The Shalom Center - Tu B'Shvat

Rebirthing Trees, Sharing God's Abundance, Healing the Earth

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:02:28 -0500

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

[This essay includes some action steps you could choose to undertake as part of your Tu B'Shvat/ Birthday of the Trees celebration, or could undertake independently. Two sample letters on public policy are at the end of this essay.]

Wouldn't it seem strange if you heard that mystics had transformed April 15, Income Tax Day, into a festival for celebration of God's reemergence?

Yet that is what the Kabbalists of Safed did in the sixteenth century when they recreated Tu B’Shvat. Tu B’Shvat, the full moon of mid-winter, had been important only in Holy Temple days, in the calendar of tithing. It was the end of the “fiscal year” for trees. Fruit that appeared before that date was taxed for the previous year; fruit that appeared later, for the following year.

Martin Luther King, Trees, & the EPA

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:03:10 -0500

Last week I suggested that we plan actions on Tu B'Shvat, the Jewish midwinter festival of the rebirth of trees (and of the earth in general) , to address the recent destructive actions by the director of the Environmental Protection Agency.

He stopped efforts by the states to curb CO2 emissions from autos and thus reduce the danger we are facing from the global climate crisis.

A number of letters have come to us, supporting the idea. This letter suggests ways of carrying the message to EPA offices in eleven cities across America.

Religious Background: Monday, January 21, is the official day for celebration of Martin Luther King's birthday. At about 4:30 that afternoon begins the celebration of Tu B'Shvat. (The day before is exactly one year before the inauguration of the next President of the United States.)

Tu B’Shvat, the Climate Crisis and the Tree of Light; A Green Menorah Supplement for Your Tu B’Shvat Seder

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 13:04:02 -0500

Prepared by Rabbi Jeff Sultar
Director, Green Menorah Covenant campaign of The Shalom Center
http://www.shalomctr.org greenmenorah@shalomctr.org 215/ 438-2983

Tu B'Shvat is coming -- the evening of January 21. It celebrates the rebirthing of trees in the midst of winter, and in the mystical tradition of Kabbalah, also the reawakening of Divine energy with God seen metaphorically as the Tree of Life, with Its roots in Heaven and Its fruit, ourselves -- the universe.

Below you will find the text of a pamphlet that you can download as a supplement for you to use in holding a Tu B'Shvat Seder or giving a sermon on the Birthday of the Trees. Cut, paste, and click here for a PDF version that you can download and print as a four-page pamphlet:

Sharing God's Fruitfulness

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:23:39 -0500

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

Wouldn't it seem strange if you heard that mystics had transformed April 15, Income Tax Day, into a festival for celebration of God's reemergence?

The Talmud called this legal date the “New Year for Trees.”

JEWS CHALLENGE ENVIRONMENTAL "PROTECTION" AGENCY WITH TREES FOR LIFE

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:06:18 -0500

Report by: Rabbi Jeff Sultar, director
Green Menorah Campaign of The Shalom Center
215/438-2983

In response to The Shalom Center's call for the Environmental Protection Agency to live up to its middle name, Jewish groups brought living trees to regional EPA offices in New York City and Philadelphia on January 21, the trees' Rebirthing Day in Jewish tradition.

(You can use and modify the model letters at the end of this post to join in the protest.)

The protest was well covered by the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. For article and photoi, see --
http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/15130/

I Shall Be a Tree

Wed, 29 Jun 2005 01:00:00 -0400

J. Sheffield, 6/29/2005

Before Tu BShvat in 2005, The Shalom Center and The Morris Arboretum invited students in Philadelphia to submit brief essays on their experience of trees. We found this the most interesting.

There was a time fire word

Rebirthing the Tree/s of Life: Four Teachings for the Four Worlds of Tu B'Shvat

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 11:53:15 -0500

Rabbis Arthur Waskow, Naomi Mara Hyman, & Rabbi Phyllis Berman, 1/19/2005

The trees are reborn in the depth of winter, and the Kabbalists of Tzfat (Safed) taught that the Tree of Life, God's own flow of abundance, was also reborn then. They created a Tu B'Shvat Seder to celebrate that time (the full moon of the month of Shvat), which will come this year on January 24-25. Click here for a world of teaching about this festival.

Renewing Trees, Crossing Seas

Fri, 06 Feb 2004 01:00:00 -0500

2/6/2004

This Shabbos is Tu B'Shevat (The Rosh Hashanah for the Trees) and on thi

Shabbos we read the Torah portion recounting the crossing of the Red Sea.

Because these events occupy the same day, we know that they are connected to

each other an

A Heimish Tu B'Shvat

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Judith-Kate Friedman

By Judith-Kate Friedman

The elder residents of San Francisco's Jewish Home have just released their debut CD of original songs & stories "Island on a Hill" — songs we composed together 1997-2002, as part of my California A

Tu B'Shvat and Martin Luther King Jr. Day: Reflections on the environment and justice

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Reflections on the environment and justiceBy Mark X. Jacob

The coincidence that Tu B'Shvat, the Jewish new year for trees, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the celebration of one of America's greatest leaders, come together on the same weekend t

A Tu B'Shvat Prayer for Creation

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Rabbi Warren G. Stone

By Rabbi Warren G. Stone

Source of Creation and Life of the Universe, we gather together on Tu B'Shvat, as Jews of conscience, with a deep spiritual bond to your natural wonders, to affirm and preserve creation.

We are gratef

Tu B'Shvat and Vegetarianism

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Richard Schwartz

Tu B'Shvat and Vegetarianism

By Richard Schwartz

Tu B'Shvat is arguably the most vegetarian of Jewish holidays, because of its many connections to vegetarian themes and concepts:

1. The Tu B'Shvat Seder in which fruits and

Action for Tu B'Shvat: Suggestions from COEJL

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Action for Tu B'Shvat: Suggestions from COEJL

December 23, 2002

COEJL Community e-bulletin #2
Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life

IN THIS ISSUE:

TAKE ACTION: Not happy with the new fuel economy standards?
CELEBRATE: Host a

Among Trees

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Alizah Shatzky

Among Trees

By Alizah Shatzky

While I walk among ancient trees another village over there explodes. The leaves hold colours of crimson gold, yet I can't pronounce most names from over there. I give thanks to ocean moods and s

Major Resources for Tu B'Shvat

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

1. TREES, EARTH, & TORAH: A TU B'SHVAT ANTHOLOGY (Jewish Publication Society; edited by Ari elon, Naomi Mara Hyman, & Arthur Waskow) is the fullest collection of the whole range of material that bears on Tu B'Shvat.

It begins with from almos