%"v
A
Tu B’Shevat Seder Haggadah
Compiled
by Marsha B. Cohen (a work in progress)
The
Jewish mystical tradition has always viewed the entire cycle of the Jewish year
as a seamless tapestry, the textures and contours of each celebration neatly
blending into one another. For the mystics the Jewish year rises as a mythic
mandala in which each piece contributes to the balanced whole. This tradition presents Tu B’Shevat, conventionally
known as the Jewish New Year for the Trees, as an essential "turn"
from the season of darkness (winter--Hanukkah) to the season of light
(spring--Passover); from the era of darkness (exile) to the era of light
(redemption). Tu B’Shevat celebrates
the ethereal divine spark which brings forth new life. Buds that will bring
forth fragrant blossoms appear on the trees in Israel at Tu B’Shevat. The
fragrance turns us away from the dark months of winter when we are consoled by
the small light of the Hanukkah menorah toward a new beginning. We inhale deeply the blossoms of new life at
Tu B’Shevat, say the mystics, for the sweet fragrance of God's creation. [1]
The Four Questions:
We begin our Seder traditionally, by asking four questions designed to help us understand the significance of this day:
1. What is the origin of the festival of Tu
B’Shevat?
2. Why do we celebrate the New Year of the Trees in the middle of winter,
rather than in the spring when the trees blossom?
3. How has the observance of Tu B’Shevat
evolved in the absence of a Temple and tithes?
4. What
can Tu B’Shevat mean to us today?
Maggid: The Telling
What is the origin of the festival of Tu B’Shevat?
The first mention
of the New Year of the Trees appears not in the TaNaKh, but in the Mishna,
(Rosh Hashanah 1:1):
There are four New Year days
The
first of Nissan, the New Year for kings and the festivals;
The
first of Elul, the New Year for the tithing of animals;
The
first of Tishrei, the New Year for the counting of years, the Sabbatical year
(shemittah), and the Jubilee, and planting and
vegetation; and
The first of Shevat, the New Year for Trees - according to the followers of Shammai. Those who follow Hillel say it is on the fifteenth of Shevat.
Jewish law determined that a tenth of one's produce must be given as a tax, or tithe, which went to the priesthood or the poor, depending on the year. Originally, the rabbis viewed the New Year for Trees as the day from which the tithes (ma'aser) should be calculated, and the date from which immature fruit was prohibited (orlah). The tithe of ripened fruits had to be of the same tax year (just like today, you pay taxes from the same year's income). Consequently, fruit which blossomed prior to the fifteenth of Shevat could not be used as tithe for fruit which blossomed after that date.
The years of a tree were thus
reckoned from 15th Shevat; a tree planted in December would be legally
"two years old" on Tu B'Shevat, only a year and 3 months later! [2]
Why do we celebrate the New Year
of the Trees in the middle of winter, rather than in the spring when the trees
blossom?
In Israel, winter is usually a time of heavy rains and rushing, surging creeks and rivulets. At about the middle of the month of Shevat, the severe rainstorms cease, and soon thereafter, signs of spring begin to appear. Although two more months of winter remain, buds begin to swell on the trees, the enduring symbol of God's promise of renewed life. According to some traditions, Noah's Ark landed in the month of Shevat, and the dove (a long-established Near Eastern symbol of God's feminine qualities), returned to the Ark with an olive branch in her beak. She heralds new life and the promise of a world that will once again bloom and provide nurture, as God promises never again to destroy all living creatures (Genesis 8:21)[3]
The schools of Hillel and
Shammai agreed that the New Year for
trees should be the date that they
stopped absorbing water from the ground, and instead drew nourishment from
their sap. It was natural that Shammai would fix an earlier time than Hillel
since most of his disciples lived in the coastal plain and the Sharon valley
where the flowers bloom earlier than in the hills, where Hillel, and the
majority of the people lived. There the soil was drier and the sap weaker.
