It’s utterly frigid here in Chicago. As I lose feeling in my toes, however, the Jewish calendar tells me it’s Tu B’shvat: the Birthday of the Trees, and the first harbinger of Spring.
And so my Tu B’shvat offerings for you:
– An email I wrote on behalf of Jewish Voice for Peace: this Tu B’shvat, please take action to save trees and uprooted communities in Israel/Palestine;
– From the Velveteen Rabbi: a lovely two-page Tu B’shvat Haggadah that covers all the bases quite gracefully. (Mazel Tov to the Velveteen Rabbi, who recently received her smicha and is now, as she puts it, “running and playing with the real rabbis.” Rabbi Rachel: don’t you know you’ve been a “real” rabbi to many of us for quite some time now…)
– For Tu B’shvat reading material, I encourage you to read this inspiring piece on “Spiritual Environmentalism” by Wangari Maathai, Kenyan tree-planter extraordinaire:
Human beings have a consciousness by which we can appreciate love, beauty, creativity, and innovation or mourn the lack thereof. To the extent that we can go beyond ourselves and ordinary biological instincts, we can experience what it means to be human and therefore different from other animals. We can appreciate the delicacy of dew or a flower in bloom, water as it runs over the pebbles or the majesty of an elephant, the fragility of the butterfly or a field of wheat or leaves blowing in the wind. Such aesthetic responses are valid in their own right, and as reactions to the natural world they can inspire in us a sense of wonder and beauty that in turn encourages a sense of the divine.
That consciousness acknowledges that while a certain tree, forest, or mountain itself may not be holy, the life-sustaining services it provides — the oxygen we breathe, the water we drink — are what make existence possible, and so deserve our respect and veneration. From this point of view, the environment becomes sacred, because to destroy what is essential to life is to destroy life itself.
I feel my toes warming up already…
Shalom Rav 
Shalom Rabbi
I am shocked to read some of your essays and judgment against Israel and the Israeli people. I find them offensive, unfair and unfounded. On the other hand you are doing a fabulous job of showing ONLY the suffering of the Palestenians. If only they will start the peace process by doing what the Israelis do, TEACH the children love and humanity. I hope you are aware of what the mothers in GAZA teach their children… which of their children will be the next to kill Israelis? hate hate hate…..
I feel that as a Rabbi you have an obligation to stand by the truth!
Ruth – there are parents on BOTH sides who are still filled with anger and hate and are teaching their children these things. But there are so many more who are trying to teach their children that this is enough war and hate – we have to find a path to peace and it is needed to LISTEN with an open mind and heart to what is really happening. Please go to a session where the representatives of the parents of Palestine and Israel are telling their stories of them working together so the world will understand that enough is enough – Israel and Palestine MUST live together in We must stop putting blame – it makes no sense any more. Our world is too small. Think on this with your heart.
Will the “ordinary people working together” suffice to halt the hate and enmity, or is more up to the politicians and other leaders?
I would never depend on the politicians and so-called “leaders” on either side. They are, by and large, the problem, and can never be the solution.