Trees, Shabbat, And Israel's Ecology By Jonathan Wolf

CELEBRATING TU B'SHVAT THIS YEAR [5763/ 2003]
TREES, SHABBAT, AND ISRAEL'S ECOLOGY

The holiday of Tu B'Shvat is a minor one on the Jewish calendar. It appears nowhere in the Bible, and when it first appears in Jewish literature, in the Mishna, its very date is the subject of dispute. Yet today it is an occasion rich with symbolism and significance, because of what it represents: nature and the environment, and the bounty of the Land of Israel.

Tu B'Shvat originated as one of the four New Years prescribed in Jewish law [Mishna Rosh Hashana 1:1]. It was set as the New Year of Trees, a kind of dividing line of the fiscal year for prescribing tithes, orlah (the first 3 years of a tree's life), and according to some authorities the shmitta (sabbatical) year. Hillel and Shammai disagreed on the date; the school of Hillel (as almost always) was victorious in setting it as the fifteenth of the month of Shvat, when the earth in the Holy Land begins to warm up, the water starts to flow through the ground and the sap in the trees, including early-blossoming trees like the Almond (shaked), burst into bloom.

After the destruction of the Temple, the tithe offerings ended and the Jews were dispersed : thus the agricultural laws of the Land of Israel did not apply in most Jewish communities. Tu B'Shvat became a time of celebration and commemoration, recollecting the days when the Jewish people lived on its own land, working to bring forth the fruit of its earth. Numerous customs evolved (such as the colorful "Hamishusar" in some Sephardic communities) and Jews recited blessings and ate fruits, if possible those grown in Israel.

In the 1500's in the Galilee city of Safed (or S'fat/Tzfat), identified in the Talmud as one of the Holy Cities in the Land, the community of Kabbalists, followers of Rabbi Isaac Luria (the "Ari"), developed a special liturgy for Tu B'Shvat [as they also invented the kabbalat shabat service for Friday evenings and the all-night Tikun on Shavuot and Hoshana Rabba]: the Seder Leil Tu B'Shvat. The Kabbalists would stay up all night reciting their Seder, based loosely on the Passover Seder, which focused on fruits, trees, brachot, and kavvanot: invocations of attention and blessing on the fate of the trees and their fruit during the coming year, similar to prayers for human life and welfare on Rosh Hashana.

The text of the Kabbalists' Seder included four cups of wine, evolving in color from entirely white to red-with-a-drop-of-white; the tasting of 21 different fruits, beginning with the seven species identified with the Land of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:8 (wheat, barley, olives, dates, grapes, figs, and pomegranates), followed by fruits mentioned in the Bible, particularly the Song of Songs (etrog, apple, walnut, almond), and the carob (long associated with Tu B'Shvat). The order of the Seder was first published in the 1700's in the volume Pri Etz Hadar, attributed to Rabbi Haim Vital, which details the wines, the fruits, and the passages from Bible, Midrash, Mishna, Talmud, and especially Zohar, since the Kabbalists found mystical meaning in each reading and tasting. Their Seder also included eating from three types of fruits corresponding to three of the four Lurianic "worlds": wholly edible fruits such as figs for olam habriya (the world of creation), fruits edible on the outside but with pits, such as cherries, representing the world of yetzira (formation), and fruits with outside shells but edible insides such as pistachios, symbolizing the world of asiyah (action).

In the last century the pioneers in Israel adopted Tu B'Shvat as an occasion for planting trees as part of the mass Jewish return to the Land and its rebuilding and renewal. The Tu B'Shvat Seder, a ritual which had been little remembered or practiced in most communities, has been revived and reinvented in recent decades. Today, Tu B'Shvat has become an occasion for directing our thoughts and energies to the natural world, to God's Creation and our responsibilities to "labor over and preserve" it [l'ovdah ul'shomrah - Genesis 2:15], and to the Land of Israel and its particular sanctity, importance, and fragility.

Tu B'Shvat on Shabbat: The holiday can fall on any day of the week (except Friday or Sunday), and only occurs on Shabbat, as it does this time, every few years. Tu B'Shvat has fallen on Shabbat only once in the past nine years. It does so again next year, and then only twice in the following eight years.

Nothing specific changes in the observance of Tu B'Shvat when it takes place on Shabbat. But it provides an opportunity for a longer, more intensive Seder during or after Shabbat dinner or as part of an Oneg Shabbat gathering, and for Torah study, discussions, sermons, singing, children's celebrations, divrei torah, and other opportunities in the course of Shabbat to turn attention to the holiday, fruit and trees, natural and environmental concerns in Judaism, and the qualities of the Land of Israel.

