HAPPY TU B’SHVAT!!!!!!

Tu B’Shvat: Guide for the Perplexed on Jewish Arbor Day By: Yoram Ettinger

1.  Judaism stipulates four New Years, one of them is the New Year for the trees, Tu B’shvat (Arbor Day), the 15th day of the month of Shvat (January 16, 2014). The zodiac of Shvat is Aquarius – the water carrier (bucket in Hebrew).  Tu B’shvat highlights the rejuvination and blooming of trees and the Jewish people. According to Rashi, the leading Jewish Biblical commentator, this date was determined because most of the winter rains are over by Tu B’shvat, sap starts to rise and fruit begins to ripen.  Israel’s Legislature, the Knesset, was established on Tu B’shvat, 1949. The other three New Years are the first day of the month of Nissan (the Exodus – the birth of the Jewish people), the first day of the month of Tishrei (Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year) and the first day of the month of Elul (the tithing of cattle only if the Temple is rebuilt). 2.  The root of the Hebrew word for tree – Ilan (אילן) – is איל (the awesome/mogul), which is also the Hebrew spelling for the majestic Ram.  The two letters, אל, mean God and the letter י is an acronym for God.  The Hebrew spelling for the rugged, Biblical terebinth and oak tree is אלה and אלון, both starting with the two letters, אל, God. 3. Trees are central to Judaism.  Tu B’shvat is not mentioned in the Bible, but in the Mishnah – the collection of Jewish oral laws, compiled by Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi around 200AD. *According to Genesis 1:11, trees were created on the third day of Creation, the only day which was blessed twice by God. *Leviticus 19:23 stipulates: “When you come to the Land, you shall plant fruit trees.” *Deuteronomy 20:19/20 commands: “When you besiege a city… you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down… Only the trees which you know are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down….” 4.  The Book of Ethics 6:7 refers to the Torah as a Tree of Life, since the Torah is both spiritual and practical like a tree, which is an integral part of nature, reflecting vitality, creativity and growth, nurturing and sheltering its environment.  The Tree of Life was first mentioned in Genesis (2:9), next to the Tree of Knowledge, which was the focus of the story of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. 5.  Human-beings are likened to trees of the field (Deuteronomy 20:19) and tree constitutes a metaphor for family: Family Tree.  Just like trees, human beings aspire for stability and durability and have to sustain rough times (if you want to benefit from the rainbow, you must endure the flood).  However, rough times constitute platforms of challenge and opportunity.  Rough times forge stronger trees and character. Psalms 1:3 states: “He shall be like a tree planted by the brooks of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper.” Just like trees, human-beings are capable of withstanding adversity/storm with deep roots (critical values and tradition) and a solid, tenacious trunk (a solid backbone), but at the same time possess flexible leaves and branches (less critical issues).  The state of the roots impacts directly the state of the trunk, leaves and branches.  The state of the roots determines the future of trees and human beings.  Healthy roots facilitate the blossoming of fruit/sprouts. Just like fruit-bearing trees, so do human beings reproduce and benefit humanity. 6.  Trees have been critical to the ingathering of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, representing longevity and permanence, underlying the inherent linkeage/bond between the Jewish people and the Jewish land – the eternal attachment of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel. Hence, Tu B’shvat is a day of planting trees, in Israel, by school and kindergarten children, as well as by pilgrims and tourists. The 18th century Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman Kremer, a Biblical, Talmudic and kabalistic genius prayed: “May God merit me to plant, with my own hands, fruit trees around Jerusalem.” During (Mussaf) prayers on Shabbat and holidays, Jews ask God that they be planted in the Land of Israel. Trees were not planted during the transient 40 years of wandering in the desert. Trees are planted in the permanent, everlasting, immutable, indestructible Jewish environment of the Jewish Homeland. 7.  The almond tree, which blossoms earlier than most trees/fruit, announces the arrival of Tu B’shvat.  The almond tree/fruit commemorates the rods of Moses and Aharon (the symbol of the shepherd’s authority and might, guiding his flock), which were endowed with miraculous power during the Ten Plagues, the ensuing Exodus and the Korah rebellion against Moses.  According to the book of Numbers 17:8, “[Aharon's rod] put forth buds, produced blossoms and bore ripe almonds.” 8.  On Tu B’shvat, it is customary to eat – for the first time – fruit from the new season, particularly the 30 types of fruit growing in the Land of Israel, while focusing on happiness and minimizing sorrow. 9.  A Tu B’shvat Seder (learning session/family gathering) is conducted on the eve of the holiday, recounting the importance of the trees and fruit of the land of Israel and the historical background and significance of Tu B’shvat. Happy Tu B’shvat, Shabbat Shalom and have a pleasant weekend.

