{"id":31685,"date":"2019-01-18T03:43:47","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T11:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=31685"},"modified":"2019-01-16T10:45:10","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T18:45:10","slug":"the-beauty-of-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/01\/18\/the-beauty-of-creation\/","title":{"rendered":"The beauty of creation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Israel, Tu b\u2019Shevat is a day for planting saplings. (photo from JNF via israel21c.org<\/a>)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKeep a green tree in your heart and perhaps\nthe singing bird will come.\u201d This lovely quotation is not from our sages, but\nis an old Chinese proverb. Nevertheless, it seems appropriate for Tu b\u2019Shevat,\nthe New Year of the Trees, which falls this year on Jan. 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, we have our own Jewish sources. For\nexample, \u201cWhen you see handsome people or fine trees, pronounce the\nbenediction, \u2018Praised be He who created beautiful things.\u2019\u201d (Tosefta: Berakot\n7:4) Trees have a great significance in Judaism and, long before \u201cecology\u201d\nbecame a popular word, Jews were commanded, even in times of war, when\nbesieging a city, to not destroy its trees. (Deuteronomy 20:19)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trees were sacred to many people. Pagans\nbelieved that gods inhabited them and took their forms. They were druidic,\nrising out of the earth and tossing their hair. They cooled, sheltered and\ncalmed. It is easy to understand reverence for the splendor and dignity of\ntrees, but only Judaism has a new year for them, which falls on 15th day of the\nHebrew month of Shevat (Tu b\u2019Shevat<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Israel, this date once marked the time from\nwhich to count the age of the tree for reasons of tithe or taxes, and also to\nindicate the maturation of the fruit of the tree. Even today, fruit cannot be\neaten until the fourth year, so Tu b\u2019Shevat standardizes the birthday of trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The holiday doesn\u2019t commemorate any great\nhistorical event, and there are no special prayers in the synagogue. It is a\nlovely time, ushered in by blossoming white almond trees with their promise of\nwarm summer weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tu b\u2019Shevat is traditionally a time for\nplanting every variety of tree. The Talmud mentions \u201cthe joyous planting\u201d on\nhappy occasions. There was a delightful custom of planting a cedar when a boy\nwas born and a cypress sapling at the birth of a girl. When a couple married,\nthe wood of the trees would be used as poles to support the wedding canopy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Israel, it is a day for children and teens\nto go with their teachers into the hills and valleys and plant tens of\nthousands of saplings. There is also a custom to eat all the fruits of Israel \u2013\nolives, dates, grapes, figs, citrus, apples, bananas, nuts and pears, which\ngrow in great abundance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many scholars stay up late on the eve of Tu\nb\u2019Shevat, reciting biblical passages dealing with the earth\u2019s fertility. They\nread from Genesis how trees were created along with all the plants; from\nLeviticus how the Divine promised abundance as a reward for keeping the\ncommandments; and from Ezekiel 17, the parable of the spreading vine, symbolizing\nthe people of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people hold a special seder to celebrate\nthe holiday, the New Year of the Tree of Life. They drink four cups of wine,\nbeginning with white wine and ending with red, with the second cup a mixture\nmore of white and the third more of red wine. It is rather like the landscape,\nas it changes from white (pale narcissus and crocus) to red (anemones and\ntulips) as Tu b\u2019Shevat approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as being a birthday, Tu b\u2019Shevat is\nalso a day of judgment for the trees, which ones will thrive and be healthy,\nwhich ones will wither and die. Chassidim pray for the etrogim, that they may\ngrow in beauty and perfection for Sukkot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planting trees is very significant for Jews,\nthe indestructible people for whom faith in the future is almost an emblem. We\nplant trees whose fruit we will not eat and in whose shade we will not sit. The\none who fears that the world will end tomorrow or next year does not plant\ntrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well, Tu b\u2019Shevat affirms that the soil of Israel is holy. The people and the land have a mystic affinity in Judaism, and the New Year of the Trees reminds us every year of the wonder of God\u2019s creation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dvora Waysman<\/strong> is a Jerusalem-based author. She has written 14 books, including <\/em>The Pomegranate Pendant, which was made into a movie, and her latest novella, <\/em>Searching for Sarah. She can be contacted at dwaysman@gmail.com<\/a> or through her blog dvorawaysman.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Israel, Tu b\u2019Shevat is a day for planting saplings. (photo from JNF via israel21c.org) \u201cKeep a green tree in your heart and perhaps the singing bird will come.\u201d This lovely quotation is not from our sages, but is an old Chinese proverb. Nevertheless, it seems appropriate for Tu b\u2019Shevat, the New Year of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781],"tags":[2845,218,401,6706,3006],"class_list":["post-31685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-holidays","tag-environment","tag-judaism","tag-seder","tag-trees","tag-tu-bshevat"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}