Tu Be’Shevat , the 15th of the Jewish month Shevat, is the New Year for the Trees. The Tu Be’Shevat Seder arose from the mystical town of Safed in the late 16th century. Although the custom is to read a heavily kabbalah laden text, we have devised our own text for your edification. Since the wine and fruit consumption does correspond to certain kabbalistic levels, we have included these within the Seder, as well as an appendix for those brave few at the end. Tu Be’Shevat is the holiday for the trees and for that reason you may detect a certain theme in the upcoming passages.
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In the Jewish Creation narrative we are told that man was placed upon this earth to ‘till it and to guard it.’ However, we are previously told that man is to ‘conquer’ nature ‘and subdue’ it. This eternal conflict between the expansion of mankind and the preservation of the Earth is seemingly irreconcilable. The Torah teaches us to respect both and to balance our impulse to conquer with a respect for the world that we have been loaned. Look at your past week, how have you balanced the two?
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He who plants a tree
Plants a hope.
~Lucy Larcom, from 'Plant a Tree' ~
He that planteth a tree is a servant of God,
he provideth a kindness for many generations,
and faces that he hath not seen shall bless him.
~ Henry Van Dyke ~
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Read Fact 1.
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It is time for the first cup of wine or grape juice. This cup should be completely white.
ברוך אתה אדוני אלוהינו מלך העולם בורא פרי הגפן- Blessed are you Lord our God, King of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine.
Drink 1st Cup
For this cup, we eat fruit that have inedible shells on the outside, but are edible on the inside. This corresponds to the level of Assiyah.
Blessing on all tree fruits:
- Baruch atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, borey pri ha’etz.
- Blessed are you Lord, our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the tree.
Blessing on all fruit and vegetables that grow from an annual plant:
- Baruch atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, borey pri ha’adama.
- Blessed are you Lord, our God, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the ground.
(If you are eating a fruit for the first time this season, you get to say another blessing)
Baruch atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam, shehechiyanu, v’kiyamanu, v’higiyanu lah-zman ha-zeh.
Blessed are you, Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who has caused us to live, to stand upright and to arrive at this moment.
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Turn to your neighbour on your left and discuss the following with them. We have learned to appreciate the amenities of life. But, what would happen if we no longer had them? Would we make do? Can we appreciate the flow of nature, right now?
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Nature does not hurry,
yet everything is accomplished.
~ Lao Tzu ~
"I think God's going to come down and pull civilization over for speeding."
— Steven Wright
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Read Fact 2.
It is time for the 2nd cup. Mix a little red into this cup, but keep it mostly white. The fruit for this cup should pits, making it inedible on the inside. This corresponds with the level of Yetzirah.
There is a strong current within Judaism for Tikkun Olam, or repairing the world. Many of us Jews take this ethos very seriously, and are active within our communities. But Tu Be’shevat reminds us that it is not just other people who need our help, but the very Earth itself. Turn to the person on your right and ask: What can you do to help the environment?
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We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.
~ Thomas Fuller
'Gnomologia' 1732 ~
To waste, to destroy our natural resources,
to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness,
will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity
which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.
~Theodore Roosevelt,
7th Annual Message, 3 December 1907 ~
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Read Fact 3.
Now it is time for the 3rd cup. This cup should be mainly red with a little white. For this cup, the fruit should be edible inside and out, representing Briah.
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Concern for the environment is not the simple concern for another. There is a delicate harmony between nature and man, even aside from the simply ‘Circle of Life.’ Nature is a part of us; it inspires us, and helps us to discover who we really are. Ask the person to your left: How have you used nature to discover yourself?
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"Not to have known, as most men have not, either the mountains or the desert, is not to have known oneself."
- Joseph Wood Krutch
"Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons; it is to grow in the open air and eat and sleep with the Earth"
- Walt Whitman
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If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy,
if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you,
if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand,
rejoice, for your soul is alive.
~ Eleonora Duse ~
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Read 4th Fact.
It is now time for the 4th and final cup, as well as our 4th set of fruit. This cup should be fully red. For this cup,we do not eat any fruit, for it is the cup of Atzilut, the dimension of Emanation.
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The purpose of this Seder has been to highlight different aspects of our Earth. Whether your aim is to preserve beauty, to find balance, or simply to enjoy a breath of fresh air, hopefully this Seder has inspired you further.
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"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better, it's not."
-The Lorax, by Dr. Suess
"Increasingly, the world around us looks as if we hated it."
-Alan Watts
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
— Mahatma Gandhi
"In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy."
- John C. Sawhill
חסל סדר ט"ו בשבט כי אין לו הלכתו
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