HOLIDAYS AND MONTHS: TU B’SHVAT  

• Spiritual Insights
• I Will Awake the Dawn
• Global Warming and All of Us

Tu B'Shvat is first mentioned in the Mishnah where it is listed as one of the four New Years in the Jewish calendar (Rosh HaShanah 1:1). Specifically, it relates to the mitzvah of tithing produce. According to the Torah, before the fruits of our labors can be enjoyed, certain gifts have to be given and shared with the Kohanim, (priests) Levi'im (Levites) and the poor. Each year requires particular gifts and since different fruits blossom and produce at varying times of the year, Tu B'Shvat marks the New Year for trees in regard to which year the fruit is considered.

Over the years, Tu B'Shvat became the traditional day to show our appreciation and love of the land of Israel in particular and the beautiful natural world in general. It is an ancient custom to eat fruit on this day, especially the fruits of the land of Israel. According to tradition it is on this day that the sap, or life force, begins to rise in the tree as it begins to prepare to bring forth new leaves, buds and fruit.

In the 1500's, the city of Safed became a magnet for Torah scholars and Kabbalists. It was during this time that a ritual Seder of Tu B'Shvat was created. Modeled after the Seder of Pesach, it became a potent vehicle for understanding the holiness of the land of Israel and our deep connection to the land. This Seder, which was known till recently only to Kabbalists, has become very popular in our generation and is the inspirational basis of a wide range of Tu B'Shvat Seders formulated by Jews of all backgrounds.

In modern times, this date has become a traditional day to plant trees in the land of Israel. In the Diaspora it is a time to collect money for trees to be planted in Israel. With an increasing level of understanding as to the importance of ecology and the environment, Tu B'Shvat also serves as the Jewish "earth day."

When looking at various sources in the Torah, Midrash, Talmud and Maimonides, one is struck by how much is recorded as law in our tradition regarding protecting the land, regulating its use, preserving the earth and animal species from wanton destruction, and people from the hazards of water, air and noise pollution. Along with these laws is imparted an overall world view of love and reverence for the earth in general and the land of Israel in particular. This day can be used to deepen our knowledge of what the written and oral Torah reveal regarding these very vital and contemporary issues.

Tu B'Shvat, which literally means the 15th day of the month of Shvat, is a full moon. One month later on the full moon is Purim (Shushan Purim) and exactly one month later on the full moon is the holiday of Pesach. These holidays coming one after the other on three successive full moons symbolize both the very beginning of spring, as well as the welling up of the forces of redemption. Coming out of Egypt and slavery to a state of freedom is intimately connected to the transition of nature from a state of hibernation and inaction to one of rebirth and rejuvenation. The sap rising in the tree on Tu B'Shvat represents the initial point of the process, climaxing in our personal and national redemption from the narrow confines of Egypt on Pesach.
"Who is the wise one - he who sees the nolad.“ The word nolad comes from the root “to be born” and alludes to the sliver of the new moon. The wise one is he or she who sees in the initial appearance of a situation that which will ultimately transpire. Just as one cannot detect from the exterior the sap rising from the roots to the trunk of a tree, so too, for the individual, the arousal of new spiritual energy on Tu B'Shvat begins from the deepest point of pure potential in the soul and slowly rises up till fully revealed as new spiritual energy ready for actualization on Pesach.

In this light I can personally reveal one more monumental event that occurred on this day - my wife Rachel and I met in 1975 at a Tu B'Shvat Seder in Jerusalem. I proposed on Pesach and we were married two months later!! This is truly a case of a Torah realization, actualizing itself in reality, which I only came to understand many years later,.

From the above explanation we can understand an answer to the age old question as to why the reading of the weekly portion of the Torah relating to the exodus from Egypt is not read in the spring time at the time of Pesach, as might be expected, but rather in January or February, depending on the year. On closer inspection though we see that the portion in which Israel crosses the Sea and the pursuing Egyptians are drowned, the culminating act of the liberation from Egypt, always comes out the week of Tu B'Shvat!! This alludes to the essential connection between these two holidays.

Another association between the three successive full moon holidays is that of wine. Central to the Tu B'Shvat Seder is drinking four cups of wine (or grape juice). We begin with white wine representing winter, hibernation and exile and add increasing amounts of red wine each succeeding cup till spring, rebirth and redemption are represented by red wine. On Purim, of course, we drink wine (and lots of it) to celebrate our deliverance from the evil designs of Haman and then culminate the process with the four cups of wine on Pesach when we celebrate our redemption from Egypt.

The Talmud teaches: "wine goes in and the secret comes out" (Eruvin 65a). In a certain sense we can relate to the wine of these three holidays as the "sap" of new spiritual energy rising from the most hidden secret level of our souls, until its full potential is revealed in our truly feeling we are personally coming out of our own Egypt, our own narrow psychological and spiritual straits. We are taught that there are "seventy faces to the Torah" ( Zohar 3:249b).The word for wine in Hebrew, yayin, equals seventy, as does the word sod, “secret.” The statement - "wine goes in and the secret comes out," - can be understood to mean that the proper consumption of wine with the right spiritual intentions draws forth from within us new and inspirational insights into the seventy face of Torah, the inner, secret dimensions of the Torah.

