|
|
Feb. 2, 2007
Happy New Year to the Earth
Little known in western Judaism until the last century, Tu b'Shevat
is now popular.
DAVE GORDON
You've done Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Last month, you
did the secular calendar's New Year's. But wait. There's another
New Year – the Jewish New Year of Trees, Tu b'Shevat.
Indeed, while our Christian neighbors have long since tossed their
living room pines, many Jews are planting and celebrating trees,
but a few weeks later. This year, Tu b'Shevat falls on Feb. 3 and,
as rabbis tell us, it is the demarcation date roughly coinciding
with when the year begins for assessing the tithes and other agricultural
obligations for fruit trees. But it's about more than just trees.
Tu b'Shevat celebrates the tree's fruit-bearing potential, and sees
the tree as a metaphor for personal growth.
And if you thought Passover was the only holiday with a seder, it's
not so. In the 16th century, the kabbalists in Safed, Israel, compiled
a Tu b'Shevat seder.
"There's a meal and a ritual that touches all of our senses,
and a stage for communicating spiritual ideas," said Rabbi
Michael Skobac, educational director of Jews for Judaism in Toronto.
Skobac, who has led many Tu b'Shevat seders, said the meal involves
enjoying fruits, particularly those native to the land of Israel,
and a discussion of philosophical and kabbalistic concepts associated
with the holiday. Before each fruit is eaten, a portion of the Torah
or Talmud is learned and the appropriate blessing is recited.
The ideal seder contains 30 kinds of fruit of various characteristics,
he said. Some make a blessing on a new fruit they haven't eaten
yet this season and many partake in planting trees (or buying one)
in honor of the holiday. Judaism sees meaning in everything, even
in fruit, said Skobac. "It deals with our connection to nature,
spirituality and our connection to the land."
The festival gets its name because it lands on the 15th day of the
Jewish month of Shevat. Tu is not really a word; it is the
alphanumeric name for 15 in Hebrew. Despite being discussed in such
extrabiblical texts as the Mishnah and the Talmud, relatively little
information is available about the holiday. So, otherwise well-informed
Jews often lack basic information about the rituals.
One basic thread of the holiday is appreciating Mother Earth, according
to Rabbi Arthur Waskow, director of Philadelphia's Shalom Centre.
"People have realized – younger people as well –
that the future is the human interconnection with the Earth,"
he said. He noted that the correlation is also evident in the similarities
between the Hebrew words for Earth and man; Adama and adam.
"There is no such thing as the two away from one another. Young
American Jews have gotten it. The human race cannot survive without
caring for the life of the planet. The Earth is awesome as well
as lovable. Let's not forget about the awesomeness, instead of only
concentrating on the lovable."
Waskow is also the author of Seasons of Our Joy, a book about
the Jewish festival cycles, which has an entire chapter dedicated
to Tu b'Shevat. As well, he was the managing editor of Trees,
Earth and Torah: A Tu b'Shevat Anthology.
"Call it Earth Day, not Arbor Day," he said. "It
is not only about the pretty Earth or the nurturing trees. It is
also about the dangers we face because of human behavior. It is
the sense of the mystical and practical, joining hands in the protection
of the Earth. The protection of the Earth is the protection of God."
Tu b'Shevat and its seder tended to be more on the Jewish radar
500 years ago, when it was invented, but today is regaining popularity,
said Waskow. The holiday "did connect with some Sephardim and
India's Jews," he said, "where they had a tradition of
celebrating a seder. When they talked about the tree of life, they
meant Torah and God. They saw God, whose roots are in heaven and
his fruits are us, the great divine tree of abundance." Why
has Tu bShevat only recently entered the West's orbit?
"It gathered steam after the Zionist movement began,"
Waskow said. "A combination of American interest in the environment,
tree-planting in Israel and Zionism made Tu b'Shevat more popular."
But he contends there's another reason, more about today's Jews
looking into their own roots. "It has become about the search
for spirituality," he said. "This generation takes a serious
look at spirituality, seeing it as totally connected with care for
the Earth."
Dave Gordon is a freelance writer. His work has appeared
in the Baltimore Sun, Toronto Sun and National Post.
^TOP
|
|
