To L fe !
SP R1TJAL
Know Your Roots
Celebrating Tu b'Shevat, the holiday of the trees.
I Elizabeth Applebaum
Contributing Editor
• What We Celebrate: In
Halachah, Jewish law, the 15th day
of the month of Shevat is desig-
nated as the cutoff date for tithing
fruits from trees. In ancient Israel,
every Jewish farmer gave a per-
centage of his produce to the
priests and Levites to maintain the
Holy Temple in Jerusalem. In
Hebi-ew, this is known as teruma,
a tithe.
•When We Celebrate: This
year, Tu b'Shevat falls on Monday,
Feb. 13.
• What's In A Name?: Tu
b'Shevat takes its name from the
Jewish calendar. Because in the
Hebrew alphabet each letter also .
represents a numerical value, the
number 15 is written as tet vcn/,
which forms the acronym Tu. The
second part, b'Shevat, means "in
[the Jewish month of] Shevat."
Thus, Tu b'Shevat is the "15th of
Shevat."
• How We Observe: Today,
whether in or outside of Israel,
there is no tithing because there is
no Temple (the Muslim Dome of
the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque
stand on the Temple site in
Jerusalem).
For most Jews in ancient times,
Tu b'Shevat was simply a book-
keeping day. Through the genera-
tions, however, the date took on
spiritual characteristics and was
especially embraced by Sephardic
Jews.
By the 16th century, Jewish
mystics in Tzefat (a town in north-
ern Israel, also transliterated as
Go Green
I Elizabeth Applebaum
I Contributing Editor
en Green has no interest in leaving
. garbage to her daughter.
So instead of throwing away
paper, she recycles it. And instead of .
poisoning the grass with pesticide, she
uses a natural product.
Dr. Green, of West Bloomfield, is a
naturopathic doctor who.works with
nutrition, herbs, homeopathy and
Chinese medicine, in addition to having
been trained in conventional diagnosis.
She is one of 11 licensed naturopathic
physicians in Michigan.
Dr. Green also is a founder of Temple
Israel's new Environment Committee.
The group already has hosted an Eco
Shabbat, helped the West Bloomfield
temple find a pesticide-free lawn-care
system and is working to replace Temple
Israel's cleaning products with nontoxic
versions.
"Whatever we do to our environment,
we also do to ourselves and our chil-
dren," Dr. Green says. "Our bodies are
j
24
February 9 • 2006
JN
Safed), and the authors of the
Kabbalah developed holiday cus-
toms, including Tu b'Shevat litur-
gical readings and a festive meal
based on the Pesach seder, com-
plete with four cups of wine.
Jews today often celebrate by
eating fruit from trees, especially
fruits imported from Israel or that
by tradition are native to Israel.
Based on a verse in Parshat Eykev
(Deuteronomy 8:8), these are:
wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pome-
granates, olives and dates. Since
wheat, barley and grapes do not
grow on trees, many Jews con-
sume any fruit produced on trees,
such as apples, pears and oranges
(all of the commonly known, and
even many exotic, fruits are grown
in modern Israel).
• Rules And Regulations:
Tachanun, the penitential daily
prayer, is not recited this day;
Some say Psalm 104 ("Borchi
Nafshi"), and also the 15 psalms
that begin Shir Ha-Maalot ("Song
of Ascent"), 120-134.
• A Bit Of History: Tu b'Shevat
is not mentioned in the Torah, but
is known from its reference in the
Talmud. In the tractate "Rosh
Hashanah,". the rabbis discuss the
business of tithing. The Temple in
ancient Israel was supported by a
system of mandatory contribu-
tions from the then-largely agrari-
an economy. Farmers were
required to donate a certain per-
centage of their harvest to the
priests and Levites who main-
tained the workings of the Temple
and its daily services. Jtist as April
15 is the cutoff date for taxes in
modern America, so, too, did
ancient Israel have its day of doom
for taxpayers. It was decided that
the tax year for tree-borne fruit
would begin on the 15th of Shevat.
By then, the rabbis reasoned, the
winter rains have tapered off, the
sap starts to rise in the trees, and
new fruit begins to form.
In Parshat Kedoshim (Leviticus
19:23-25), the Torah teaches that
we may not harvest fruit during
the tree's first three years of pro-
duction. How do we calculate
these years? On Tu b'Shevat, every
tree is regarded as another year
old, no matter when in the previ-
ous year it was planted. Thus, if a
farmer planted a tree at any time
prior to the 15th of Shevat —
even on the 14th of Shevat —
come Tu b'Shevat, that tree is one
more year old.
The laws of Tu b'Shevat apply
only in the land of Israel, so Jewish
farmers in other parts of the world
How some Metro Detroiters are helping shape
the world and can help you do the same.
made up of the world around us. Our
that what we do to our environment I do
skin is only an illusion of a boundary. If I
to my daughter, I'm very invested in it."
tend and care for the earth, I leave my
Which is why Dr. Green, and other
daughter a world that is tended for and
members of the Temple Israel
cared for and more whole. If I'm waste-
Environmental Committee, started right
ful, that means fewer resources for my
at the bottom – by replacing the pesti-
daughter and the next generation."
cides used to treat the facility's lawn.
The earth, she says, is "a finite
Children, of course, are most likely to be
resource. Yet we
found on the grass, playing on it,
behave as if it
lying on it, rolling in it. And children
were infinite."
are most vulnerable to whatever
It isn't merely
chemicals are there, because
the right thing to
"they're little and they and eat and
do for obvious
drink and breathe more, so they
reasons, Dr.
accumulate things much faster," Dr.
Green says. Pro-
Green says.
tecting our world .
"Pesticides are linked to child-
is a mitzvah (com-
hood cancer and increased asth-
mandment).
ma," she says. "Think of pikuach
"Caring for the
nefesh [saving a life). Even if
Dr. Jen Green: "What we
earth, not being
there's a possibility to save just one
do to our environment,
wasteful is a
case of childhood asthma or
we do to ourselves and
Jewish value," she
leukemia, then the work is worth it."
our children."
says. But there's
Families looking to make a change
another Jewish value – one that every
in their lives, and their world, can begin
Jewish parent shares, and that is caring
with something simple like recycling
for our children. Because I understand
paper, Dr. Green suggests.
Next, don't be afraid to do some
research.
"There's lots of good information on
health and the environment out there,"
she says. "We can learn how best to pro-
tect ourselves and make good deci-
sions."
Those wishing more information on
starting an environmental group may
contact Dr. Green at
jengreennd@msn.com .
Making The Connection
A few paper plates. Some plastic wrap.
Old bottles. So we throw things away.
What's the big deal?
It's 54 tons worth of big deal. For each
person.
Amazingly enough, the average per-
son creates 54 tons of garbage in his
lifetime. And don't think that because
some of that junk is biodegradable it will
disappear. Even bits of paper can stick
around for many years because landfills
offer no aeration, which means every-
thing there becomes mummified and
stagnant.