Hillel's view prevailed. We follow the ruling of the followers of Hillel. Tu B’Shevat is an abbreviation of of Chamisha
Asar B’Shevat (15th day of Shevat) utilizing the numerical values of the Hebrew letters tet (9) and vav (6) total 15.
We use 9 plus 6 rather than 10
plus 5 because the letters yod and hey spell out one of God’s
names.
3. How has the observance of Tu B’Shevat evolved in the absence of a
Temple and tithes?
After the exile of the Jews from Israel, Tu B'Shevat became a day on which
to commemorate our connection to Eretz Israel. During much of Jewish history,
the only observance of this day was the practice of eating fruit associated
with the land of Israel. A tradition based on Deuteronomy 8:8 holds that there
are five fruits and two grains associated with it as a "land of wheat and
barley, of vines, figs and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and [date]
honey." Almonds were also given a prominent place in Tu B'Shevat meals
since the almond trees were believed to be the first of all trees in Israel to
blossom. Carob or St John's bread - was the most popular fruit to use, since it
could survive the long trip from Israel to Jewish communities in Europe and
North Africa.[4]
The 16th century mystics of Safed understood the emanations of God in the form of an inverted Tree, whose roots (above) are invisible and inexplicable to us and whose trunk and branches reach (down) toward us. Through this Tree there courses the ultimate flow of universal life. It originates in the unimaginable Ein Sof (Infinite One), and becomes progressively more in touch with our world, in which creation is continually taking place.[5] “The Tu B’Shevat seder was born of their innovative ritual creativity. Like the Pesach seder, this festive meal centered on four cups of wine and symbolic foods. The wine progresses from white to red, symbolizing quiescence to full flowering, or masculine to feminine. And the foods eaten at this uniquely vegan Jewish feast are all fruits – from those with thick peels or pits, symbolizing gross physicality, through pure unprotected fruit such as figs, suggesting a more spiritual realm. The wines and fruits signify the four worlds or levels of creation in kabbalistic thought, often labeled as the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual.”[6] In line with their general concern with Tikun Olam --repairing the world--the Kabbalists regarded eating a variety of fruits on Tu B'Shevat as a way of improving our spiritual selves. They believed that the ritual consumption of the fruits and the nuts, if done with the proper intention (kavanah), would cause the sparks of holy light hidden in the fruit to be liberated from their shells and rise up the heavenly ladder to return to their Divine source, thereby contributing to the renewal of life for the coming year.[7]
The new form of celebration spread from Safed to
Sephardic communities in Turkey, Italy and Greece, and later in Europe, Asia
and North Africa. Additional poems and
readings from Torah and Mishna were added to the Tu bi-Shevat seder;
in 1753 they were collected and published under the name Peri Etz Hadar
(Fruit of the Goodly Tree). The name of the book is based on the verse
(Leviticus 23:40) in which the Israelites are commanded to celebrate the
harvest by taking the "product of hadar [goodly] trees, branches of
palm trees, boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook." Peri Etz
Hadar brought the custom to wide use, particularly among European Hasidim
and Sephardi Jews.[8]
With the Zionist return to the land, Tu B’Shevat was transformed yet again. In a new act of ritual creativity, Jewish schoolteachers of pre-state Palestine made Tu B’Shevat a day of tree planting, a festival of reforestation efforts, re-rooting and reconnecting to land and landscape... Though trees have unfortunately become a political pawn in the national struggles over this land, with aggressive plantings and uprootings taking place on both sides, the visceral significance of actually rooting a tree in the soil establishes an undeniable physical connection with the land.[9]
4. What can Tu
B’Shevat mean to us today?
In Israel, and for many Jews of the world, Tu b’Shevat continues to symbolize the revival and redemption of the Land of Israel. Tu b'Shevat is celebrated with songs, and trees are planted to honor or memorialize loved ones.
