There's a beautiful custom, a minhag, for the faithful – the tamim in Hebrew – to eat lots of fruit on a particular day, celebrating them with words of praise. And that day is Tu Bishvat, the "New Year of the Trees."
I know, it sounds kind of folksy, doesn't it? But this isn't just some quaint tradition. It’s a “wondrous tikkun.” Now, tikkun is a fascinating word. It means "rectification" or "repair." Think of it as fixing something that's broken in the cosmos or preparing something for a future purpose. In this case, celebrating Tu Bishvat with fruit is said to have a powerful, almost magical, effect. It positively affects the sefirot – those divine emanations, specifically Yesod and Malkhut, the male and female principles responsible for bringing abundance into the world.
Even though the writings of the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac Luria (known as the Ari), don't explicitly mention this custom, the underlying principle is potent. This act of eating and praising fruit is believed to rectify and energize Yesod, which in turn results in abundance in nature below.
And what's the ultimate goal? Well, one interpretation suggests it's about producing the finest etrogim – that citrus fruit we use during Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. The etrog is called the peri etz hadar in Hebrew, the “fruit of the goodly tree.” So, in a way, by celebrating with fruit on Tu Bishvat, we're setting the stage for a beautiful Sukkot harvest later in the year.
It's all connected, you see.
Now, where does this custom come from? The Palestinian Talmud, in Asarah Yuhasin (J. Kiddushin. 48b) touches on a related idea. There's a passage there: “‘Listen, humble ones, and rejoice‘ (Psalms 34:3)." Then it says, "R. Hizkiyah R. Kohen said in the name of Rav, ‘In the future a person will have to account for everything that his eyes saw and he did not eat.'" Can you imagine? Being held accountable for the fruit you didn't eat?
Rabbi Elazar was so concerned about this teaching that he’d save gleanings, the food left for the poor. He would eat them, each one at its proper time. This demonstrates the value of appreciating and consuming what the earth provides. And it reminds us that each year, we say a special blessing whenever we eat a fruit for the very first time that season. (This is mentioned in Peri Etz Hadar.)
So, this Tu Bishvat, as you're enjoying that juicy mango or that crisp apple, remember that you're not just eating a piece of fruit. You're participating in a cosmic act of repair, a tikkun olam – repairing the world. You're connecting to the flow of abundance, and you're honoring the bounty of the earth. Pretty amazing, right?