We've been eating a lot more fruit in the last few months. Partially that's because we're trying to add more fruits and veggies to our diet, but it's also because summer fruits are so amazing. I love watermelon, peaches, cherries, and so much more. I love looking through the produce section to see what else we can get/try. This week I noticed something from across the room that got me excited - Italian plums (also called prune plums.) These plums are smaller and more oval than the
ones that are generally well known. They are also the plums that are called for in the recipe for my mom's Plum Cake. (It took a few times trying to make the recipe myself with standard plums before I called my mom to figure out what was making my version so different than then one she made!)I love this plum cake and when I saw the Italian plums stacked up in a mound, I decided right then that I was making plum cake for Shabbat dinner.
Luckily, I even found a very logical way to tie Plum Cake into the parsha, so now it's part of #parshainspiredmenus too. Our parsha starts with the command that when you enter the land of
Israel, you should bring the first fruits of your harvest to the place God designates and place them before God. This is a way of showing gratitude for all God has given. This original recipe calls for plum cake, but one of the amazing things about this recipe is that the batter works with all kinds of fruit - cherries, peaches, etc.
The second item for this week's menu was inspired by the blessings and curses in the parsha. The blessings and curses take up the majority of the parsha. One of the interesting elements is that there are two sections where curses are said and only one for blessings. In the first section of curses, there is another interesting element where after each curse the "entire people are to
response by saying Amen." So much to say about this "Amen."
Why would the people say Amen after hearing a curse?
Some ideas:
Shavuot 36a - Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Hanina, says with regard to the term amen: There is an element of oath within it, there is an element of acceptance of the statement and agreement within it, and there is an element of confirmation of the statement...
By saying amen to the curses, the Israelites are internalizing an aversion to, or fear of, transgressing God’s ethical and religious rules.
Or HaChayim on Deuteronomy 27:15 In this instance the Torah was not satisfied to write ואמר כל העם as it did with respect to all the other ten curses listed here. The Torah wanted to make certain that the Israelites were required to respond (not merely say). Had the Torah not written the word וענו at this point we might have thought that it was the Levites who had to say the words ואמר כל העם, "and the entire people are to say."
What differentiates these curses from the others read later in the parsha?
Commentators have pointed out that these curses deal with acts done secretly or privately, acts that society is not likely to notice or punish.
It's a lot of amen's....12 to be exact
Amen as a response is only used ONE OTHER TIME in the Torah ), in parshas Naso, when an alleged adulteress is told about the dire consequences of her actions, she responds "Amen Amen" (Numbers 5:22)
There are, obviously, more than 12 bad things you could do in secret, but the rabbis note that there are 12 tribes, so these twelve secret sins serve as examples.
This is going to be another "sounds like" food suggestion - Amen >>>> Ramen! For us, that's going to be a cabbage salad with the delicious toasted ramen noodle crunchy topping.
Shabbat Shalom & B'Tayavon!
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