Why should the new year for the trees come out in the dead of winter? Wouldn’t it make more sense to celebrate the green new year in Nissan, the beginning of spring? Why in the middle of Shvat?
“Don’t judge by appearances,” explain our Sages. “By Tu B’Shvat, most of the rains of the year have already fallen and the sap is already rising in the tree trunks.” In other words, from the outside, the trees are bare and look dead. But on the 15th of Shvat, the inner vitality of the trees in the Land of Israel awakens.
We also have to hone our ability to identify the sap rising in the tree of our national lives – even when it appears from the outside that it is about to fall over. A great wave of aliyah is at our doorstep and everywhere you look, you can see the development of infrastructure and construction that cannot be stopped.
There is much that needs to be rectified from its very foundation. But the spring is right around the corner and a great blossoming is emerging. Happy Tu B’Shvat.
No comments:
Post a Comment