Rochie Pinson - The Rising Life: Challah Baking Elevated.

life gleanings from rebbetzin rochies kitchen The RISING Life Challah Baking. Elevated. Rochie Pinson THE RISING LIFE 2015 Rochie Pinson. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Published by ORLY PRESS 48 Cranford Place Teaneck, NJ 07666 www.therisinglife.net ORLY PRESS books may be purchased for educational, business or sales promotional use. For information please visit therisinglife.net.

Cover and book design: RP Design and Development Cover photography: Saul Sudin Illustrations: Lucy Engelman pb ISBN 978-0-9890072-1-4 Pinson, Rochie 1975 The Rising Life: Challah Baking, Elevated. 1.Judaism 2. Spirituality 3. Food vwwc the rising life challah baking. elevated.Life Gleanings fromRebbetzin Rochies Kitchen This book is extracted from the cookbook RISING! The Book of Challah Feldheim Publishers 2015 My heart is full of gratitude.For those who have nurtured me generously, and for those who havegenerously allowed me to nurture them.For the incredible women who have inspired me throughout the writingof this book.And for the women who made this book possible; Hillary Barr, MarilynBrill, and Susan Polis-Schutz. I am eternally grateful for your presenceand for your support. C O N T E N T S SECTION I: Introduction: Challah as a Recipe for Life The Gift of Challah Shabbat, Challah & Woman: Three of a Kind Living in the Process & Loving Every Moment Setting the Stage: An Environment for Rising The Ingredients: A Recipe for Rising The Rising Hafrashat Challah, Separating the Challah: A Weekly Invitation to Reconnect Challah Customs & Segulot: Through the Generations & Around the Globe Challah Meditations SECTION II: Excerpted from the cookbook, RISING! The Book of Challah Grounding Intention in Practice: This is Where it Gets Delicious Anatomy of a Perfect Challah Rebbetzin Rochies Classic Challah Recipe Instructions: Step by Step Braiding Your Challah: An Illustrated Guide.....The first of your dough, challah,you shall offer as a gift....Bamidbar 15:19-20Reishit ArisoteichemThe First of Your Dough The word reishit indicates that which is the first, the finest, and the purpose of all that follows it.

The removal and sanctification of the first and best of our dough illustrates a great truth of existence. That is, that all we do in this world, however mundane and ordinary it may seem, should begin with an acknowledgment of the Creator and a Higher Existence. We begin every endeavor with the proclamation that lHashemhaaretz umloah/ The earth is G-ds and all that fills it (Tehillim 24:1). The first and best of all that we accomplish is dedicated to a higher purpose. We awaken in the morning and, with our first breath, sing praise to our Creator for the new day. Those less fortunate are fed before we take our own portion. Reishit arisoteichem is challah, lHashem. The first and best of our sustenance is designated as challah for Hashem/ G-d, and, as such, is dedicated to a higher purpose. Reishit arisoteichem is challah, lHashem. The first and best of our sustenance is designated as challah for Hashem/ G-d, and, as such, is dedicated to a higher purpose.

This is our truest reason for existence: to elevate and transcend through the work of our hands. Through making challah and sep arating the dough, we are perpetually bringing this awareness into our homes and into our lives. May we merit to live a life in which we vividly observe the Divine unifying light in all of creation. Taken from the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe,Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, OBM,in his address to women, 17 Sivan, 5740/June 1, 1980. R I S I N G 1 0I N T R O D U C T I O N

And secondly, these books set out to be substantially more than just a collection of recipes, directions, and really pretty pic tures (although Ive put in lots of those, too. I like a pretty pic ture as much as the next girl). 1 2I N T R O D U C T I O N So, what is this book? This is a book for those of us who find ourselves wishing for a return to a simpler time, a slower pace, a scent of bread baking in the home, and a sense of peace in the moment. This little book wants to be that big alarm on the iPhone of our subcon scious that reminds us that the mess in our kitchen, the noise in our brain, the stickiness of the dough underneath our finger nails, and the aroma of warm challah on a cold Friday afternoon means that we are not merely alive, we are living, and that that is a wonderful thing. A challah dough is a living organism. It requires air, water, at tention, and intention.

Its recipe so closely mirrors the recipe for a well-balanced life, in fact, that as I baked my challah each week, I kept learning new things about the care and attention required by the living beings under my watch (children, hus band, community, and the like), and thus, RISING, the blog, and eventually, the book and the cookbook, were born. The Rising Life, as the first part in the RISING series, is a book that sets out to explore what happens when we decide to put ourselves wholly into the nurturing process, recognizing that the physical care and feeding of ourselves and those we love is only one side of a sticky dough. Fold it over and you will find that there is a whole other side that hasnt been worked on yet. (See, Im starting with the challah metaphors already!) The Perfect Challah So, disclaimer disclaimed, I am not a professional chef, nor am I a baker. Im not even a licensed expert in child raising, whatever 1 3 R I S I N G that may be. But heres what Ive learned over my years of chal lah baking and child raising: we dont need to earn a PhD in child psychology before becoming parents (even if we did, it wouldnt necessarily be helpful!), we dont need to be a licensed therapist to offer a comforting hug and listening ear to a friend, and, like wise, we dont need to go through culinary school to bake the perfect challah.

The perfect challah is one that is baked with intention and love and served in much the same way. The perfect challah is like the perfect nurturer. Psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, observ er of thousands of mothers in their nurturing roles, coined the term the good enough mother and recognized that the perfect nurturer is not perfect at all; she is human and very real indeed. The good enough mother gets back up when she falls down, provides for her loved ones both physically and emotionally (and, I add, spiritually), and is genuinely preoccupied with her nurturing role. The good enough mother is more of a gardener than a goddess. The good enough mother recognizes that just like challah dough, we grow in cycles.