The Almond Trees are Growing

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Happy New Year!!!!!

Don’t be so surprised.   Because today is one of the four new years that exist in the Hebrew calendar.   (The others are the first day of Nisan, right before Passover, which is the new year for kings and festivals; the first day of Elul, the new year for tithing; and the first of Tishrei, which we all know as Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.)   Tu B’Shvat, today’s new year,  is when the earliest blooming trees in the State of Israel begin their next fruit-bearing cycle.

This new year is an ecological one.  It’s officially the new year for trees, but it’s our celebration of the force of nature and the environment in the world.  (Consider it the first- the real first- Earth Day.)

It’s been traditional to devour the seven species that are denoted in the Tora- grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates (from which the biblical honey is derived) are the fruits.  The other two species are wheat and barley.  (Many “spiritualists” (who study the Kabbala) match these seven species to the seven attributes of our human existence.)

A more recent tradition has been to participate in what is called a Tu B’Shvat Seder. (Seder means order or arrangement of events).   In the late 1500s, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (from Tzfat, Israel), who was among the revivalists of the Kabbalist tradition, created this seminal event.  Its goal was to restore Hashem’s blessings upon us by strengthening and repairing the Tree of Life.

OK.  It’s a New Year’s celebration.  But, what else we do on this day?   In my family (and I hope in yours), it’s the time to donate money to Keren Kayemet LYisrael, the Jewish National Fund.  So, that trees get planted in the land of Israel.

This, over the years, has been among the primary methods by which Israel was able to reclaim the land from the desert.  It made it possible for Israel to become one of the prime agricultural regions in the Middle East.

Some of us may actually ask the Fund to use our donations to help prune and manage the forests that have proliferated across the State.  Because that conservation effort has been lacking- and many terrible forest fires have led to the deaths of firefighters as well as significant property damage.  Except the terrorist attacks over the past few years involved forest fires- so we need to rebuild the tree stock once again.

Whatever your tradition or religion, today is a great time to consider the role of nature in our lives- and what climate change may yet provide.  Like recognizing climate change is real!

The almond tree is growing,
A golden sun is glowing;
Birds sing out in joyous glee
From every roof and every tree.

Tu Bishvat is here,
The Jewish Arbor Day
Hail the trees’ New Year,
Happy holiday!

By the way, Tu B’Shvat (Hebrew: טו בשבט‎) is just the Hebrew letters [to the left] sounded out.  Tu is the sound the number 15 (Tet and Vav) make, and it’s the 15th of Shvat.  (B’ means within or of.)

 

And, today- in America, where we move important dates to Mondays to create 3 day holidays- we are celebrating Martin Luther King Day.  I’ve reminded you how important Dr. King was and his efforts last week- on his birthday (and the day before.)

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10 thoughts on “The Almond Trees are Growing”

  1. How interesting to learn more about the Jewish faith. Nature and environment are so important. Happy New Year to you and your family.

  2. Happy New Year! Roy… Climate change is such a critical topic and planting more trees is something we should actively work towards (and cutting less of them in the first place!)
    We celebrated our harvest festival last week as well, and give thanks to the sun at that time.

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