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January 21, 2005
Jewish tradition of trees
No religion has closer ties to agriculture than does Judaism.
DVORA WAYSMAN
Tu b'Shevat, which falls this year on Jan. 25, marks the end of
the rainy season in Israel. Buds are beginning to appear and the
blossoming almond trees, the harbinger of spring, have begun to
dot the landscape. So, on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat,
we celebrate the yearly cycle for the growth of trees in eretz Israel.
According to our Jewish mystic tradition, Tu b'Shevat is the day
when G-d renews the sustenance of the trees, when the sap starts
to rise.
There are many customs that have arisen to remind us of the meaning
of this day. We eat fruits and nuts and the fruits for which the
Torah praises eretz Israel, which is a land of grape vines, figs
and pomegranates, olives and sweet dates.
Many pious Jews hold a Tu b'Shevat seder, not unlike the meal we
have on Passover. This ancient tradition was upheld in Safed, the
seat of kabbalistic studies in the 16th century. On this date, fruit
trees were measured for growth in order to calculate the annual
tithe to the Temple. Even long after the Temple was destroyed, this
seder was a way to reaffirm the spiritual bond with the land in
celebration of the approach of spring and the fruit of the earth.
Today, the Hebrew newspaper Yediot Achronot distributes a
Tu b'Shevat haggadah in time for the holiday. It was devised by
Dr. Joel Rappel of Bar-Ilan University.
There is a snowy white tablecloth, candles, copious amounts of fruit
and nuts; prayers, readings and songs. There are also four cups
of wine accompanied by fruit divided into levels of "ascending
spirituality." The first cup is chilled white wine, symbolizing
winter, accompanied by the lowest level of fruit, which needs a
protective covering, such as oranges or almonds.
The second cup is white wine mixed with a small amount of red, signifying
spring, the budding of new life, and this is served with olives,
apples, peaches and dates (the outer layer is eaten, yet the heart
is protected and has within it the seed of new life).
The third cup is red wine with a small amount of white. This is
the symbol of summer and a perfect world in which nothing is wasted.
With this, the highest level of fruit is eaten, such as figs, grapes
and berries. This is the highest level.
The fourth cup is just red wine, representing fertility and the
bounty of autumnal crops waiting to be harvested.
What else happens on Tu b'Shevat? Very little religiously, but a
lovely ritual has arisen in Israel that's been adopted all over
the Jewish world. It is a popular observance to plant trees, one
of the greatest mitzvot you can do. Trees have great significance
in Judaism. It is written in Deuteronomy: "When you besiege
a city for many days to wage war against it to seize it, don't destroy
its trees...." In the Midrash Shmuel on Pirkei Avot 3:24, it
is written that man is like a tree in that his good deeds are his
produce, his "fruits"; his arms and legs are the branches
that bear these fruits. He is, however, an "upside-down tree,"
for his head is rooted in the heavens, nestled in the spiritual
soils of the Eternal and nourished by his connection to his Creator.
At the end of the Hasmonean dynasty, there lived a holy man named
Choni, known as the circle drawer, and we read his story in the
Talmud Ta'anit 23a. One day Choni saw a man planting a carob tree
and asked him: "How many years does it take for the carob tree
to bear fruit?" The reply was "70 years." Choni asked:
"Do you think you will live another 70 years and reap its fruit?"
The simple man responded: "I am planting the tree not for myself,
but for my grandchildren."
Although the world has never regarded Jews as being tied closely
to the land, the truth is that no religion has closer ties to agriculture
and ecology. The Midrash teaches us that humankind's life depends
on the tree and we are forbidden to live in a city that has no gardens
and trees. They are so important to us that Rabbi Yohanan Ben-Zakai
declared: "If you hold a sapling in your hand and are told:
'Come look, the Messiah has arrived,' plant the sapling first and
only then go and greet the Messiah."
Dvora Waysman is a freelance writer living in Jerusalem.
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