Thoughts & Teachings
Rabbi Deborah Wechsler
The first time that our Rabbis taught us about Tu BiShevat they did so in the Mishna. That magical book which pulled together all areas of Jewish life into one code. From prayer to purity, from the festival cycle to the Temple service – nothing was beyond the reach of the Rabbis of the Mishnah. In the first Mishnah of tractate Rosh Hashanah we learn that there are four new years. Four opportunities to celebrate and mark time, to step back and reflect on the passage of days.
The last of these four new years is Tu BiShevat, the New Year for the trees, the date when most of the winter rains in the land of Israel have ceased and the first blooms appear on the almond trees. The fifteenth of Shevat was appointed the date to mark both the beginning and end of a tree’s years of growth.
The Talmud relates a story about Choni Hama’agel, the circle maker. Once, he was walking on the way, and he saw a man planting a carob tree. Choni asked him "How long will it take for the tree to bear fruit?" The man answered "Seventy years". Choni then asked him, "And are you sure that you will live seventy more years and eat the fruit?" The man responded, "I found this world planted with carob trees. Just as my fathers planted those trees for me, so too, I must do the same for my children after me."
We plant seeds of yiddishkeit, seeds of Torah, seeds of sacred community, for ourselves and for the generations that come after us. We pray that we will continue to grow and blossom. That our trunk and branches be as strong as the cedar of Lebanon, that our flowers be as beautiful as the shekadiyah (almond tree), that our fruit be as fragrant at the citron, and that our congregation be a tree of life to all who hold fast to her.
