Parsha Inspired Menus - Behar-Behukotai

I was working on this week's #parshainspiredmenus on the bus on the way to the Celebrate Israel parade and got some great ideas from my fellow parade goers. It all starts with an idea that came from our youngest son who noticed something interesting in the Hebrew of the parsha. in the discussion regarding the year of letting the land rest it says

האֵ֣ת סְפִ֤יחַ קְצִֽירְךָ֙ לֹ֣א תִקְצ֔וֹר וְאֶת־עִנְּבֵ֥י נְזִירֶ֖ךָ לֹ֣א תִבְצֹ֑ר שְׁנַ֥ת שַׁבָּת֖וֹן יִֽהְיֶ֥ה לָאָֽרֶץ:

What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine [nazir], for it is a year of rest for the land.

We noticed that the word used to refer to the grapevine that you don't tend is nazir, the same route as the Nazarite. In both cases it represents something that has been set aside and service to God and the not tending of it, be it a vine or hair, is a physical visual of this special distinction. This reminds me of some of the things that are physical visual markers of being in service to God that Jews wear today, such as wearing a kippah. So, I wanted to call attention to this connection and the most famous nazir is Samson so I asked my fellow parade goers to give me suggestions of food that makes them think of Samson. There were some very creative suggestions, such as angel hair, pasta, or something with the donkey jaw… Pretty crazy story, check it out, but the one I'm going with is columns. Samson pulled down the Philistine temple by sheer force of will, collapsing the columns and killing himself and taking out a bunch of Philistines with him. So, what's a

column food? CHURROS! Now, there are many recipes out there if you want to make it yourself, but you can also just give yourself a break and buy Goya's frozen churros which are kosher and pareve. I can get them at my local Target. Maybe you can too.

The second item, I wanted to take it from the second parsha. Behukotai spends a lot of time on the tochecha (curses), but before that, there is some blessings - the good things that will happen if you follow the rules, God has set out.

  וַֽאֲכַלְתֶּ֥ם יָשָׁ֖ן נוֹשָׁ֑ן וְיָשָׁ֕ן מִפְּנֵ֥י חָדָ֖שׁ תּוֹצִֽיאוּ:

You shall eat old grain, long stored. You will clear out the old produce in order to make room for the new harvest.

In other words, your grain will last and get better with age, kind of like a fine wine, and you will

have so much new harvest that you'll have to push the old grain out of the way to make room for the new.

This made me think of the trend around ancient grains. I thought a fun dinner would be to make an ancient grain bowl. There are many recipes for this, but maybe try this one.

Shabbat shalom & B'Tayavon!