The comparisons we have been making between the process of personal renewal, the rebirth of nature and new insights of Torah is explained beautifully by Rav Yitzchak Ginsburgh, who points out that both man and the Torah are compared to a tree. The Torah (Deuteronomy 20:19) compares a man to the tree of the field and in our prayers when returning the Torah to the Ark, where we refer to the Torah as "a tree of life for all those who grasp on to it" (Proverbs 3:18). He continues by explaining that just as a tree is comprised of roots, trunk, branches and fruit, so too does man and Torah conceptually have these same components. The roots of man (here we refer to Israel as the archetypal "man" as taught by our Sages) refers to our Fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and our Mothers: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah. They rooted us as a people deeply in the land of Israel. The trunk corresponds to the full body of all the archetypal souls of Israel who left Egypt, received the Torah and entered the land of Israel. The branches represent the tribes and the individual tribe members as they spread out from each other in the land and even more so during the Diaspora. The fruits are the mitzvot and good deeds performed by each Jew.

The roots of the Torah are the inner, hidden secrets of the Torah concealed below the surface. The trunk of the Torah relates to the main body of written and oral Torah as revealed at Sinai, while the branches relate to the different and diverse methods and schools of interpretation, along with each individual's unique perspective of Torah. The fruits are new insights, sweet and nourishing, which are revealed to those who devote themselves to the study of Torah.

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, in reference to the hidden potential and holiness of each Jew used to say: "What do we know, what do we know." He once taught that the "headquarters" of this concept is Tu B'shvat, where a tree the day after Tu B'Shvat looks just like it did the day before - we don't see anything perceptibly different. But what do we know of what is moving deep within the heart and mind of an individual, unrevealed to our critical eyes?

We should all be blessed to go deep within ourselves on Tu B'Shvat and rediscover all our potential for holiness and let it flow once again. May we hold on to our Torah which is truly a tree of life and recognize our deep roots in the holy land and our eternal connection to God and the Jewish people.

I Will Awake the Dawn

In a famous verse in Psalms, King David states: “I will sing and give praise. Wake up my glory, awake the harp and the lyre; I will awake the dawn” (Psalms 57:9). The obvious question is - doesn’t David have it backward - doesn’t the dawn awaken us and not us awaken the dawn? The answer to this is not as simple as first appears. As we look deeper for an answer we will find beautiful allusions to Tu B’Shvat.

Although it is quite obvious that the dawn awakens us, there is also a level in which David was correct in stating that we too have the power to awaken the dawn. This dual idea can be seen in a number of different ways in nature. It is a known fact that the earth circles the sun, yet to our perception it appears that the sun rotates around the earth. Astronomically it is true that the earth rotates around the sun, but the appearance of just the opposite is for us just as important a fact. The idea that God made the appearance of the sun circling the earth just as real and immediate as the astronomical truth tells us much about the multi-nature of reality.

Another example from nature regards rain. On a scientific level it appears that man has no real control of the cycles of weather and rain. Yet we are told in a number of different verses in the Torah that rain is directly connected to the actions of man. In the second paragraph of the Shema, which we recite twice daily, we are taught that rain in Israel is directly connected to our deeds and serving God “with all your hearts and all your soul” (Deuteronomy 11:13-21). If we listen to God then He will “provide rain in the land at the proper time, the early and the later rains…” and likewise, rain will be withheld if we do not act properly.

A fascinating verse in the story of Creation reads: “And no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had grown; for God had not caused it to rain on the earth and there was no man to till the ground” (Genesis 2:5). Even though God created all sorts of vegetation on the third day, the Torah states that they had not grown for there was no man to work the ground. Rashi states that until man, there was no one to pray for rain, therefore nothing could grow. When man realized that rain was needed, he prayed for it and it descended causing everything to grow. Once again, we see that there is a clear connection in Torah between rain and our actions, in this case prayer.

Even more than this connection is our overall relationship to the environment. It is now clear that the actions of man most certainly effect the balance of nature and its direct effect upon us. Perhaps the best example is the greenhouse effect and its potentially disastrous consequences for all life if not corrected quickly. Water, noise and air pollution, survival of endangered species, wanton destruction of rain forests, etc are all dependent on our actions.

One last example is found in the quantum/scientific view of objective reality. It has now been established that human consciousness, just by viewing reality, actually changes that reality. Therefore “objective” reality is actually quite subjective. In other words, our actions, our prayers and our thoughts directly effect and alter reality, even if we are unaware of it.

Returning to our original question as to whether the dawn awakes us or we awake the dawn, we see a correlation to Tu B’Shvat and our overall connection to the environment. Tu B’Shvat in our days has assumed the status of not only the “holiday of trees,” but as a powerful tool to understanding man’s relationship to reality and the natural world. As much as we are at the whim of nature, the environment is effected by our every action.

