12 | JANUARY 21 • 2021 

VIEWS

Guest column
New Year for Trees 
A

ccording to Jewish 
tradition, if one is 
studying Torah while 
walking on the road and 
interrupts their learning and 
says, “What a 
beautiful tree!” 
scripture consid-
ers that person 
liable for death.
Wait. Really?! 
How could this 
be? How could 
a moment of 
nature appreciation be seen as 
a distraction so sinister that it 
warrants the death penalty?
In the words of Rabbi Marc 
Soloway, “Rav Kook … and 
others, teach that the key 
word in this text is “mafsik,” 
breaking off, separating. That 
is to say: If we understand the 
appreciation of a tree as an 
interruption from our studies, 
meaning, something separate 
from Torah, a break in our 
religious sensibility or intel-
lectual curiosity, we might as 
well be dead. Spirituality is 
inherently an integration of 
body and soul, the earth and 

the heavens.”
In other words, a moment 
of nature appreciation isn’t an 
interruption of our wonder, 
but the source of it. Stopping 
to smell the flowers is not a 
break from Torah; it is Torah. 
And it’s through remembering 
this truth and acting fervently 
on it that our life, and perhaps 
life itself, remains vibrant, 
flourishing and intact.
From sundown on Jan. 27 
through sundown on Jan. 28, 
Jews all over the world will 
celebrate the holiday of Tu 
b’Shevat, affectionately known 
as the New Year for the Trees. 
While historically this day 
signaled when to tithe trees’ 
fruits, and in the temperate 
Middle East it marks the sea-
son when sap begins to rise in 
the trees, what might it mean 
for us, in cold and snowy 
Michigan? Perhaps this hol-
iday’s enduring message can 
be found in the lesson learned 
from the story above.
Generations alive today face 
a climate crisis that is unprec-
edented in human history. The 

task before us is grand and the 
urgency is great. But accord-
ing to our tradition, the very 
best way we can respond is by 
reconnecting with the natural 
world and reinvesting in the 
deeper understanding that 
we are all — humans and the 
natural world — part of a sin-
gle, precious and miraculous 
Divine whole.
With that in mind, your 
friends at Hazon encourage 
you to incorporate nature con-
nection into your Tu b’Shevat 
celebration. Take a walk out-
side. Examine that interesting 
tree branch. Taste fruits or 
nuts from local trees. Try a 
fruit you’ve never eaten before. 
Feel what bark feels like on 
your palm.
And then, from Jan. 27-31, 
join us at the Big Bold Jewish 

Climate Festival (www.jewish-
climatefest.org). This five-day 
virtual festival, put on by a 
team that includes Hazon, will 
feature more than 120 world-
class programs, from spiritual-
ly uplifting Tu b’Shevat seders, 
to top-notch sustainability 
programming, expert climate 
education and meaningful 
calls to action. 
Gather together with thou-
sands of participants from 
across Metro Detroit and the 
globe, who care about Judaism 
and the Earth, and believe the 
time has come to put climate 
change as a central moral issue 
of our community. Tu b’Shevat 
sameach and see you there! 

Rabbi Nate DeGroot is the Hazon 
Detroit associate director and 
spiritual & program director.

Rabbi Nate 

DeGroot

feasance and malfeasance in 
dealing with the spread of the 
disease.
The horrific storming of the 
capitol at Trump’s instigation 
on Jan. 6, 2021, was by far the 
lowest point of his term and 
begs the question to my fellow 
American Jews, “Do you still 
support him?” 

 
— Ted Friedman 

Via the website

Further Thoughts 
on Dr. Peven

The behavior of all these fer-

tility doctors violates the most 
basic elements of medical 
ethics. Patients have an abso-
lute and unrestricted right to 
full knowledge regarding all 
aspects of their care, whether 
they choose to “question the 
doctor” or not, and the doctor 
has an obligation to provide 
that knowledge. That would 
include basic information 
about sperm donors, which 
determine the genetics of their 
children. Peven surreptitiously 
chose to spread his own DNA 
to an unknown number of 

offspring, and Trythall’s actions 
were equally abhorrent in 
regularly using a donor that 
would likely have been unac-
ceptable to the recipients. This 
is shameful and the behavior of 
these physicians deserves con-
demnation.

— Alan Sheiner, M.D.

Encino, California

Website comment

I find it interesting that the 
mothers of the inseminated 
kids all felt guilt or shame 
about their child’s birth. My 

Mom was the exact same way 
in regards to my adoption. 

 
— Michelle Rosenfeld Globerson

Via Facebook

CORRECTION
Gilead “Gil” Kapen, who 
co-wrote “The United Nations: 
A Major Obstacle to a Two-
State Solution in the Middle 
East,” Jan. 7, did not grow up 
in Metro Detroit, although 
he does consider it a “second 
home.”

LETTERS continued from page 10

