" in Hebrew...the words kept going through my head...

    I know that the only way I have gone through any of this was because all of you were holding me up with your prayers. Thank you, dear friend.
    Love,
    Cindy

    ReplyDelete
  9. KarenSeptember 10, 2010 at 1:52 PM

    I was so thrilled to read your blog today about the Jewish New Year. Blessings to you and your family! And the video brought a good belly laugh after a hard day!

    ReplyDelete
  10. LisaShawSeptember 11, 2010 at 6:25 AM

    Mary,

    Thank you for sharing this special time with us.

    Aww, repentance and forgiveness -- two powerful heart choices to live.

    I can just hear that Shofar blowing...

    Blessings and Shalom to you and your family. Love you dear one.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Surprise at the Mall

I lost touch with a writer friend.  I missed her and her cheerful blog posts.  We met up in a most unusual way!  I’m still in awe of how it happened. I finished my shopping at the mall and took a short cut to get to the parking lot.  The path led me through the food court.  The smell of Chicken Fajitas stopped me in my tracks.  I planned lunch elsewhere, but now I followed my nose. I chewed my first bite of chicken taco salad when, out of nowhere, a loud redhead moved rapidly past the tables and into the booth with me.  “I know you !”  She shouted.  I pondered if I knew this crazy lady.  Did she mistake me for someone else?  She shouted louder and stuck her finger in my face:  “ You’re Mary; you have a blog called Pile of Smiles and you live in the Verde Valley .”   It took me a second to compose myself.  I stopped chewing my food.  I know I stared too long at her face and then she said:...
48 comments
Read more

Hitched to a Rough Road

Photo Credit:  Peggy James I got his email and wanted to shout:  “Hey, buster, does the phrase “continued behavior pattern” mean anything to you?  But I didn’t. Travis is at it again.  His email revealed a litany of complaints about our neighborhood, our country road, our board officers, bad decisions made that will cost him money , yada-yada-yada . Travis is a Christian brother but you’d never know it. He is a large, loud man who shoots his mouth off as often as he shoots his guns back here in the hills.  He interrupts at our road meetings and, like a typical hothead, he speaks truth but with a tone that makes me feel like I need to duck in case some of his words fly at me and smack me upside the face. I thought we were making progress, but we’re not. It is our rough road that brings us together .  Last year we picked up the neglected pieces of our road association.  We agreed to assemble once again to talk, make decisio...
37 comments
Read more

Mama's Lipstick

I always wished I could do things with my mom like shop in the mall, share makeup secrets or go to the movies and watch romantic comedies.  My wish never materialized.     My mama behaved like a tomboy.   She loved baseball and pitched with a strong right arm.   She could care less about the latest fashion or the latest movies featured on the big screen.   She never polished her fingernails.    One day after elementary school, I walked into the house to find my mom all dolled up in front of the bathroom mirror, foundation crème, powder, eyebrow pencil and rouge all over the counter sink.  “Who are you?” I asked, thrilled to see my mama putting on the Ritz.  Makeup in place and blotted, she immediately took it off.  “I don’t like the way it feels,” she exclaimed. She retired in Arizona and protected her dry lips with a light rose lipstick, the color of natural lips, a step above ChapStick.  She wore it a few tim...
55 comments
Read more