A wise person once taught me that even in the “dead” of winter, when all the flora looks inactive, if you look very closely, you will see tree buds beginning to form. Our beautiful Jewish holy day of the 15th day of the Jewish month of Sh’vat whispers this secret to us: The flow of a new growth cycle has begun. The life flow of the Universe is being restored. This holiday, The New Year of the Trees, has become the receptacle for our contemporary awareness of ecology and our longings for a thriving Planet Earth.
In contrast, TuBishvat Seder hearkens back to the purely spiritual interpretation of the holiday given by the Jewish mystics in the 16th Century Sfat. The book includes a brief history of the evolution of the holiday, instructions for the preparation of this simple “fruit seder,” and of course, beautiful illustrations of mystical paintings.
Tree with Roots in Heaven
