Tu B’shvat – The Rosh Hashanah For Trees

The Torah tells us, “Man is like a tree of the field.” Our sages teach us that we are like trees in many ways & we can learn a lot from trees.  We learn from trees that they always grow. Even in the winter, their roots get new strength to grow more & to produce new fruit every year. So too should a human being be constantly growing. 

For Jews, Torah & Mitzvot are our roots & fruit. A healthy tree is always growing. A healthy Jew must also grow. How? Through studying Torah & performing mitzvot.  For a tree to be strong depends on its roots. The root of a Jew is his emuna, his faith.  

A tree is beautiful with the fruit it produces. Mitzvot & good deeds, are our fruit.    

It’s interesting that the Shabbat after Tu B’shvat is Shabbat Shira. The parsha contains the beautiful song at sea. The Jews were freed from the Egyptians & they crossed the Red Sea. G-d did many miracles. As the Jews went through dry land with walls of water standing on both sides, he made fruit trees with delicious fruit for them to partake of.  

The Talmud tells us that “in the merit of the righteous women, they were redeemed.” The women’s belief & trust in G-d was much greater than the men. 

It was a Jewish woman, Miriam, who took the initiative.  With courage, song & even tambourines, she led the women from a hopeless situation to freedom. So too we must know, as hopeless & chaotic the world now seems to be. Although we don’t see the fruit growing just yet on the trees in our Canadian winter, let us learn from Miriam, to be full of faith & optimism that better days are about to come.