By Avi
Lazerson
The Rabbis of the Talmud taught us that Tu B’Shvat is the New Year for trees.
It is considered a minor holiday. The explanation is that by the fifteenth of
Shvat, the tree has taken up enough moisture from the ground to be able to
produce the new fruits.
When we try to understand this in view of the fact that on Rosh Hashanah the
entire world is judged, we find some difficulty. If indeed the entire world is
judged on Rosh Hashanah, since man is dependent on plant life for a great part
of his sustenance, wouldn’t this judgment include the fruits of the trees?
Isn’t rain in the hands of G-d? If all of man’s produce is decreed on Rosh
Hashanah, then what need is there for Tu B’Shvat?
In trying to understand the importance of Tu B’Shvat we find an interesting
comparison of the tree to man. Fruits of the tree are totally dependent on the
yearly rain. Without rain, the tree lacks the ability to produce fruit.
Soon after Rosh Hashanah, the tree “dies”. Its leaves wither and fall and it
appears lifeless. The winter rains and snow fall into the ground around this
lifeless looking tree and unseen by man, the tree begins to slowly draw up the
moisture from the ground.
The tree stands as an intermediate between heaven and the earth. It is
entrenched in the earth, yet it unites the waters of the heavens through the
magical influence of the sun.
Until Tu B’Shvat, this process is concealed. Suddenly, in the month of Shvat,
the tree begins to show the smallest signs of life. New leaves begin to appear
and buds begin to blossom.
Although no new fruit has appeared, we rejoice in knowing that soon the promise
of the New Year will yield new delicious fruits.
This process is similar in man. When a child is born, it is not apparent
what goodness he will bring into the world. The child is nurtured by his parents
for some twelve or thirteen years and then we have the “bar mitzvah”. The
bar mitzvah is the coming of age for the child, the time when we begin to have a
glimpse of the man of the future, what type of person he will be. We celebrate
this, although the “fruits” of this child are not apparent. Yet by virtue of
the mere glimpse of the deeds of the child we celebrate, because as the child
has at this age shown such good signs, we are assured that he will grow straight
and develop in this path.
Man is like the tree. He stands between the heavens and the earth, between the
spiritual and physical. He stands on the ground, in the midst of the physical
world, yet absorbs the influences of the higher spiritual world. For the first
thirteen years, his growth is dependent on the physical and spiritual nurture
that his parents provide.
When he reaches bar mitzvah, he is now on the verge of becoming an independent
person, producing fruits, the mitzvoth and good deeds that he will perform. We
rejoice with him, just like we rejoice on Tu B’Shvat for the trees. We rejoice
over the very near future that will bring goodness to the world.
Although we have seen that Tu B’Shvat is similar to the bar mitzvah, we are
left trying to understand why Tu B’Shvat is considered a new year for trees
and not a bar mitzvah for trees.
A tree renews itself each year, whereas a person comes to age only once. The
tree gives its fruit for a period within the year, a person has his lifetime.
Tu B’Shvat should have been the bar mitzvah for trees, except that this is a
yearly cycle. Even though the produce of the new year has been decreed at Rosh
Hashanah, still, there are other considerations such as where the rain will
fall, how much rain will fall and when it will fall.
For a person the cycle in not yearly, but it is a life cycle. Each year the
person becomes one year older on his birthday. The birthday is the individual
“new year”. The bar mitzvah is the “new year” for the boy, as he begins
his development into manhood.
Our happiness on Tu B’Shvat is the rejoicing over the beginning of the new
year for trees decreed on Rosh Hashanah. It is the perception of the
goodness of G-d being brought from the latent state into revelation in our
everyday life.
Tu B’Shvat is the holiday in which the world with all of its inhabitants
awakens to produce its goodness.
* * *
Avi Lazerson lives in Jerusalem and is a staff writer for the Jewish Magazine, http://www.jewishmag.com
or http://www.jewishmag.co.il
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