FEBRUARY 2 • 2023 | 47

PHOTOS BY MICHELLE KOPERNICK

that people depend on. Fruit 
of the vine, or grapes, makes 
wine for special celebrations 
and signify happiness. Figs 
embody persistence because 
they ripen two or three 
times a year, instead of 
only once during a picking 
season. 
The tiny seeds of a 
pomegranate resemble 
performing multiple 
good deeds. Wisdom and 
experience are qualities 
of the olive tree, because 
they can live and thrive for 
centuries. Date trees grow 
straight up and tall without 
variation or widening, 
personifying decency and 
honesty. 

OUR DEPENDENCE 
ON TREES
In the 16th century, 
Kabbalists put a twist on the 
holiday by adding a seder, 
according to antiquities.
org. There are special songs 
and blessings, and menus 
include foods from the 
seven species. We enjoy 
them in celebration of our 
interdependence between 
living things and the fruits 
they provide. The theme of 
a Tu b’Shevat seder reflects 
the seasons, our dependence 
on trees and the overall 
health of the planet. 
Most Israelis treat this 
holiday as an arborist or 
tree-planting day. Each 
year, teachers, students and 
volunteers participate in 
mass plantings in different 
select areas. That’s when 
the tree I bought Edith 
in Sunday school went in 
the ground and started its 
life-providing shade, water 
and life. With a little help 
from our religious school 
classrooms, the JNF is 
growing more than 250 

million trees across 250,000 
once-barren acres. 
Our teacher explained 
that the first Zionists arrive 
to find a mostly desert 
landscape. They began 
to plant trees to correct 
the desolate farming 
conditions, a process known 
as afforestation. By 1908, 
leadership of the program 
shifted to the Jewish 
National Fund and the 
public schools. 
Today, the program’s 
reach is global, making its 
way to our West Bloomfield 
religious school classrooms. 
They continually connect 
Jews around the world to 
Israel’s ecology, forestation 
and heritage preservation, 
making Israel one of the few 
countries in the world with 
a net gain of trees in the 
21st century.
Grandma Edith pulled me 
toward her and hugged me 
tight when I gave her the 
tree’s certificate with her 
name on it. “Maybe we can 
go to Israel together after 
your bat mitzvah to see it,” 
she said. 
I loved the idea, trying to 
calculate how big it might 
be in five years. These 
trees grow 10 inches a year, 
which made me realize hers 
wouldn’t be fully grown for 
about another 30 years. 
Wondering how often 
people go to visit their 
Israeli trees later in their 
life, I make the commitment 
to go and find Edith’s full-
grown tree one day. From 
what I understand, it will be 
the one standing 60 feet tall 
and 32 feet wide, among the 
other magnificent cypress 
that adorn the now-lush 
Israeli countryside. 

See recipes on page 48.

continued on page XX

