The Miracle of Tu B'Shvat

This week we celebrate the holiday of Tu B’Shvat, the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat. Other than acting as a warning bell for Jewish mothers everywhere that Pesach is a mere two months away, it is considered the “new year” for trees.

A tree’s age is calculated according to how many Tu B’Shvats it has lived through. Why do we need to how old a tree is? Many agricultural halachot depend on that knowledge. For example, the Biblical prohibition of “orlah” states that for fruit trees grown in Israel, one may not eat the fruit for the first three years. A tree ages one year every Tu B’Shvat, no matter when it was planted. Other agricultural laws, such as tithing the produce, use Tu B’Shvat as the calculation date as well.

So yes, Tu B’Shvat is important for certain mitzvot. But in reality, those mitzvot don’t even apply to many Jews today. Certainly Jews living outside Israel do not have to concern themselves with how old their fruit trees are. And our tithing ceremonies are a mere shadow of what they used to be in the days of the Temple. No celebratory trip to Jerusalem, just a ritual involving a coin.

And I will admit that Tu B’Shvat always seemed to me like a “meh” holiday, celebration-wise. We’d go to school and get some sad little bag of dried apricots and, God help us all, “buxor,” which is another word for “carob,” which is another word “dried out twig-like substance.” (Though living in Israel now and having tasted fresh carob, I regard it with much less horror than I used to.)

Both on the mitzvah and the celebration scale, Tu B’Shvat doesn’t seem to rank very high. Now, as Jews, we firmly believe in the expression, “Ayn sibah l’mesibah.” You don’t need a reason to party. So we’re all for celebrating everything and anything. Birthdays for trees? Go for it! But honestly, compared to the other minor holidays throughout the year—Purim and Chanukah—it falls flat. Jelly doughnuts and presents, costumes and mounds of junk food vs….figs? Nifty miracles, last-minute reversals of fortune vs….trees?

But of course, that is just the point.

Tu B’Shvat may look less flashy than its holiday brethren. But it is just as awe-inspiring, if not even more so. True, Tu B’Shvat does not have miraculous oil, an amazing battle or a dramatic save by the original Jewish princess. It just has those trees. And that is precisely the message of Tu B’Shvat: The nature we take for granted IS miraculous. Tu B’Shvat is telling us to take a day and appreciate the phenomenon of nature, the miracle of the everyday world continuing to chug along.

This Tu B’Shvat, look at a tree—hugging optional—and be amazed at the complex systems necessary to keep the tree alive and growing. Eat a piece of fruit and marvel how something so sublime came out of a bitter seed submerged in dirt.

“Mah rabu ma’asecha Hashem, kulam b’chachma asita.” How great are your works, God; they were all made with such wisdom. A statement that is just as true about jaw-dropping miracles as it is about the little lemon tree in your backyard.