Leading Ladies–and a quick and easy recipe for Yummy Broccoli Salad!

The United States of America has started this New Year of 2009, or 5769 on the Hebrew Calendar, with a new “Commander-in-Chief” and many new leaders, including a new “leading lady” in the White House.  I guess it would be fair to say that there are two new leading ladies in the White House, the first I was thinking of is Michelle Obama, and the other of course, Hillary Clinton (again).  Only history will tell the tale of how this period of time will play out. 

Have you ever thought about what it takes to be a leader?  As a woman, I think about women in leadership positions very often.  Only a handful of people will know  what it is like to have a leadership position so grand as Barack H. Obama now knows, after all,  he is only the 44th President the USA has ever known! But, our world is made up of everyday heros and our lives are filled with people around us who exhibit great leadership skills and abilities every day.

More importantly, every day we are faced with opportunities to be leaders–in our homes, our jobs, our communities, or among friends and family and neighbors.  It seems that sometimes it’s one small act that turns out to be a great act in history.  For instance, in the Bible there was woman named Deborah.  She is first introduced as the wife of– You can read all about her in the Book of Judges, Chapter 4.  Verse 4 says,

“And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.”

 So very often, we are known by the roles we lead in life.  It’s easy to lose ourselves in these identities, to become “the wife of” or “the mother of”  or “the daughter of”.  Deborah though was a woman in her own right, a leader among her people.  Because of her willingness to be a woman of faith and leadership and action, we are still blessed to have the people of Israel with us today!

Here is what happened, in a nutshell. Deborah was a judge (and a prophetess). As a judge, she would sit in a “public” place and the people would bring their disputes before Deborah.  One day, as Deborah was sitting court, so to speak, she had a “word” from G-d. So, in obedience, she calls Barak. Yes, you read that correctly, she called up Barak.  She told him that G-d had commanded him to go and take ten thousand soldiers and to engage Sisera, leader of the army of the Caananite King Jabin in battle… and, G-d would deliver the victory into Barak’s hands. King Jabin and Sisera and his army had oppressed the Israelite people for twenty years and the people had prayed and cried out to G-d. Now G-d was going to answer their prayers.

The interesting thing is that Barak refused to go– unless Deborah would lead them!  Barak knew that Deborah was a woman of G-d. Can you imagine, here is this great leader, Barak, telling this little woman Deborah, a judge and prophetess, introduced though as the “wife of –” that he would go, and he would take the ten thousand soldiers, but only if she led them?  How amazing is that!  Can you imagine the line up? Here’s Deborah, then Barak, and then ten thousand soldiers marching into war against an enemy equipped with over 900 chariots and his entire army!  This is an enemy that had oppressed the people  of Israel for over twenty years–that’s some intimidation there! 

Of course, being the woman of faith that Deborah was, she agreed, but she gave Barak this stern warning, (my paraphrase): I will lead you, but before you go you will have to know that because of this, you will get no glory for the win, because G-d is going to give the victory over Sisera to a woman!  Well, if you stop here in the story, it seems that it will be Deborah getting the glory, the honor, for the victory. So, here though go into battle–Deborah leading Barak leading ten thousand soliders! 

 But then, there is another woman of valor, another woman of leadership, a woman named “Jael”.

The story continues in verses 17-24 telling us how Sisera flees after his armies have been defeated and have literally fallen on their swords!  And where would Sisera flee to?  A mountain?  A dry wadi (river bed)? A cave?  No! Sisera makes the mistake to flee to another man’s wife’s tent!  Here is yet another woman introduced as “the wife of–”  Jael is the wife of  a man named “Heber”.  To get on with the story, Sisera fled to the tent of Jael and begged for her to hide him. 

Now, it appears that Jael was “just” a woman at home, doing her wifely duties of housework, when this opportunity of leadership would fall upon her.  Jael told  Sisera to come on in, take his shoes off and crawl in the bed.  She gave him some water to drink, threw the blankets over him and quickly he went off to sleep, tired from the lost battles and ohhh so very  nice and comfy.  Now, there is no indication that Jael commited adultry or did anything such as this with Sisera. She was “hiding” Sisera from the army of Barak and from Deborah.  When Sisera went to sleep, Jael did an amazing thing, she took a nail or spike and drove it through his head!  The Bible actually says she drove it through his temples into the ground!  One word of caution to any husband who might stop by Deliciously Capricious and read this: be careful not to hide out in another man’s wife’s tent!  Ok, back to the story, when Jael heard Barak pursuing  Sisera she went out to meet him and told him to come in and she would show him the man he was seeking–of course, there was Sisera, dead as a nail!  I guess you could say that Jael really had him pegged!

We can also see now that G-d kept His word (as G-d always does) and He delivered Sisera’s defeat into the hands of a woman, Jael.  Even now, thousands of years later, Barak doesn’t get the glory or the honor for the defeat of Sisera!  The honor goes instead to a housewife who was home doing what housewives do when opportunity came knocking at her door.

Every day we are faced with opportunities to be leaders. We are dealt choices to make and choose.  Deborah was a woman of G-d who was a leader in every way, she was a woman of great faith and wisdom and courage. Jael was a housewife, at home  minding her own buisness.  Both women were used by G-d and because of their faith and their willingness to act out their faith, the children of Israel prospered, and Israel is  even today a great nation of people of G-d.  Now that is delicious!

A Taste of Something Delicious:  Another recipe to entice the family to eat their “little trees” and it is simply delicious!

Yummy Broccoli Salad

2-3 cups of fresh Broccoli florets, washed and chopped  lightly

1-2 tablespoons raisins ( I like to mix the red and golden varieties together in this recipe)

1-2 tablespoons of dried cranberries or “Craisins”

1/4 cup chopped carrot

1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (oh heck, use both!)

1-2 tablespoons mayo. or salad dressing (for even more healthy flavor try a Olive Oil based mayo!)

Toss the ingredients together, mix in mayo to your taste, and enjoy a Taste of Summer during these cold winter months!  With all of the crunch and the beta carotene from the broccoli and carrots, vitamins A and C, loads of folic acid and fiber you will fill great about eating this salad.  I have to mention those little red and gold raisins you throw in are full of little “blood cleaners” with lots of phytonutrients and antioxidants. They help to fight osteoporosis, macular degeneration and tooth decay (according to the folks at Oohoi.com).

Of course, if you need more encouragement to have this Yummy Broccoli Salad, the tannins in the cranberries have all sorts of healthy benefits, and most of us know that cranberries are great for the urinary tract!  If you choose a fat free mayo (better yet, one made of olive oil!) there is simply no reason not to have a healthy helping of this Yummy Broccoli Salad.  I love to serve this with a nice Hot Brown or a crisp hot panini!  Add a cup of delicious soup and it’s enough to make the cows come home on a snowy day.  I have to say it, it truly is “Deliciously Capricious!”