TU Bishvat - The New Year for trees
This weekend is known in the Jewish Culture as the new year for trees. When is the last time you wished a tree Happy New Year? The 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat is a great opportunity. It’s known as Tu B’Shevat, the New Year for Trees.
Why do trees celebrate their New Year so much later than ours? It has to do with the rainy season in Israel, which commences with the festival of Sukkot. It takes four months for the rains to saturate the soil, nurture the trees and coax them into producing fruit. This is important to know if you are planning to give your tithes of fruits, as is done in the Land of Israel, because the required tithes vary from year to year. It’s also important if you are a tree and looking for something to celebrate.
We humans can also celebrate along with the trees
We humans can also celebrate along with the trees. After all, the Torah says, “Man is a tree of the field.” We are nurtured by deep roots, as far back as Abraham and Sarah; we reach upwards to the heavens while standing firmly on the ground; and when we do all this right, we produce fruits that benefit the world—namely, our good deeds.
This week’s Torah portion discusses the splitting of the sea, amongst other things. As the Jewish people approach the waters, the Egyptians chasing behind them, they turn to Moses their leader in fear, and cry, “you brought us out of slavery, where everything was supplied to us, and now we face waters in front of us and a nation of people behind us wanting to kill us!” There was one man who, with belief in the absolute, and that everything happens for a reason, pushed all fear to the side and went into the waters in front of him.
Sometimes, leaving things behind might be a scary thought - leaving one’s comfort zone, and the waters in front being unknowing and scary, but if we stand firmly on the ground and we do good deeds, we can produce fruits that benefit the people around us and can break waters in front of us.
Wishing all a peaceful, blessed weekend/Shabbat, and looking forward to see you all at the event this Thursday evening.
Eli Goldsobel
president, Birkbeck J-Soc
Please send over your own thoughts, articles, or pieces of writing to birkbeckjewishsociety@gmail.com and we will have them displayed on the website.
