By the grace of G-d
Copyright © 1999 Nathaniel Segal
You have probably heard how the Jewish New Year, called Rosh Hashanah, begins in the autumn. In our prayers then, we beseech G-d to bless us during the new year with adequate rain for all our needs, especially the Holy Land's need for rain. The rains actually start falling in the Land of Israel about five weeks after Rosh Hashanah. By the time that three more months have passed, this fresh rain water becomes available to the roots of the trees. We call this new event the New Year for Trees.
The Mishnah instructs us to consider the fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Shvat * as the New Year for Trees. It is called Tu B'Shvat — "Tu" stands for the number fifteen. This is taught in the first Mishnah of the tractate Rosh Hashanah.
Tu B'Shvat falls between January 16 and February 13 on the civil calendar. In 2013, Tu B'Shvat is Saturday (Shabbat), January 26.
In a war against our enemies, the Torah warns us against destroying the land's food ecology. This means not destroying any fruit bearing trees. The Torah teaches us that only people can become our enemy, but not fruit trees. This lesson is taught by asking the rhetorical question: "For is a person like the tree of the field?" (Deuteronomy 20:19).
There is no punctuation in the actual Torah scroll. In fact, if anyone were to put in punctuation, the scroll would lose its full holiness and become invalid for congregational readings. Since the Torah was given without punctuation, the Sages have a tradition that we can read this verse in Deuteronomy as a statement: "For a person is like the tree of a field!" The Sages are teaching us that people are like fruit trees in several respects and that we can learn many things from trees.
One thing that we learn from trees is that they always grow. As long as they are alive, they grow. At first we might think that no growth occurs during the dormant winter. However, as the word "dormant" infers, the trees are only asleep. Nevertheless, their roots are busy under the soil long before fresh leaves and new shoots appear. What appears to be an interruption of the process of growth is only a pause to gather new strength for further growth for producing fresh new fruit every year.
If a tree is constantly growing, surely a human being should be constantly growing. Humans grow both physically and mentally while children — in fact, this growth is not subject to will power or choice. As children grow physically, getting bigger and stronger, their minds develop and characters develop too. In a good environment with proper encouragement, children acquire more knowledge and their daily behavior improves.
A time comes when a person stops growing physically, but his or her mental, social, and spiritual development can continue. In fact, the real measure of a person is the extent that he or she continues to advance in all these areas as an adult. So young or old, it is not in feet and inches (or centimeters) that the real person is measured. What really matters is that people continue to learn to use their knowledge in everyday life and conduct.
Our character is our root system, and our fruits are our deeds. In these, we must grow constantly. No matter how fully grown we may think ourselves today, we need to grow at least a little more tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow must be better still. There is always room for growth, and the time for improvement is always now.
— adapted from Talks and Tales, February, 1981
Volume XL, Number 2 (484)
published by Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, Brooklyn, New York
Shvat - SHVAHT
another spelling: Shevat