From weddings and Bar/Bat Mitzvahs to business functions and lectures, our facility is a great setting and location for your special occasion. BAS Rabbi's Message for January 2010
An Innovative Ritual:
A Seder for the Festival of Trees and Fruits: A Tu B’Shevat Happening.
posted December 29, 2009
Following the tradition of the mystics of Safed in the 1500’s, Bnai Abraham Synagogue will hold a special kiddush for Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of the Trees and Fruits, on Saturday, January 30th, following Services.
Jewish mysticism in the Kabbala pictures one illustration of the sefirot (divine emanations), of God’s reaching out to the universe, to be in the form of an inverted tree, with its roots in heaven and its branches flowing through the world, nourishing humanity and all of God’s creation with divine energy, an apt image for the New Year for Trees, as it is termed in the Mishneh.
In order to understand and experience how the tree concept functions, different types of fruits and nuts, symbolic of God’s various emanations, manifestations, and creations, are to be eaten, and four different mixtures of white and red wine are to be drunk. Thus God’s presence in nature and the world is truly sensed in all of its marvelous reality, a delicious, delectable, delightful feeling. Songs, stories, blessings, and creative liturgical participation will be an integral part of the seder’s ritual.
At Hanukkah time, some of the shortest days of the year allow one to feel the deep darkness as it envelops and encompasses the surroundings, but the lights kindled in the Hanukkah menorah dispel the gloom, with the message that renewed dedication will presage bright days ahead.
Likewise the Birthday of the trees, Tu B’Shevat, happens to fall at a time when the ground is at its hardest, iced over and shut tight. It would appear to be a fruitless endeavor to believe that in planting the earth would be able to yield its precious gifts.
Precisely at this point, the Festival for Trees and Fruits transpires. With effort and understanding, much abundance and productivity will be ours. Begin now at the bleakest of times! We can all be recipients of God’s manifold blessings. Let us taste the abundance of blessings, and rejoice in rejuvenation together on Saturday morning, January 30, at a special kiddush following services.
A Tu B’Shevat Story: One day Honi was journeying on the road, and he saw a man planting a carob tree; he asked him, “How long does it take for this tree to bear fruit?” The man replied, “Seventy years.” He then further asked him, “Are you certain that you will live another seventy years?” The man replied, “I found ready grown carob trees in the world; as my forefathers and mothers planted these for me, so I too plant these for my children.” (The Talmud, Ta’anit 23a).
Happy and Healthy 2010!
Shalom,
Rabbi Mark L. Shrager
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