There’s a special day in the Jewish calendar that invites us to do just that: Tu Bishvat, the 15th of the month of Shevat. It’s often called the New Year for Trees. But why this particular day? What makes it so special?
Well, the simple answer is that Tu Bishvat marks a turning point in the agricultural cycle in Israel. By this time, most of the year’s rain has already fallen. The shefa, the vital sap, begins to rise in the trees. It’s a time of renewal, when the promise of fruit starts to become real. The trees awaken, and so too, perhaps, should we.
But there’s a deeper, more mystical meaning at play here. You see, Tu Bishvat isn’t just about the physical trees around us. It’s also about the supernal tree, a concept explored in Peri Etz Hadar, a Kabbalistic text. This "supernal tree" isn’t rooted in our earthly soil. Instead, it represents the higher worlds, the divine realms from which all blessings flow.
Think of it this way: just as the sap rises in the trees of our world, so too does divine abundance, or shefa, flow from these upper realms. It’s the New Year's Day, so to speak, for tithing the fruit of trees. This shefa descends, nourishing not only the physical trees and their fruit, but also the spiritual forces that govern them. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, about the connection between the visible and the invisible?
So, as we celebrate Tu Bishvat, let’s not only enjoy the fruits of the trees. Let's also take a moment to appreciate the intricate web of connections that link us to the divine, to the shefa that sustains all of life, above and below. Can we align ourselves with the renewal of this season? What new growth can we cultivate in our own lives?