{"id":50262,"date":"2019-02-26T15:24:33","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T13:24:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=50262"},"modified":"2022-09-21T12:19:22","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T09:19:22","slug":"a-weekly-romance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-weekly-romance\/","title":{"rendered":"A Weekly Romance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[464,430,360,378,680],"acf":{"old_id":"50262","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34011,"related_cahpter":"164","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Taking a deeper look at the symbolism of the Shabbat rituals","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How many people do you know who make it a point to have a candle-light dinner with wine and fresh baked bread on a weekly basis? Sounds romantic, no?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, traditional Jews \u2013 and even many not-so-traditional ones \u2013 usher in the weekly Shabbat with a set of rituals that are exactly that. Friday night entails candle lighting, shared wine, and two loaves of challah, each with their own blessings, lending an air of sanctity to the very sensuous proceedings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, besides the romance and the gustatory enjoyment, why these three? Interestingly, they represent the three states of matter: the bread is solid, the wine liquid, and the fire of the candles \u2013 gaseous. Looking more deeply, another connecting thread between them is: they&#8217;re alive! Or at least \u2013 they breathe. The combustion of the candles, the rising of the challah dough, and the fermentation of the wine all involve a sort of metabolism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That connects to another symbolism: the challah is symbolic of the earth (indeed, the blessing is <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hamotzi lechem min ha&#8217;aretz <\/span><\/em><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0bread from the earth), the liquid wine is the water element, and the candles are of course fire. And the breathing they all share means they are joined together by life-giving air \u2013 making them all together a spiritual symbol of life, and the life-giving bounty of the natural world which we sanctify in their use.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A third explanation is more historical \u2013 and connects us to our chapter. Verse 14: &#8220;You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil.&#8221; These three crops are not only the sound foundation of a Mediterranean diet, but are the Biblical expressions of divine blessing and well-being. Those are the blessings of a good year in the Land of Israel. But how can we connect to that wherever, not just in the Land?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The answer is: at the weekly Shabbat table. We make Kiddush over the wine and we make challah out of the grain. And the (olive) oil? Well, we can dip the challah into the oil (a venerable tradition) \u2013 but the real connection is, in fact, the candles, which were originally olive oil lamps. So the three elements of the home Shabbat ritual are also to connect us historically to the Land and its unique produce, and help make the observance portable to wherever you may be spending your Shabbat.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Photomontage by the author: wine \u2013 Stefan Kraus\/Schwappender Wein.jpg; challah \u2013 Aviv Hod\/ Challah Bread Six Braid 1.JPG; oil candles &#8211; \u00a0he.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=489223<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":50263,"id":50263,"title":"dt11-montage1","filename":"dt11-montage1.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt11-montage1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-weekly-romance\/dt11-montage1\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dt11-montage1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":50262,"date":"2019-02-26 13:24:11","modified":"2019-02-26 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