Bless The Name

One thing that I love about Jerusalem, is that every Friday morning when I go for my run (or walk to the coffee shop), the town is bustling with activity in preparation for the shabbat meals. People are filling the markets picking up last minute bottles of wine and bunches of flowers. And down every street you can smell the aroma of roasting meat and fish, garlic and vegetables. On Friday after sundown, the sounds of singing and laughter fill the night. This past Friday night, our family had the privilege of sharing a Shabbat meal with our landlord and her family. This was our first opportunity to be active participants in this age-old Jewish tradition. Our landlord lives near us so we walked to her house and were met at the gate by her husband and four children. Inside the long table was set with white linens, and on each end of the table was challah bread - set out on boards, with a cloth on top. It was explained to us that the challah represents two things - one, it represents the manna that God provided for the Israelites in their forty years wandering in the desert. On the morning before the sabbath, God would provide a double portion for them so that they would not need to gather on that day. That is why there are two plates of bread on the table, to represent the double portion. The coverings over the bread represented the dew that fell on the manna, and again is a reminder of Gods perfect provision for them each morning. The other thing that the bread represents, is the offering to God. We were told that since the destruction of the temple, there are no longer animal sacrifices to God, and the bread stands in the place of the sacrifice. They salt the bread at the beginning of the meal in the same way that animal sacrifices were salted in the temple.

Before sitting down, a blessing is said over the children - first the boys and then the girls. Then the father (head of the house) reads the last portion of Proverbs 31 to his wife - the part about a noble wife being worth more than rubies, etc. It is a beautiful beginning to the meal and a great reminder of the value placed on family in this culture.

The first thing that happened after sitting down is the wine/grape juice was poured into a kiddush (blessing) cup and the father of the house prayed and said a blessing over the wine. Everyone sang a song and then the cup was poured into smaller cups and everyone drank. After that we went and did hand washing. Our landlord explained that all week we bring forth the fruit of our hands. On this day, we wash our hands to symbolize that it is not ultimately us, but God who provides. On this day we are washing away the works of our hands and consecrating them to God. No one speaks after the hand washing until the bread is blessed and no one had a good explanation of why that is. We all mostly did a good job except for my 7 year old and 5 year old sat shaking with the giggles which I think hastened the father's blessing of the bread a bit. :) Next the bread is blessed, with salt shaken over it to consecrate it as a sacrifice, and then it is passed to eat and we all ate.

After the bread is passed, they do a blessing of God. Again it was a bit vague on what we were doing, since who are we to bless God? But ultimately, they said that to start a meal, they do not ask Gods blessing on the meal, but instead give blessing to God. They turn back praise and blessing onto God. After the meal they thank him for the meal, but they never ask for a blessing. I thought this was interesting since every night we say something to the affect of "bless this food to our bodies...".

The meal then goes about as normal - it is kosher, so roasted meats and lots of vegies and grains(no dairy). They have been on a warmer since the shabbat has begun, since they are not allowed to heat anything up anew once the sun goes down. During the meal we had great conversation, with the father asking the children to talk about what they had learned at synagogue that week. They definitely ask a lot of questions in this culture and force you to think! Again in this culture (typically), the abba (dad) is expected to be the spiritual leader of the family and to ingrain the teachings of the bible and torah into the children.

The meal ends with several readings and songs, extoling God for who He is and all He does. They asked my oldest son to read parts of the blessings, and I was able to read as well. One twist to the story though, is that although FULLY Jew, both the host family and their other guests, are also believers in Yeshua (or who we westerners would call Jesus). That is another story, but they believe Yeshua is indeed the One God promised to them as messiah. Most good Jews will not say the name of God, and so have other names for him. Tonight they referred to him as "Hashem" or "The Name." All night long we referred to "The Name." To finish off the evening, the abba asked my son to sing for us his favorite song, which he did. His favorite song has a verse in it that goes "Blessed be The Name of the Lord...Blessed be His glorious Name..."

Our first Shabbat meal was a good one. I hope to be a part of more of them (and not just because of the free food). I think there is a lot to learn from the traditions here. And what a wonderful thing it was to hear my son lift up his voice to Bless The Name!