No matter when in the secular year Ha'azinu falls, it is always found in the midst of the fall chagim, after Rosh Hashanah and before Sukkot. While I love this set of holidays, and I love the food that goes with it, I am feel like I am perpetually overstuffed. So, for this Shabbat I would tend towards some lighter foods.
In Ha'azinu, Moshe is getting to the very end of what he needs to say to the Israelites. He reminds them of the ways to act and how God will treat them when they follow the rules and when the don't. There's a portion telling the reader to "remember the days of old" and describes how well God took care of them in the land. From this section, I'd draw my first recipe inspiration.
He shall transport them over the summit of the earth where they will consume the produce of the fields; and He shall nurture them with honey of bedrock and oil of staunchest rock mass. Butter-fat of cattle and milk of sheep with the fat of lambs, and rams native to Bashan and goats, with the fat of wheat kidneys, and the wine-flavored blood of the grapes will you drink. (Dvarim 32:13-14)
I would make a fresh green salad, with grape halves ("wine-flavored blood of the grapes"), some thinly sliced red onions and a flavor-full lettuce. I would dress it with an olive oil and honey dressing ("honey of bedrock and oil of staunchest rock.")
One other thing that's special about Ha'azinu is how it is written on the parchment of the Torah. It's not just a standard column width. Ha'azinu is written in poetic language and format. Rather than just being written across the column, it has two columns in the standard space where one usually is, like this:
To keep this unique formatting in mind, I would make a dish that can be plated and presented to the dinner table with this layout. There's several options of things that could work, depending on how creative you want to be. For example, you can make brownies and then cut them and arrange them on a platter in this shape. You could make mashed potatoes and shape them like this too. I would make a veggie pashtida (I'm thinking zucchini) and then cut it out to look like this shape.
Finally, I would make a simple baked chicken using spices that make me think of Israel, since that's where the Jewish people are headed next (and was their long-term goal.) I would probably use za'atar, though I was lucky enough to get a bunch of spices straight from Shuk HaCarmel as a gift when my father and stepmother recently returned from Israel so I could also use those to bring home the flavor of The Promised Land.
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