Dear Chevre (Friends):
Why is Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of the Trees, in the dead of winter? It seems odd to be celebrating the glory of creation when the earth is sleeping under a thick blanket of snow. Actually, the Rabbis deliberately chose a quiescent period in the natural cycle to mark the turn of the fiscal year. Originally, Tu B’Shevat, the 15th of the month of Shevat, served as Tax Day, like our April 15. It was the day when tithes came due. All residents of the land (ancient Israel was a primarily agricultural society) remitted one tenth of their annual produce to the priests, who redistributed it to the poor and destitute. Naturally, it was easiest for farmers to compute their total yield after the completion of one growing season and before the beginning of the next.
The origins of Tu B’Shevat remind us of the inextricable link between our gratitude for nature’s bounty and our obligation to share it with those less fortunate. “Everything from the earth is sacred property. Anyone who derives pleasure from the world without first reciting a berachah (blessing) is guilty of stealing sacred property.” (bBerachot 35a) In part, blessings over food express gratitude, and in part, they remind us of our sacred obligation to share our food with the poor. Of course, we recite a blessing not just at this evening’s Tu B’Shevat Seder, but every time we sit down to a meal.
rabbi.brian.besser@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment