|
Today is: Thursday, Shvat 15, 5771 · January 20, 2011
Tu B'Shevat - New Year for Trees
• New Year for Trees
Today is Tu B'Shevat ("the 15th of
Shevat") which marks the beginning of a "New Year for Trees." This is
the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel
emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.
Legally, the "New Year for Trees" relates to the various tithes that
must be separated from produce grown in the Holy Land. We mark the day
by eating fruit, particularly from the "Seven Kinds" that are singled
out by the Torah in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land (wheat,
barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates). On this day we
remember that "Man is a tree of the field" (Deuteronomy 20:19) and
reflect on the lessons we can derive from our botanical analogue.
For more on Tu B'Shevat go here
In the Burning Bush, Moses beheld the
heart of the simple Jew, who lacks the learning and spiritual
achievement of the "fruit baring trees," and whose heart therefore burn
with an insatiable yearning for G-d
- Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov
Chitas and Rambam for today:
| 
Audio: 