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/tu-bshvat-guide-for-the-perplexed-on-jewish-arbor-day/2014/01/16/0/

Tree Planting in Itamar - "Terror will not Uproot us!"

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE by Rabbi Berel Wein

Even though Tu B’Shvat occurred last week I still have figs, dates and other fruits in prominent display in my kitchen. So, I do not feel too guilty about writing this belated article about the day of Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish New Year for the trees of our beloved land. Throughout the years of the Jewish exile, the day of Tu B’Shvat falling in the midst of the winter season served as a heartening reminder of our unbreakable connection to our land and eating its fruits confirmed the holiness of Israel, the people and the land.

I remember that as a child in the freezing Chicago winters, my parents would insist on my eating a piece of “boksar” – carob – to commemorate Tu B’Shvat. The “boksar” was hard as a rock and tasteless as wood. Yet I noticed that my parents, Jews of an earlier generation who were born before there was a State of Israel or a time when free and open worship was really allowed at the Western wall without Arab or government interference, ate their pieces of “boksar” slowly and with great affection.

 Only later in my life did I realize that eating that piece of “boksar” validated their hope and belief that the Land of Israel would yet flourish and grow under Jewish sovereignty and that the vineyards and orchards of the land promised to us by our prophets would become abundant reality.

Every society needs physical symbols to validate its faiths and aspirations. That is why countries have flags and seals. The fruits of the Land of Israel became the flag and seal of the Jewish people vis a vis its beloved homeland even when there was little Jewish population and no Jewish sovereignty present there. The pieces of fruit served to remind Jews of who they were and where they came from and most importantly where they really were heading.

In 1882 Baron Edmond de Rothschild’s Carmel (East) Wine Company produced its first bottles of wine in Rishon L’Ziyon. At that time Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (Netziv) was the rav and head of the famed yeshiva in Volozhin in then Lithuania. He was also the titular chairman of the Chovevei Tziyon – The Lovers of Zion – the organization that encouraged Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel and helped support monetarily the nascent but growing population of the “yishuv hayashan” – the pre-Zionist settlers in the Land of Israel of the nineteenth century.

His nephew, Rabbi Baruch HaLevi Epstein (the author of Torah Temima, a popular commentary to the Torah) lived with his uncle and aunt in their home while being a very young student at the yeshiva. He recorded for us in his writings that the Carmel Wine Company sent a bottle of wine from its fist production efforts to Rabbi Berlin in recognition of his efforts on behalf of the Jewish settlers in the Land of Israel.

When that bottle of Israeli wine finally reached the small village of Volozhin and was delivered to the house of Rabbi Berlin, the great rabbi entered his bedroom and changed into his Shabat garments in honor of a bottle of wine produced by Jews from the grapes of the Holy Land and upon which all of the agricultural mitzvoth of the Torah had been fulfilled.

I have often thought about this vignette when I hear observant Jews say they prefer wines from France, Argentina, Chile, Australia, South Africa, California, etc. over Israeli wines. They just don’t get it. The lesson of the “boksar” of Tu B’Shvat has apparently not yet taken hold in their souls and psyches.

So Tu B‘Shvat is not just a date (no pun intended) on the Jewish calendar year. It represents our undying and never failing attachment to the Land of Israel. It connects us to the two thousand year old entry in the Mishna that called the day of fifteen Shvat the New Year for trees in the Land of Israel.

The day is a slight holiday in Jewish ritual and synagogue service. I still ate “boksar” this year and its taste has not really materially improved. Yet I enjoyed every bite and I again saw my parents eating it with me. Though there were many other tastier and more delicious Israeli fruits on the table before me, none carried with them the emotional message in my heart that the “boksar” piece did.

So to me the message of Tu B’Shvat did not end last week with the passing of the day.  Rather it serves every day to strengthen our claim to this piece of holy ground and to confirm the great times – each person under his vine and fig tree in security and happiness – that was promised to us by our prophets.