My friend Mikael told me I need a place for all my challah pictures. So I will try to find the time to create the posts here each week. Perhaps the Shabbat before we turn clocks back is not the best timing for adding new activities to Friday afternoon, but why make a seemingly wise decision, when there's a good idea on the table. Always aim high.
This week the Jewish community celebrated Sigd, a holiday brought to us by the Beta Yisrael community from Ethiopia. It is a spiritual gathering to strengthen our roots and culture and is a national holiday in Israel. In honour of Sigd, I made Dabo bread. The roll on the right is made of 3 linked circles representing our connections as a people.
With the Dabo bread, I am making Doro Wat and Mesir Wat, salad, and roasted vegetables from our weekly CSA. This is the final month of deliveries, and I will miss it terribly. I could happily live each week only on these deliveries.
This week is parasha Toldot (Gen 25:19-28:9). Isaac's blessing for Jacob promises abundance, especially grain and wine. Jacob also flees, having taken his brother's blessing. The Mesir Wat is made with red lentils and an amazing spice mixture called Berbere that contains everything good in one tasty package. Perhaps the "red stuff" Esau bought with his birthright was a precursor of this dish. We have a family tradition of marking Toldot with a red lentil stew.
The challot are cornucopia (2 photos) and a celebration harvest bread shaped like tied sheaves of wheat.
The final one, made with a little extra dough, represents the two brothers, attached at the start, but ending in very different places.
Though we may be like Esau and Jacob, warring with each other, I pray that, in the not too far future, we find ways to stay connected as human beings even as we travel disparate paths.
Shabbat shalom.
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