Tu b'Shevat has also become a day of commitment to protecting the environment. Judaism teaches that the earth is the Creator's, and that we are to be partners and co-workers with God in preserving our planet and its resources. An ancient midrash has become all too relevant:
In the hour when the Holy one created the first person, God showed his creation the trees in the Garden of Eden, and said: " See My works, how fine they are; now all that I have created, I created for your benefit. Think upon this and do not corrupt and destroy My world. For if you destroy it, there is no one to restore it after you. " (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:28)
The prohibition not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value (bal tashchit - "thou shalt not destroy") is based on concern for fruit-bearing trees, as indicated in the following Torah statement: "When in your war against a city you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human to withdraw before you under siege?” (Deut. 20:19-20)
This prohibition against destroying fruit-bearing trees in time of warfare was extended by the Jewish sages. It it forbidden to cut down even a barren tree or to waste anything if no useful purpose is accomplished (Sefer Ha-Chinuch 530). The sages of the Talmud made a general prohibition against waste: "Whoever breaks vessels or tears garments, or destroys a building, or clogs up a fountain, or destroys food violates the prohibition of bal tashchit" (Kiddushin 32a).
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, 19th century philosopher and author, states that bal tashhit is the first and most general call of God: We are to "regard things as God's property and use them with a sense of responsibility for wise human purposes. Destroy nothing! Waste nothing!" He indicates further that destruction includes using more things (or things of greater value) than are necessary to obtain one's aim. [10]
One metamorphosis of Tu B’Shevat is as Jewish Earth Day. Building on the activism of the Zionists, the day has become a framework for Jews to focus their concern with environmental issues of potentially global import. From ecology we learn that trees in the Amazon basin are integral to our health and well-being, confirming the ancient insight of ha beha talia, the interdependence of all things. As part of this new interpretation of the holiday, the mystic seder has gained newfound prominence, affirming the deep spiritual as well as physical significance of the natural world in our lives.[11] Tu Bishvat calls upon us to cry out against the enormity of destruction and degradation being inflicted upon God's world. This degradation includes depletion of our protective ozone layer, global warming, massive deforestation, the extinction of species, poisonous deposits of toxic chemicals and nuclear wastes, and exponential population growth.[12]
Tu B’shevat occurs on the full moon between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, at the juncture when the tide is strong. It always falls in the week of Shabbat Shirah, when we read the Torah portion of the Song of the Sea--either on that shabbat or a few days later--and so it is connected to the account of the splitting of the sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's army in the story of the leaving Egypt. This event has painful poignancy for us this year in the wake of the recent tsunami and its massive casualties. There is a midrash that every day God drops two tears in mourning - tears so big that they create catastrophe and earthquakes.[13]
The Chief Rabbi of the UK, Dr Jonathan Sacks, has composed the following prayer in response to the Indian Ocean disaster:
Adon ha-olamim, Sovereign of the universe,
We join our prayers to the prayers of others throughout the world, for the victims of the tidal wave which this week has brought destruction and disaster to many lands and many lives.
Almighty God, we pray you, send healing to the injured, comfort to the bereaved, and work of rescue. May You send Your strength to those who are striving to heal the injured, give shelter to the homeless, and bring food and water to those in need. May You bless the work of their hands, and may they merit to save lives.
Almighty God, we recognize how small we are, and how powerless in the face of nature when its full power is unleashed. Therefore, open our hearts in prayer and our hands in generosity, so that our words may bring comfort and our gifts bring aid. Be with us now and with all humanity as we strive to mend what has been injured and rebuild what has been destroyed. Ken Yehi Ratzon, ve-nomar Amen.[14]
The
First Cup of Wine
White is the color of the winter snow. It is also the color of the Garden of Eden, where God gave the first humans “the fruit of every seed bearing fruit for food.”
Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, [and] the fruit {tree} yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed [is] in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, [and] herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed [was] in itself, after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good...And God blessed the humans and God said unto them...And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every {tree}, in the which [is] the fruit of a {tree} yielding seed; to you it shall be for food. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed (Genesis 1:12-2:8). Another image connected to the story of the Garden of Eden is the Tree of Life. The siddur calls the Torah the tree of life, etz chayim. Just as we take sustenance from a tree, so our Way of life sustains us in strength and beauty.
We recite the berecha over over wine:
Ba-ruch ata A-do-nai El-o-hay-nu mel-ech ha-olam bo-ray pree ha-gafen.
Blessed
are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe who has created the fruit of the
vine.
We
then start to eat some of our fruits. Before eating the fruits, we say the beracha:
Ba-ruch
ata A-do-nai El-o-hay-nu mel-ech ha-olam bo-ray pree ha-etz.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe who has created the fruit of the tree.
We first choose fruits that have a hard covering and a soft inside and. Some examples include: nuts (with shells), pomegranates, coconuts). We eat these fruits to remind ourselves that although the ground is hard from the winter, there is life underneath the ground that is waiting to be born again in the spring.
Nut trees are prominent in the Bible and in Jewish tradition. In Hebrew, the almond tree is called shaked, deriving from the verb "to watch, or to wake", because it blooms in winter and is thus the first fruit tree to bloom in the new agricultural year. The shape of the menorah, which is a universally recognized symbol for Judaism, is based on the silhouette of the almond tree.[15]
Avraham’s first stop in Canaan, where God appears to him (Genesis 12:16), was the terebinth of Mamre, believed to be Pistacia Terebinthus or Pistacia Atlanticus, both related to the pistachio we eat today. It is there that the three angels visit him, informing him of the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and announcing that Sarah will soon give birth to Yitzchak (Issac).
The
Second Cup
The pink wine symbolizes the gradual deepening of color which parallels the reawakening of colors in nature as the sun brings them back to life. In spring the sun's rays begin to thaw the frozen earth and the first flowers appear on the hillsides. In the full warmth of spring we go outdoors to be with nature. No longer coating ourselves in protective attire, we expose our soft bodies to the sun. We eat fruit containing pits and we are reminded that, despite the wondrous expressions of our spirit, we are still tied to the hard pit of our ego. We are still concealed, deep inside, protecting our divine sparks even from within.[16]
A person whose wisdom exceeds his good deeds is likened to a tree whose branches are numerous, but whose roots are few. The wind comes and uproots it and turns it upside down. But a person whose good deeds exceed his wisdom is likened to a tree whose branches are few but whose roots are numerous. Even if all the winds of the world were to come and blow against it, they could not budge it from its place. (Pirkei Avot 3:22)
I want to be a
person both with roots and with wings. Why should one give
up the roots,
if his heart desires wings?...
The roots are
missing so much when they are stuck deep
in the ground,
and cannot fly and see the tremendous top of the tree that
they are part
of, and the great forest that the whole tree is part of.
And the birds
on the tree, who are lucky to have wings, are missing the
grip on the
ground, and their nests are dependent on the mercy of the
storm, and the
strength of the tree under whose wings they take shelter.
Therefore, I
concluded, when I grow up I want to be a man with roots and wings.
Amnon
Shamosh, “Roots and Wings”
The next type of fruit we eat has a soft cover on the outside and a hard inedible seed at its core . Examples of these fruits include: olives, dates, peaches). These fruits are indicative of the changing season. From the cold winter, where we ate fruits with a hard covering, we now eat softer fruits to show that the land is changing; thawing out.
Environmental threats are overwhelming. Despite the tremendous importance of
ancient forests, as home to two-thirds of the Earth's species, and to
regulating our climate and atmosphere, human beings have destroyed over
three-fourths of the ancient forests of the world. This has resulted in the
most extensive extinction of species since the Ice Age.