The Sabbath is central to virtually all of the Torah's insights and instructions concerning the Earth and its protection. The intent of the prohibitions and obligations involved in observing Shabbat, according to many rabbinic sources, is to take us away from our weekday preoccupation with changing and leaving our mark on the world, to withdraw from acquiring and impacting, in order that we may reflect and recognize the beauty and integrity of Creation. Shabbat is a foretaste of the World to Come, on which we accept and respect the world as it is, rather than trying to build or destroy elements within it. The Ten Commandments instructs us that not only people but animals must share in the Sabbath rest. The shmitta year, the seventh year on which Jews in the Land of Israel are directed not to plant or harvest but to allow the land to lie fallow to renew itself, and to allow the poor to partake freely of the crops, is called 'shabbat ha'aretz' - the Land's Sabbath.

The themes of the splendors of God's world, the beauty of the Land of Israel, and Shabbat come together in the lyrical imagery of the Song of Songs, a book of love songs which celebrate fruits and nuts and wines (it is frequently quoted in the Kabbalists' Seder for Tu B'Shvat), the valleys and vineyards and orchards of Israel, and the glories of nature in Spring (of which Tu B'Shvat, at least in Israel if not in chilly climes, is the herald). Because the Song of Songs is also (according to Rabbi Akiba in the Talmud) an allegory of the relationship of God and the Jewish people, it is customary to recite it at the beginning of Shabbat, the time of greatest intimacy between Jews and the Divine.

Create an Eco-Shabbat! When Tu B'Shvat falls on Shabbat as it does this year, it becomes an opportunity to dedicate the day to enjoying and recognizing the natural world, Israel, and our responsibilities for the environment. Meals, lectures, nature hikes, children's carnivals, services, seudah shlishit (the late Saturday afternoon meal), study groups: many times and events during Shabbat can address and draw attention on the Torah's teachings about the meaning of true Sabbath rest, our obligations to preserve our world for future generations, the delights and varieties of healthful foods which spring from the earth, and our ties to the historic Jewish homeland in Israel and its rivers and hills. Every synagogue, Hillel house, havurah, JCC, religious school, senior center, community, and family can invent and adapt its own expression of an Environmental Shabbat on Tu B'Shvat-whether Seder, party, speaker, festive meal, text learning, games, songs, stories, or all-night gathering. This Shabbat is a propitious and auspicious time for focusing on the earth and its wonders and the ways it supports us and we protect it. When Tu B'Shvat falls on Shabbat, it is always Shabbat Shira, on which we read the Songs at the Sea of Moses and the children of Israel, and of Miriam and all the women [Exodus 15:1-21] and the haftara of the Song of Deborah [Judges 5:1-31]; it is an especially appropriate Shabbat for songs, whether around a circle, at meals, or performed by cantor, choir, or children's chorale - including songs of Israel, of trees and fruits, from the Song of Songs, or of the melodies of Creation.

Israel's environment today: The Land of Israel is not just the place where Jews and Judaism originated, or our future Messianic home: it is a real country of soil and winds and a wide variety of eco-systems. It is also in terrible trouble. Israel's air, water, and land are contaminated and getting worse. In most of its rivers, fish can only live for a few minutes. The air pollution in Jerusalem is projected to be worse than Mexico City's by 2010. The severe shortage of water supplies is rapidly worsening, as is the problem of garbage and solid waste. The number of automobiles increased one hundredfold in recent decades, while in a small country ideally suited to railways, the entire system of public transportation is inadequate and underfunded. Israel's toxic waste dumps are overflowing and not properly contained.

The efforts of Israeli environmentalists are currently directed at stopping a bizarre plan to build large islands off the coast of Tel Aviv for housing, offices, and stores which would deplete the sand on Israel's beaches, cause coastlines to crumble, and ravage marine life. The islands program may be pushed forward as soon as this year, without any of the usually-required environmental plans or permits.

As part of an Environmental Shabbat on Tu B'Shvat, materials, speakers, and discussions on these current threats to Israel's environment can be arranged and programmed into the day.

Once every few years, Tu B'Shvat and Shabbat come together, providing Jewish groups and communities an ideal time to talk, study, celebrate, sing and think together about the blessings for which we are grateful, the world we need to rescue, the Holy Land and its riches and dangers, the harmony of nature, and Sabbath peace.