When I was growing up, my dad was the Hebrew school principal
at Temple Emanuel in Newton, so most of my childhood memories of Tu B’Shevat
revolve around packaging up what seemed like mountains of almonds, figs,
dates, and little boxes of raisins into baggies for the Hebrew school kids. This
was no small task since, at the time, there were about 600 or 700 kids in the
Hebrew school there.
Like most American kids in the 60s and 70s, we ate common
fruits like apples and bananas all the time, but Tu B’Shevat was the only time
of year we ate dates and figs. They were so chewy and so sweet, with a strange thick
texture on your tongue.
Another memory from the Tu B’Shevat is those little blue and
white metal JNF boxes. I know they are still around today, and I found out from
my research that they have been around
for over 100 years. We were encouraged to go around our neighborhood collecting
money that would then be used to plant trees in Israel.
My next Tu B’Shevat memory is from my time with the
Progressive Chavurah, a religious and social group I belonged to in my 20s and
30s. That was the first time I experienced a Tu B’Shevat seder, the kabbalistic
and delicious ceremony that involved eating many different kinds of fruits and
drinking many different kinds of wine. If you’ve never experienced a Tu B’Shevat
seder, I urge you to do so. There is something so wonderful about eating many
many different kinds of fruits during the coldest part of the winter. It warms
your soul. Not to mention the wine part.
Another fond memory is when my husband Arnie and I flew to
someplace warm on Tu B’Shevat, and we took with us what we called “Tu B’Shevat
Mix”, a combination of nuts, dates, raisins, and other dried fruits so we could
have our own little Tu B’Shevat celebration on the plane.
In ancient times, Tu B’Shevat was really just a date on the
calendar to help Jewish farmers establish exactly when they should bring their
produce from recently planted trees to the Temple as first fruit offerings. Once the second temple was destroyed, there
were no more fruit offerings, and this holiday could have easily disappeared.
However, it was revived in the 16th century by the kabbalists
(mystics) of Safed in Israel as a new ritual called the Feast of Fruits. Somewhat similar to a Passover seder – but with
less cleaning and rules – participants would read selections from the bible and
rabbinic literature, and eat fruits and nuts associated with the land of
Israel. According to the Torah, there are 2 grains and 5 fruits associated with Israel, known at
the shivat haminim, or seven species: wheat and barley, fruit of the vine
(grapes), figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. Almonds were also included as
almond trees were the first to blossom in Israel. The first Tu B’Shevat
Haggadah was produced in 1753.
Now this custom is experiencing a renewal in the U.S. and elsewhere. In creating a Tu B’Shevat seder, you have lots of license, and you can really do anything you want, but most Tu B’Shevat seders have a basic structure in that they divide fruits into categories, according to their shell or skin – is it edible or not?, and whether they have a pit or core. For example, one category is fruit or nuts with a hard or inedible shell but an edible inner core. A second is a category in which the core is inedible, but the outside is edible. A third is those fruits that are edible throughout.
In addition, there are four cups of wine: all white, white with a bit of red, red with
some white, and all red. There are different explanations for this practice, most
of which have to do with the transformation of winter into spring and summer,
and all of them very tasty.
Thinking about the descriptions of the different fruit
categories, what struck me is how these relate to human qualities or characteristics
as well.
The first category is fruits or nuts with an inedible outer
shell and an edible inner core: examples are pineapple, coconut, orange,
banana, walnut, pecan, grapefruit, pomegranate, papaya, brazil nut, pistachio,
or almond. Can you think of people who
fit this description? Hard on the outside, soft on the inside? Joel Ziff, in
his book Mirrors in Time, describes this type of person as someone “who has
developed a shell to protect from real and imagined assault.”
The second
category is fruit with edible outer flesh and inedible cores: olive, date,
cherry, peach, apricot, avocado, or plum. Can you think of people who fit this
description? Soft on the outside but tough on the inside. Ziff describes this
as a stage in which we expose our vulnerability.
The third
category is fruits which are edible throughout. These have no protective
shells, and may be eaten entirely and include: strawberry, grape, raisin, fig,
raspberry, blueberry, cranberry, carob, apple, pear. Can you think of people who have no
protective shell at all, who are soft and yielding both inside and out? Ziff describes
this stage as one in which we are fully integrated, we can both contain and express our feelings
appropriately.
According to one school of Kabbalah called Lurianic Kabbalah
(which is a form of mysticism studied by the students of Isaac Luria), every
living thing – people as well as fruits and nuts - hides within them a spark of
the Divine Presence. In Jewish mysticism, human actions can release these
sparks and help increase G-d's presence in the world. On Tu Bishvat, the
kabbalists would eat certain fruits associated with the land of Israel as a
symbolic way of releasing these divine sparks.
May our enjoyment of different types of fruits release new
life and growth within us at this cold time of year, reminding us that spring
will eventually come. And may our actions release divine sparks, increasing G-d’s
presence in the world.
Shabbat Shalom
Links:
Posts
