Shmita safe cake!!
Alli Fransblow
About Alli Fransblow
Hi! My name is Alli Fransblow. I am a 9th Grader at Gann Academy in Waltham, Massachusetts. I have gone to a Jewish school since I was two years old and I will continue to go to a Jewish school until college. My goal is to become a Kindergarten teacher in a Jewish day school. I currently participate in a Jewish youth learning group twice a week and work as a teacher at my Temple on Saturdays. I am a part of NFTY NE as well! As you can see, I take a lot of pride in my Jewish identity. My hobbies include sailing, playing guitar, basketball and ultimate frisbee, babysitting, and cooking/baking. It is important to me to show up and speak out on issues. Topics I am passionate about include but are not limited to, are racism, sexism, and antisemitism. I was so excited when I was offered this amazing opportunity to teach a Jewish lesson through baking.As a base recipe for my lemon almond cake, I used https://natashaskitchen.com/almond-cake-recipe/. I used dried lemon peel instead of zest and added in 1 TBSP of lemon juice.
About Shmita safe cake!!
For my Shmita representation, I made a lemon almond cake that is 100% shmita safe. While doing my research for this opportunity I found how many foods can be eaten during the Shmita year! For example, all perennials can be considered Shmita so multiple of the ingredients in my recipe were perennial plants. If Shmita didn’t exist I would not have been able to make this cake. If we didn’t give the ground a rest during Shmita we would overwork it. Just like we get a rest every seven years we have to give the ground a rest every seven years. It even says in the Torah “The Lord spoke to Moshe at Mount Sinai saying: Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land is to cease, a Sabbath-ceasing to the Lord.” (Leviticus 25.1-2). That is just one of the amazing things Shmita does for this world. Not to even start to mention the debts that are paid off, the pe’ah that is given, and so much more. Going into a bit more detail debts, when the debts are paid off the economic system becomes healthier. By paying off debt it allows the citizens to have a breath of fresh air and grow better crops with their money. “You are to give, yes, give freely to him”. I found this quote on page 7 of the Shmita sourcebook (Release of Debt). There are no consequences, you take what you need, no more no less. Shmita is a way to make the world a better place and help so many people for all the reasons I have stated before.