Rabbi's Message - January 2012

Rabbi Stuart Federow
rabbistuart@hotmail.com

This year, Wednesday, February 8th, 2012, is T'U B'Shvat, the 15th day of the Jewish month of Shvat, the Jewish birthday for trees. Now, you might be wondering why I am writing about a February holiday for the Shofar of January, and why I am writing this in December, just a few weeks before the New Year of the secular calendar? The reason is because although everyone thinks about the secular New Year of December 31st - January 1st, and we Jews think about the New Year of Rosh Hashana as well, there really are more 'new years' in the secular calendar than we realize. So, for example, there is the beginning of school in August, which is the New Year for school. There is the 'new year' for every sport, as the season for them comes along through the year. So, it should not surprise us that Judaism also has more than one New Year.

T'U B'Shvat is the New Year for trees. A Happy Holiday, one that has reminded the Jews of our obligation to take care of the Environment for millenia, it was also a necessity to be able to mark the birthday or the New Year for trees. This necessity stems (no pun intended) from the Biblical command that a tree's fruit is not to be eaten for the first three years, in Leviticus 19:23, and in the next verse we are commanded to give the fruit of the fourth year to the Temple. Only then, in the fifth year, was the fruit to be eaten.

But how can one know the birthday of a tree? One cannot, so T'U B'Shvat is the day where fruit ripening before it are the fruit of one year, but the fruit that ripens after T'U B'Shvat is considered the fruit of the next year. T'U B'Shvat is the birthday, the line that separates one year of a tree from the next.

So, happy T'U B'Shvat! On February 8th, 2012, plant a tree! Or, if you cannot plant a tree, then at least go hug one! Okay, maybe that is taking T'U B'Shvat a little far, but at least take a few moments to appreciate trees and all they do for us!