The olive tree is a sign of hope that, despite the enormity of destruction,
life can be restored. When the great flood began to subside, Noah sent out a
dove. "The dove came back to him toward evening, and there in its bill was
a leaf it had picked from an olive tree." (Genesis 8:11)[17]
The date palm abounds in blessing, for every part of it can be used, every part is needed. Its dates are for eating, its branches are for blessing as lulav on Sukkot; its fronds are for thatching, its fibers are for ropes; its webbing for sieves; its thick trunks for building. (Bamidbar Rabbah 3:1) The date is also cause for joy. When Moses heard that the spies had returned, the spies were requested to give their report. They said, "We came unto the land to which you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey." This was not an exaggeration for honey flowed from the date palm trees under which the goats grazed, out of whose udders poured milk, so that both milk and honey moistened the ground. (Sotah 35a)[18]
The Third Cup
Red and white are the colors of our third cup of wine. It is pink, or red wine that has some white wine mixed in with it. These colors serve as a reminder of the abundant fruits available during the summer time. The red wine is a celebration of the richness and beauty of life during the summer.
Now we eat fruits that are soft all round. These fruits are symbolic of an earth that is once again alive and flourishing. Examples of these fruits include raisins, grapes (seedless), or figs. This time we enjoy the fruit- the essence of the entire fruit. We no longer worry about the outer appearance. We have already eaten fruits with a soft center and hard covering, a hard center and a soft covering and a wholly soft fruit. In our most precious relationships, we are most like the fruit that are soft throughout and that can be taken whole, available to each other in every aspect and facet of our personalities and strong in a way which does not cut any part of us off from ourselves or from each other.[19]
Come
with me, my love, come away.
For the long wet months are past,
and rains have fed the earth and left it bright with blossoms
Birds wing in the low sky, dove and songbird singing in the open air above.
Earth nourishing tree and vine,
green fig and tender grape, green and tender fragrance.
Come with me, my love, come away. [20] Marcia Falk, Love Lyrics
from the Bible, Poem 9
The fig is mentioned in the Bible sixteen times together with the grape vine as the most important fruit of Eretz Israel. The fig motif illustrates an era of peace and security in the past, and an ideal vision for the future. The rabbis asked, "Why were the words of Torah compared to the fig tree?" They answered, "Since all the figs do not ripen at the same time, the more one searches the tree, the more figs one finds in it." So it is with the words of the Torah: the more we study them, the more delightful morsels we find (Eruvin 54a).
The
Fourth Cup
Red
is the color of the fourth cup of wine. The seasons are changing and Autumn is
coming in..
The pure red wine represents the full bloom of nature before the cold winter.
The leaves turn a reddish brown color as they fall off the trees As nature
expends its last bit of energy, a full cycle is completed.[21] Just as the natural world goes through
changes to achieve its full potential, we also need to change so that we can be
free to grow. In doing so, we will become strong like healthy trees, with solid
roots in the ground and our arms open to the love that is all around us. [22] As we drink the fourth cup of pure red wine,
We also enjoy our dessert, made from the wheat that grows and sustains us:
Ba-ruch
ata A-do-nai El-o-hay-nu mel-ech ha-olam bo-ray minay mezonot.
Blessed
are you, Lord our God, Ruler of the Universe who has created various nourishing
grains.
“Go,
eat your bread in gladness, and drink your wine in joy....Whatever it is in your
power to do, do with all your might. “ (Kohelet 9: 7, 10)
Master of the Universe,
grant me the ability to be
alone;
may it be my custom to go
outdoors each day
among the trees and grass -
among all growing things
and there may I be alone,
and enter into prayer,
to talk with the One to whom
I belong.
May I express there
everything in my heart,
and may all the foliage of
the field -
all grasses, trees, and
plants -
awake at my coming,
to send the powers of their
life into the words of my prayer
so that my prayer and speech
are made whole
through the life and spirit
of all growing things,
which are made as one by
their transcendent Source.
