Tu BiShvat 5785: Celebrating Productivity and Resilience
BY RABBI REUVEN TARAGIN
At first glance, Tu BiShvat, the Rosh Hashana for fruit trees, seems to be of mere technical significance – a calendar marker for the yearly mitzvot that pertain to fruits. Surprisingly, we treat Tu BiShvat as a minor holiday; we skip tachanun and avoid fasting. What are we celebrating? Additionally, we only celebrate the new year of trees, as opposed to that of other plants or even tree saplings, whose year starts on a different date. Why are trees, specifically, worthy of celebration?
Parshat Shoftim draws a parallel between trees and humans when prohibiting the use of fruit trees as siege weapons, stating, “man is like the tree of the field” (Devarim 20:19). The Maharal connects this to the Torah’s next law about an unsolved murder, where a young, unused calf must be sacrificed in an uncultivated valley. The Sages interpreted this sacrifice of untapped potential as atonement for the murder victim’s unrealized “fruits” – their future family and mitzvot (Sotah 46a). Through this, the Maharal teaches that both humans and trees possess endless productive potential. By respecting a tree’s capacity to bear fruit, we learn to value humanity’s own potential for meaningful contribution (Tiferet Yisrael 3).
The Jewish people are compared to an additional unique arboreal characteristic. Yishayahu compares Jewish history to the life of a tree (65:22). What does he mean?
Like trees, the Jewish people have the unique ability to regenerate after setbacks. As opposed to annuals, which die over the winter, trees regenerate the following spring and once again produce fruit. Though trees seem dead on Tu BiShvat, in truth, they are actually starting a new growth cycle.1
Similarly, the Jewish people possess unique resilience. While all nations experience decline, Jews are distinguished by their ability to recover and rebuild. Unlike other civilizations that fade after their historical peaks, the Jewish people have consistently risen after setbacks. The golden age of David and Shlomo was not our final flourishing – we returned from the first exile and have rebounded from countless devastations and low points since.
As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks noted: “Jews have survived catastrophe after catastrophe in a way unparalleled by any other culture. In each case, they did more than survive. Every tragedy in Jewish history was followed by a new wave of creativity. The destruction of the First Temple led to the renewal of the Torah in the life of the nations, exemplified by the work of Ezra and Nehemiah. The destruction of the Second Temple led to the great works of the oral tradition, Midrash, Mishnah, and the two Talmuds. The massacres of the Jewish communities in Northern Europe during the First Crusade led to the emergence of Hassidei Ashkenaz, the German-Jewish Pietists… The Spanish Expulsion was followed by the mystical revival in Safed in the sixteenth century. The greatest catastrophe of all led to the greatest rebirth: a mere three years after standing eyeball to eyeball with the angel of death at Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, and Treblinka, the Jewish people responded by their greatest collective affirmation of life in two thousand years, with the proclamation of the state of Israel” (Future Tense, 54).
On October 7, the Jewish people suffered another catastrophe. After almost eighty years of thinking that the days of the mass murder, abuse, and demonization of Jews were behind us, we once again suffered barbaric attacks as well as international sympathy for the barbarians and condemnation of the State of Israel for defending itself.
Like we have throughout history, our people responded to this setback with vigor, not just by fighting and vanquishing our enemies on all sides but also by strengthening Jewish identity, achdut, and Aliyah. The death of so many of our brothers and sisters has not caused us to lose faith in life. On the contrary, it has reminded us of life’s great value and inspired us to maximize our own and help others do the same.
Tu BiShvat calls us to reflect on these parallels. In celebrating the renewal and resilience of trees, we recognize these same qualities within ourselves. The holiday reminds us that our potential demands fulfillment – it is both a gift and an obligation.
As we witness the Jewish people’s return to our ancestral land and renewed flourishing, we see the living embodiment of this tree-like resilience. May our recognition of these profound connections merit divine blessing, bringing security to our nation and allowing us to grow both as individuals and as a people, advancing toward our complete redemption.
1 The Bnei Yissocher (Ma’amarei Chodesh Tammuz/Av 4, Betulah B’machol 3) highlights the similarity between the growth of trees and the human gestation cycle by explaining that the date of Tu BiShvat is forty days before the beginning of creation (25 Adar). Trees, like humans, begin forming forty days before anything significant growth can be perceived.
Rabbi Reuven Taragin is Educational Director of Mizrachi and Dean of the Yeshivat Hakotel Overseas Program. His new book, Essentials of Judaism, can be purchased at rabbireuventaragin.com.