Tu b’Shvat seder showcases environmental activism
A simple way to celebrate Tu b’Shvat, the Jewish New Year for trees, is to grow a plant or eat some fruit.
Or you can try a Tu b’Shvat seder.
“Tu b’Shvat needed a major ritual, and the seder provides us with that,” entrepreneur, educator, and blogger Rabbi Jason Miller said. “Based on the seder of Passover, this is an educational forum and symposium in which we can discuss and also recommit ourselves to the environment.”
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Kabbalists from the northern Israeli city of Safed created the ritual of the Tu b’Shvat seder to celebrate the idea that even God’s smallest creations are equal within nature’s grand design. The initial ritual was outlined in “Peri Etz Hadar” (Fruit of the Goodly Tree), part of an anthology called the “Heindat Yamun.”
While Tu b’Shvat is widely celebrated in the Jewish world as the religion’s counterpart to Arbor Day, fewer Jews employ the seder ritual on this occasion. Many Jews are troubled by the seder’s apparent roots in the texts written by followers of the 17th-century false messiah known as Shabbatai Zvi.
Like the Passover seder, the Tu b’Shvat version relies on reciting blessings and drinking wine, with a greater emphasis on fruit. Each group of fruit eaten at the Tu b’Shvat seder represents different ways that trees provide for us. Before eating each kind of fruit, participants say a blessing and ask a spiritual question related to that kind of fruit.
To fully appreciate nature’s bounty, kabbalists matched up Israel’s regional fruit to symbolize the four physical elements: air, earth, water, and fire.
“¢ Assiyah, or earth, is symbolized by fruits or nuts with an outer shell and fruit within. This includes walnuts, pomegranates, pistachios, and coconuts.
“¢ Yetzirah, or water, is symbolized by fruits with edible outer flesh and inedible cores. This includes cherries, apricots, olives, and plums.
“¢ Briyah, or air, is symbolized by fruit that is entirely edible. This includes apples, pears, figs, and raisins.
“¢ Atzilut, or fire, is not symbolized by fruit but by things that represent God’s presence all around us. This can include the aroma of pine, cedar, or spices.
It is no coincidence that the fruits included in the seder don’t fall far from the tree. The constant imagery of trees is intended to invoke our connection to the earth and our Jewish responsibility as its stewards. Looking from the roots at the bottom to the fruits among the leaves acts as a reminder that when everything is connected, each small action by a human reverberates throughout the universe.
“Trees are so important in Jewish thought that the Torah itself is called ‘a tree of life.’ Perhaps this Torah wisdom can help us think more wisely about using these resources carefully and living in a more sustainable way,” Dr. Akiva Wolff and Rabbi Yonatan Neri wrote in “Trees, Torah, and Caring for the Earth,” part of Jewcology’s “Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment.”
Though the origins of the Tu b’Shvat seder may be hazy, the intention to deepen our connection with nature and assure the preservation of its bounty has lead to environmental activism’s increased relevance within the context of celebrating the holiday.
“We are living in God’s creation, which makes us equal to one another and makes us all equal in what we need and what we share equitably,” Sybil Sanchez, director of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, said. “The seder is an important time to ritually recognize our values, but it is also a time to take action.”
For Tu b’Shvat last year, COEJL called for Jewish community leaders to sign its “Jewish Environmental and Energy Imperative,” which asked Jews to reduce their energy use by 14 percent by the fall of 2014. More than 50 Jewish leaders signed the pledge.
Honoring the holiday’s theoretical foundations, the Israeli company SodaStream developed CO2-infusing products to create soda and sparkling water at home, in an effort to help the public reduce waste from bottles and cans purchased at stores. According to statistics from the U.S. Recycling Institute, more than 80 percent of bottles in the United States do not get recycled, instead ending up in landfills.
Incorporating environmental mindfulness can easily become part of Tu b’Shvat, said Ms. Sanchez, who suggests checking whether your family is eating locally sourced fruit, using ecologically well produced dishes and dining ware, installing energy-efficient light bulbs, and turning off appliances when they are not in use.
JNS.org
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