May I then pour out the
words of my heart
before your Presence like
water, O Lord,
and lift up my hands to You
in worship,
on my behalf, and that of my
children!
Reb Nachman of Bratslav
Bareich: Blessing after eating grains, fruits of
Israel and wine (Beracha Achrona
Me-ein Shalosh)
Ba-ruch a-tah A-do-nai, E-lo-hei-nu, Me-lech
Ha-o-lam, al ha-mich-yah
v'al ha-kal-ka-lah(after grain products)
v' al ha-ge-fen v'al pri ha-ge-fen
(after grape wine or grape juice)
[v'] al ha-eitz v'al p'ri ha-eitz (after
dates, figs, pomegranates, olives, and grapes)
v'al t'nu-vat ha-sa-deh, v'al
e-retz chem-dah to-vah ur-cha-vah she-ra-tzi-tah
v'hin-chal-ta la-a-vo-tei-nu le-e-chol mi-pir-yah
v'lis-bo-a mi-tu-vah.
Ra-chem^na, A-do-nai E-lo-hei-nu,al Yis-ra-eil a-me-cha,
v'al Y'ru-sha-la-yim i-re-cha, v'al Tzi-yon mish-kan k'vo-de-cha, v'al miz-ba-cha-cha
v'al hei-cha-le-cha.
U-v'nei Y'ru-sha-la-yim ir ha-ko-desh bim-hei-rah
v'ya-mei-nu,
v'ha-a-lei-nu l'to-chah v'sam-chei-nu b'vin-ya-nah, v'no-chal mi-pir-yah
v'nis-bah mi-tu-vah, un-va-re-ch'cha a-le-ha bik-du-shah uv-ta-ha-rah.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, for
|
After food prepared from the five grains: |
After wine or grape juice: |
After grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives or dates: |
|
the sustenance and for the nourishment, |
(and for) the vine and for the fruit of the vine, |
(and for) the tree and the fruit of the tree, |
for the produce of the field, and for the precious, good, and spacious land which You have graciously given as a heritage to our ancestors, to eat of its fruit and to be satiated with its goodness. Have mercy, L-rd our G-d, on Israel Your people, on Jerusalem Your city, on Zion the abode of Your glory, on Your altar, and on Your Temple. Rebuild Jerusalem, the holy city, speedily in our days, and bring us up to it and make us rejoice in it, and we will bless You in holiness and purity.
Completion of the Seder
In their seder, the kabbalists aimed at uniting all the realms and worlds. In our many-layered Tu B’Shevat, we too can strive to integrate and deepen the four interlocking realms that define our relationship to life and land: economic, spiritual, national-political and ecological. Each can, indeed must, inform and help guide the others, together creating a healing, balanced, sustainable, and sustaining whole. Moreover, in celebrating Tu B’Shevat we can integrate the particular: the personal, fruit-giving tree of the Mishna, and the replanted national trees of Israel, with the universal: the life-giving global trees of the ecosphere and the Life-giving cosmic tree of Kabbalah. And while Tu B’Shevat gives us a profound festive opportunity to celebrate and reflect on these relationships, in the face of deepening environmental crises in Israel and around the world we need to affirm and integrate them more than once a year. [23]
May it be Your will, O God of our mothers and fathers, that through our eating
of the fruits which we have blessed, that the trees will be filled with the
glory of their ability to renew themselves for new blossoming and growth, from
the beginning of the year to its end, so that our lives too will be renewed and
filled with goodness, blessings, and peace.[24]
***
This Tu B’Shevat seder is compiled from a variety of sources, which I have tried to document and credit to the best of my ability (see endnotes). I make no claim for the originality of most of the material found in it except for a few passages and for its editing and compilation from the sources noted below. If any passage appears to be insufficiently or incorrectly credited, please let me know. If you use this Haggadah, please properly credit me and the original sources. “Citing one’s sources brings redemption to the world” (Pirkei Avot 6:6). Many thanks. mbc