Introduction

Would you like to know what happens at the Treehouse on Friday nights?
Here is your answer:

This blog will explore Friday night Shabbats with the Aguirre/Nelson/Hellermann Treehouse. From our menu selection, guest list and random facts. We'll touch on why Shabbat is so important to us, what role it has played in each of our lives and why we believe it is important for every Christian home.

We are Christians (yes), we believe in the Jewish Roots of our faith, therefore we choose to adhere to the Torah i.e: Eating Kosher, observing Sabbath, Feasts and High Holy Days etc.
This blog will explore our Feast celebrations, Shabbats and other parties we may choose to host.

Shabbat:

Shabbat also known has Sabbath traditionally falls on Friday Evenings (Erev Shabbat), to start the Sabbath which is Saturday (day of rest).

Shabbat Breakdown (Treehouse style):

I understand every family has their own Traditions this is NOT a quide, this is simply a blog about how we choose to celebrate.

We start our Erev Shabbats around 7pm. Traditionally the women of the household light 2 candles while singing this blessing (in hebrew): Blessed are you Lord God King of the Universe, who inspires us by his commandments to kindle the lights of Shabbat, Amen.

We choose to then bless our hands with this prayer : I dedicate my hands to Messiah, the Hope of Glory to serve him only. 

Then the Father Prays over the Sons of the home (which in our case is about 12 guys), He blesses them to be like Ephraim and Manasseh.
 He then prays for the Daughters of the house (which is usually around 10) to be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah.
 The Father then blesses the wife for slaving all day over the yummy food, and the children bless her as well with the Blessing of Proverbs 31.

We then pray for Israel, this prayer can be found in Deuteronomy 6:4, it also says this prayer should be on our hearts and minds every day. Taken literally this prayer should be recited DAILY!
We sing this prayer over Israel (in hebrew):
Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom forever and ever. Yeshua, He is the Messiah, He is Lord of All.

We proceed then to the Blessing of the Wine: Blessed are you Lord our God King of the universe, who created the fruit of the vine.
(we pass the cup of wine around to everyone)

Then the Blessing over the Challah. There are a few reasons why we eat Challah, it is traditional the way it is braided, baked and kneaded. And there are many blessings the women pray over the Challah while being prepared. You make 2 loaves to signify the double portion that was received on Sabbath in the desert, also you salt it before breaking to signify the tears of the saints in the desert as well as being the salt of the earth. You pray this blessing (in hebrew):
Blessed are you O Lord our God king of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.

You break the bread and pass around to everyone while singing the Shabbat song :)!
Shabbat Shalom, Shabbat Shalom, Shabbat Shabbat Shabbat Shabbat Shalom (xhowever many times you want to sing it :))

Stay tuned to read about our Shabbat on July 6th!!