Jason Mitrione; Unsplash
There is a Kabbalistic approach to next week’s Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shevat that takes eating and drinking to a mystical level. In celebration of this festival, known as the New Year for the Trees, 17th century Jewish mystics developed a Tu B’shvat seder. They referred to this ritual as a tikkun, or repairing, providing a means to reconnect our spiritual selves to the natural world. Over the course of the evening, the seder steps move through an exploration of the layered meaning represented by the foods consumed. We start with fruits and nuts that are protected by a peel or shell, then those with an inner pit and then those we can consume fully, while throughout we also drink fruits distilled into juice or wine. Through this ritual, the trees and their offerings create a portal into understanding our own layers. How do we protect ourselves? What do we hide? What do we take in fully? What do we distill to its essence? What are the many layers to who we are, from our grief to our joys and everything in between? How do we explore these layers and how do we reveal them to others?
This month’s resources offer many ways to dive into those types of questions. The reflections by Gamal Palmer and the collection of pieces from the Jewish Museum both offer powerful insight into the experiences of Black Jews and the various intersections between those identities. In the interview with Isha Clarke, she unpacks various elements of her own story and how it motivates her activism on climate change. Music from Batya Levine and writing from Rabbi Nate DeGroot both allow us to delve into our relationship to nature and how it enriches our lives.
In the Northern hemisphere, Tu B’Shvat arrives in the depth of winter. The trees are mostly bare, seemingly dormant. But many of them already wear the buds that will flower in spring and all of them are undergoing changes that we might not observe; the growth cycle continues year-round, even at moments when it’s slower and less apparent. Just as the Kabbalists suggest, we can draw energy from our connection with these cycles. May we keep on learning our own seasons: how to offer protection and care, how to unfurl ourselves, when to pull back and build strength, when it’s time to burst forth into full flower.
— Sarra Alpert, Director of the Avodah Institute for Social Change
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Musician Batya Levine and their community sing Batya’s song “Tu Bishvat,” a nigun (wordless melody) for the “New Year of the Trees.”
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Returning to the Earth
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