Four Species Lemonade for Sukkot

"You shall take on the first day the boughs of good trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall have simcha before YHWH your Elohim for seven days." -Vayikra 23:40

From the above passage in Leviticus is where the idea of arbah minim or four species comes from during the Sukkot celebration. The species of trees are thought to be palm, myrtle, citron, and willow. These are the species that make up the traditional lulav that is used during Sukkot celebrations. I thought it would be fun to use four species of trees in a different way--lemonade!

Since it's tough to find citron I used lemon and lime instead. Coconut water made up the palm element. And while some parts of the willow and myrtle family are technically edible they aren't easy to track down and don't really lend themselves to a refreshing beverage. So I decided I would just use four different species of fruit trees, and added pomegranate juice. Look at that beautiful color! It is just as refreshing as it looks.

Four Species Lemonade Recipe:
2 cups coconut water
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 cup plain kombucha (optional to add some fizz and probiotics, you could sub more coconut water)
Ice

Mix all these ingredients in a pitcher and serve with lots of ice!

That's it. Really easy right? The coconut water is sweet to begin with so you don't need to add any extra sweetener, so it makes this lemonade a better option than most. You don't have to use kombucha but it is a great way to include the health benefits of probiotics. You could also use a lemon flavored kombucha and save yourself the step of squeezing the lemons. 

This is a really simple way to do something a little bit out of the ordinary for the Feasts. Let me know what you think if you try it! Do you have a favorite fall feast recipe?

Yom Teruah Printable Card

The first of the Fall Feasts will be here in just a few days! Either this Sunday or Monday evening as we wait to see the new moon. I hope you are going to celebrate this Festival of YHWH. A couple of you sent me projects you're working on inspired by Music & Moonlight party from a few posts back, and I can't wait to see more pictures!

I put together a printable card you can download to wish someone in your life a joyful Yom Teruah! Just print off, fold in half width wise, and then fold width-wise again. This printed best for me when the 'fit picture to frame' option was selected in the normal printing preferences box in Windows. I used a thin type of card stock paper to make this card a little more sturdy, but regular paper will do the job as well.

Download my printable Yom Teruah card here. It is free for your personal use.

Have a very happy Feast of Trumpets! Make a joyful noise!

20 Fun Ideas for the Fall Feasts

October is going to be a busy time for those of us celebrating the Feasts of YHWH. Whether you are new to the festivals or seasoned Methuselah I'm sharing some great ideas to make them extra special this year.

If you're staying at home you'll want to make a sukkah, like this one from Chai and Life.

Or you could go camping...

Sukkot foliage like palm leaves make a great table runner.
From Sugar & Cloth.

You could set this pretty table. From Sugar & Cloth.

You'll be outside a lot so be prepared for the weather with this DIY lemon (or etrog!) umbrella.

From Studio DIY.

Wear this shirt.

From Mt. Tabor Tees.

Order these cookies or get cutters to make your own version.

Make DIY stained 'glass' with your kids to teach them about the feasts.

From The Climbing Tree.

Make these easy palm leaf sticks to stir your Sukkot drinks.

From The Merry Thought.

Have friends over for a potluck dinner in your sukkah.

From Chai and Home.

How good does this apple stuffed challah look?

From Torah Sisters Magazine.

Stay warm with this DIY constellation scarf.
From A Beautiful Mess.

Share this Yom Teruah printable with a friend.

Keep the kiddos entertained with finger puppets, especially handy on Yom Kippur.

Spend time under the stars.
From The Climbing Tree.

 Get a better idea what you're looking at with this constellation map.

From Mr. Printables.

Decorate with letter balloons.

Transform any dessert with this Chag Sameach topper.
From Chai and Home.

Take a virtual tour of the Sukkah PDX exhibit from the Oregon Jewish Museum.

Take notes from this gorgeous party. Can you say #sukkahgoals?

From Love Sarah Schneider.

How will you be celebrating?

PS - I'm posting late this week so Shabbat shalom!

Music & Moonlight Yom Teruah Celebration

There are some passages in Scripture that you can just tell were written by a man. I don't mean that as an insult or a bad thing, but you know how guys sometimes don't include a lot of specifics when they tell a story? There are definitely parts of Scripture like that. I would like more details, please.

Yom Teruah is one of those 'left out the details' parts. We know more about YHWH's other festivals; instructions that lend easily to activities and menus. For Yom Teruah we aren't even told why to celebrate, though we can see the significance of its prophetic meaning. We know the Day of Sounding involves not working, lots of shofar music, and that it happens under the light of the seventh month's new moon.

Music and moonlight. Take what Scripture says and go with it.

Since it is the only festival that happens under a new moon, why not make it an evening under the stars? We need to be looking to confirm that it is the new moon anyway, since we don't know the day or hour. :) Lovely music is a happy addition to any occasion but never more appropriate than for a day known as Sounding.

The decor was super simple to put together. A 30 cent piano songbook got it's pages cut out and hot glued together for a table runner. Other pages had a single letter printed onto them (in a regular printer), were cut into triangles and glued to string to make a pretty bunting.

The goldenrod is a wildflower that is plentiful in our yard and area this time of year.

A candlelit alfresco dinner with string music. What could be lovelier? If your family or congregation has musicians you could ask them to take turns playing. A group hymn sing would also be beautiful.

Many of us have missed the beauty of Yom Teruah for a long time. Knowing so little about this set apart day means that YHWH has more to reveal to us about it. But we need to embrace the truth of what Yom Teruah is in the Scripture. A Day of Sounding, music, and moonlight.

To be honest, it is sad that most of the traditions of this feast day get wrapped into the not Biblically based Rosh Hashanah. We aren't going to get into it, but there is no festival of YHWH in Scripture that is called Rosh Hashanah. I know it is celebrated as the Jewish new year but Scripture tells us Aviv is the first month of the year. Moving on.

That's not to say it is bad to have apples and honey. If they are in season in your part of the world, apples are a logical choice to serve as they are healthy and loved by all. Using honey to symbolize the sweetness of YHWH's forgiveness after a time of repentance or to look forward to the sweetness of the Messiah's return seem reasonable to me. Just be aware that this is simply a man made tradition, not instruction from the Torah.

In addition to shofar sounding and any live music, create a playlist of background music to play during dinner. Good violin or piano is very elegant and I like to play string versions of my favorite songs. 

How are you planning to celebrate Yom Teruah this year?