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Four Questions for the Tu B'Shvat Seder

By Rabbi Larry Troster

During the past 20 years, many Jews have celebrated Tu B’Shvat with a seder based on a kabbalistic tradition that has been reinterpreted in a modern environmental context. The Tu B’Shvat seder consists of a series of blessings over various fruits and combinations of white and red wine, symbolizing the progression of the seasons and God’s presence in the natural world.

Every seder tells a story in response to four questions. Mitchell Thomashow, professor of environmental studies at Antioch New England Graduate School and author of Ecological Identity, encourages us to ask the following questions at a Tu B’Shvat seder: What do I know about the place where I live? Where do things come from? How do I connect to the earth? What is my purpose as a human being?

What do I know about the place where I live?
Trees are particular about the place in which they live. A tree can tell us a lot about the history of its place and how humans have acted upon it. In the tree, we can see the effect of human settlement and industry as well as natural events, like storms or fires.

How much do we really know about the places we live? Try as we might to make every suburb the same ersatz arcadia, each physical locale in which our communities are built has a geological, biological and cultural story. This question should make us learn and tell those stories. Then we can become rooted not only in the Land of Israel, but also in the land on which we actually live, work and worship.

Where do things come from?
Everything we eat, everything we wear or use has its roots in the natural world. Who made them? Where did the materials come from? How were they processed? What is the environmental cost of our expecting to buy any product from anywhere in the world delivered to our front door? What is the true cost of our being able to eat fresh vegetables all year round? This question leads to a series of questions that should make us better appreciate our abundance and wealth.

How do I connect to the earth?
The first human was called Adam: earthling. We can never leave that original name. All that we are, all that we are made of, all that we live on, comes from the earth. We may try to separate ourselves from the rhythms of the earth. We may heat and air condition our houses and cars, but we cannot live outside the earth. We may shape the earth but we can never completely control it. We belong to the earth; the earth does not belong to us.

What is my purpose as a human being?
One might also ask: What is the purpose of a tree? A tree does not live to be a resource. It has a worth and a meaning in creation beyond our needs. And so we have a purpose and a worth beyond our roles as producers and consumers. Is there some greater good for humanity? This question calls upon us to recognize our place in the order of creation. Like the trees, we are voices in that great choir of life that praises with its every breath the creator of the universe.