There is a tradition that on Tu B’Shvat the sap, or life force of the tree, begins to ascend once more, bringing new life to the tree. Tu B’Shvat always comes out during, or right after, the Torah portion of B’Shalach, in which the Jewish people leave Egypt. Do we go from exile to freedom, from the narrow straits of Egypt to the expanded consciousness of being God’s people because the new life force in nature is now rising or does nature experience a renewal because we are going out of exile towards new life? If we really understood the nature of reality in its deepest aspects we would understand that both are true, just on different levels (as discussed in the first chapter).

Tu B’Shvat represents new life, not only in nature, but also in the spiritual psyche of man. The full moon of Tu B’Shvat begins a redemptive cycle that moves next to Purim on the full moon of Adar and then climaxes on Pesach, the full moon of Nisan.

May Tu B’Shvat awaken in us a new consciousness of our power to affect reality in all its levels - from the world of nature to the Divine worlds - and with it, the awareness of the great responsibility that goes with that power.

Global Warming and All of Us

Tu B'Shvat is an auspicious time to eat extra fruit, especially the special fruits of Eretz Yisrael and praise God for giving us a land flowing with milk and honey. Many people have adopted the custom of doing a Tu B'Shvat seder, where up to thirty different fruits are eaten in an order based on four cups of wine, which correspond to the four worlds spoken of in Kabbalah. As part of the seder many people have included the Jewish view of the environment and ecology, as what better time to speak of not only our love of the land but our obligation and commitment to protect and guard the beautiful world God has given us. There is an incredible body of Jewish texts that literally span thousands of years that not only promote a concern for the environent but also legislate that concern into practical law.

An important idea I suggest we all add to our seders this year regards the growing warning to what is commonly referred to as global warming. Many people have begun to reject this term in that it sounds too nice and comfortable and instead are using the more realisitc and alarming term "climate chaos." Whereas a few years ago people and governments could still claim that there was not enough evidence that global warming is even a reality, that is no longer the case. Hundreds of scientific reports have already measured the disasterous effects of rising tempatures all around the globe, which have already begun to have an alarming effect on melting snow caps and glaciers and major changes in the tempatures of the oceans and seas, which in turn has begun a growing momentum of chaotic climate changes around the globe.

But this is just the beginning. If individuals, communities and giovernments everywhere do not make an immediate and radical pardigm shift, what we are seeing is just the beginning of catastrophic changes that will effect every single person on the planet in not too distant a future, meaning, in our life time.

In the Torah portion of Noah, God tells him of the impending world wide flood that will destroy humanity. Instead of pleading with God to save his generation or undertaking a major campaign to inform his peers, he instead dutifully begins work on the ark that will save him and his family and a small remnant of animals.

On one hand we all owe Noah a true word of thanks for being righteous enough for God to save at least him, as all humanity traces their lineage back to the family of Noah; yet on the other hand the sages all point out his glaring flaw of not doing enough to save his generation. When asked by the people what he was constructing he answered truthfully: "I am constructing an ark for God intends to wipe out the world with a flood." Of course everyone was technically warned, but no one took him serious and he did nothing to change the decree or get people to change their ways in order to annul the judgement.

We are now all in the same situation as Noah and his generation, as no one can really claim they were not warned, and no one can claim there was nothing we could do. We are not talking of a minor problem but a situation that literally threatens to turn the world we know upside down with horrific results that will change life on this planet forever.

40% of the worlds population live on coastal plains. We saw the effects of one hurricane on the people of New Orleans. If the oceans begin to rise, and even more important, if the tempatures of the oceans continues to rise, what we saw in New Orleans could become a daily occurance, as the result of global warming will be climatic chaos. And imagine the effect on health, infrastructure and economies everywhere. The thought is truly frightening. In addition, the fastest growing cancer is skin cancer. As the ozone is depleted this condition could swell quite quickly into epidemicic proportions. And the warnings grow….

Yet there is something we can do. And that something I believe is a Torah imperative. To save a life is one of the most important Torah principles and here we are talking about not only saving lives but protecting the very basis of humanities existence. If governments everywhere would take immediate action to curtial environmentally dangerous industries and cure the world wide addiction to fossil fuels, there is reason to believe we may be able to stem the tide and reverse the momentum already in progress.

As a people we have experienced the unspeakable only 60 years ago in the Holocaust. In retrospect, it seems clear that the writing was on the wall and Nazi intentions were not hidden at all. As each horrible step unfolded, people still did not want to believe. And even in the midst of the madness when personal testimonies to the genocide reached governments and the media in the West, even then, people turned away in disbelief , pursuing their busy private lives.

Just as we can not allow the slaughter in Dafur to continue, or let Iran aquire nuclear weapons when their president has made it clear his intentions, we also can not allow our planet to be environmentally overtaken by our indifference and unwillingness to speak out or act.

Alternatives to fossil fuels exist right now!!! Industry and government know how to adapt right now!!! Personal life style choices do make a difference. Each and everyone of us must use their influence in their own homes, communities, states and countries to encourage and force our governments to rise to the challenge and work together to save our planet. It is not too late. Make your voice heard, support initiatives, organizations and leaders, that will face this world wide crises head on and bring redemption to mankind. If there ever was a time to be "a light unto the nations" - it is now.