Weekend of Milk and Honey – Symbolic breastfeeding

In our kitchens, milk and meat may be separated, but both have their own value. This coming weekend dairy products are in the running or receive a popular place in our heart or tummy.

I dare say, that perhaps for many a meat dish before eating a dairy product, so that the two types of food shouldn’t even mix together in our stomachs, is not a matter of thought this weekend because meat shall be left out!

For some, there may be dishes with tofu, nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables, and the like, not prepared with any milk or meat products, with after some hours some delicious milky cakes.

In the previous posting I said already that saying we eat dairy to symbolize the “land flowing with milk and honey”, but there is also another symbolic reason for this day closing the Pesach weeks. The apostles or talmidim of the Nazarene Jewish master teacher Jeshua ben Josef knew that “The precepts of the Elohim are… sweeter than honey” and found themselves in a closed room to discuss the latest events of what happened to the man they saw hanged on a tree and now been taken out of the dead.

On the 6th of Sivan (Shavuot) that came just ten days after they had seen their master ascend into heaven, the meaning of this Fifty Days or Pentecost was forever changed!

Just as the dove descended on Jeshua after his baptism, the Holy Spirit also made an appearance in the room where his talmidim were hiding, mitamuhl (suddenly) from Shomayim a sound like the rushing of a violent wind took them with a leshonot, filling the whole bais where they were sitting.

“ When the day of Shavuot had come, they were all together in one place.
Suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
And tongues like fire spreading out appeared to them and settled on each one of them.
They were all filled with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and began to speak in other tongues as the Ruach enabled them to speak out.”
(Acts 2:1–4 TLV)

Once again we hear about Neshemet El  (the Breath of Elohim) coming over the disciples of Christ. This Breath gave them some new energy, them now daring to go out of the room and starting to talk about the Good News which was brought previously by their master. It was so strange, suddenly they not only had overcome their fear for talking about Jeshua, now they seemed to be able to speak in different languages so that all those around them, gathered in the town, could understand them.

“ Now Jewish people were staying in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.
And when this sound came, the crowd gathered. They were bewildered, because each was hearing them speaking in his own language.
And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “All these who are speaking—aren’t they Galileans?
How is it that we each hear our own birth language?
Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those living in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and parts of Libya toward Cyrene, and visitors from Rome
(both Jewish people and proselytes), Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring in our own tongues the mighty deeds of God!”
And they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to each other, “What does this mean?”
Others, poking fun, were saying, “They are full of sweet new wine!””
(Acts 2:5–13 TLV)

In the previous three years Jeshua had fed them with spiritual milk and now time had come that his talmidim could give the baby bottle to the next generation. Now, with their words they had to come to convince others of the Truth of a New World which had started. Those who gave their ear to those apostles were curious what to do. They reacted to their words and let themselves be baptised.

“¶ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the emissaries, “Fellow brethren, what shall we do?”
¶ Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be immersed in the name of Messiah Yeshua for the removal of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Ruach ha-Kodesh.
For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away—as many as ADONAI our God calls to Himself.”
¶ With many other words he warned them and kept urging them, saying, “Save yourselves from this twisted generation!”
So those who received his message were immersed, and that day about three thousand souls were added.
¶ They were devoting themselves to the teaching of the emissaries and to fellowship, to breaking bread and to prayers.
Fear lay upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were happening through the emissaries.
And all who believed were together, having everything in common.
They began selling their property and possessions and sharing them with all, as any had need.
Day by day they continued with one mind, spending time at the Temple and breaking bread from house to house. They were sharing meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord was adding to their number those being saved.”
(Acts 2:37–47 TLV)

From the moment they choose to follow those talmidim and wanted to come to live according to the teachings of rebbe Jeshua, they had to start drinking the spiritual milk. In remembrance of that spiritual milk we need, we symbolically use those dairy products, remembering that is part of the beginning of life for mammals. Each parent shall give their babies the necessary milk to grow. We too need our milk and when longer in the faith, our cheese, the harder stuff to chew.

Baptism is only a starting point. After one has come into the faith, when has to get the spiritual milk and honey and has to grow up, each day becoming more like Christ. To become Christ-like, that will not happen in one day, and shall demand some good digestion of all life juices.

honeyThough we may be sure that such want to know more about the Biblical Truth, shall make us spiritually richer and bring us closer to the Elohim. Such coming into a closer relation with God shall bring us also a more comfortable and sweeter life. The honey, the sweet, viscous liquid food, dark golden in colour, symbolising the great life we shall be allowed to enter the gates of the Land of honey.

By having all those delicious milk products on our Shavout table we remember that birth of that New World where from then onwards goyim also got some place in the heart of God and could become part of the Family of God. Yes, from Shavuot some two millennia ago non-Jewish people received the opportunity to enter God’s Family and become a Child of God. As babes, they’ll have to drink the milk, to give them strength and resistance to the diseases of this world (satan or the adversaries of God).

When we enjoy the lovely sweet pastries let us thank God for all our blessings and let us “become as white as milk”.

Torah and G-dliness remain lofty (not sacrificing their inherent loftiness and Holiness in order to fit into the limitations of the earthly perspective); man remains earthly (physically eating, drinking, sleeping, etc.) — but these same “earthly” matters of the man down below become permeated with the loftiest dimensions of Above. When we achieve this, we have created a dwelling place (for Hashem’s essence, His “true self”, so to speak) in the lower realms (which remain earthly and lowly). {Sichos of Dvar Malchus}

+

Preceding

Count Your Blessings — Count The Omer

A weekend for a celebration in a small circle with milky products

Some recommended treats for this coming weekend
I present on

May 13: Tres Leches (Milk Cake)

May 14: Shavuot Cheesecake Challah

May 15: Romanian malai cake

 

+++

Related

  1. Do you count?
  2. What is Shavuot?
  3. 7) Kuntres Shavuos 5751: “Above” is Created From Below
  4. What is Baptism of Fire?
  5. Shavuot/Pentecost/Feast of Weeks, 5781/2021
  6. Pentecost(B): The Language of the Heart
  7. The Spirit will Give You What You Need to Transform Your Life
  8. Allowing the Holy Spirit Into Your Life
  9. The Return of the Holy Spirit
  10. 40 Days After Resurrection
  11. Next Year in Jerusalem?
  12. Did You Receive the Holy Spirit?
Advertisement

4 thoughts on “Weekend of Milk and Honey – Symbolic breastfeeding

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.