Community Magazine January 2019

16 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Words of Rabbi Eli J. Mansour When we were young, we would sing, “Tu B’Shvat higiah hag ha’ilanot” on Tu B’Shvat. This song portrays the holiday of Tu B’Shvat as the Jewish version of Arbor Day - the holiday of the trees. But what is the inner meaning of Tu B’Shvat? Is it merely a day to enjoy tasty fruit platters? The spiritual message of our other holidays is clear. We have a guide how to apply what happened so many years ago to our personal growth today. For example, Pesah is defined as “zman herutenu ” (season of our freedom). We became free fromEgyptian bondage, so nowwe need to use this special time to liberate ourselves from our addictions and bad habits. Sukkot is “zman simhatenu” (season of our joy). That’s when we need to work on staying happy in all circumstances. Shabuot of course is the holiday in which we reaccept the Torah this year and deepen our connection to its study. But on Tu B’Shvat, there are few sources as to what is the spiritual service of the day. In fact, Tu B’Shvat does not figure prominently in the classic sources. It’s commonly known as the birthday of the trees, but its original context stems from the technical halachot of agriculture, as a way of marking dates for the different misvot hatluyot ba’ares. It would seem that it’s only relative to farmers. Nevertheless, it is recorded as a minor holiday on which one may not fast, and tahanunim are not recited. Thus, it certainly has deeper content. The Ben Ish Hai In fact, the Ben Ish Hai wrote Pri Es Haddar , an entire booklet dedicated to the kabbalistic tikkun of Tu B’Shvat that rectifies the spiritual worlds. He prescribes making a Tu B’Shvat seder where one eats thirty types of fruits. He classifies all the fruits into three categories. Some fruits, like a fig, have no pit or shell; the entire fruit is edible. This type corresponds to the supernal word of Beriya. There are some fruits in which the edible part is on the outside and the pit is on the inside. These fruits correspond to the lower world of Yesirah. The lowest level of fruit, corresponding to the world of Assiyah, are fruits in which the edible part is inside, surrounded by a tough inedible outer shell. In the Ben Ish Hai’s tikkun , the eating of each fruit is accompanied by reading a page of Zohar “Tu B’Shvat is the day to uncover the divine revelation in the trees, in the fruit, and in nature in general.” לעילוי נשמתם של משה בן עליזה, יצחק הלל בן עליזה, והנרייט לאה בת עליזה, דוד בן גילה, רבקה בת גילה, יהושע בן גילה, משה בן גילה, שרה בת גילה, יעקב בן גילה, ואליאנה בת גילה. ולרפואה שלמה ליוסף בן אהובה מסעודה, שילת אהובה בת עליזה, ודניאל בן עליזה. The Fruit Testifies From Apples to Oranges: