From the Rabbi’s Desk:
The glow of the lights of Chanukah is now well behind us, yet the memories of that light, with
its warmth and its spiritual blessing, lingers on. We carry this memory with us through the
ice and snow of winter, and we renew the spiritual power of that light when we kindle the
candles of Shabbat each Friday night. On February 9th, in spite of the winter weather, we will
celebrate the holiday which the Talmud calls the “New Year of Trees” on Tu B’Shvat (the
15th of Shvat). It has become the day that Israelis young and old gather together to plant large
numbers of saplings donated by money collected from Jews throughout the world to the JNF.
These trees have historically drained the malaria swamps of Lake Huleh, and made Israel
bloom again with fruit trees of all kinds. On this holiday of the Tu B’Shvat we celebrate the
fruitfulness of Eretz Yisra’el by eating foods of Israel mentioned in the Bible, including:
wheat, barely, figs, dates, grapes, olives, pomegranates, honey, bokser (carob), almonds, and
foods made from them. Many perform a Seder modeled by the Kabbalists of the 16th century
after the Pesach Seder (for one excellent Tu B’Shvat Seder with its spiritual significance and
quotations see the following Aish website:
http://www.aish.com/holidays/tu_bshvat/last/seder1.htm). The 4 glasses of wine (or grape
juice) begin with white, reminding us of the mid-winter snows, and increase gradually in
redness reminiscent of the blossoms of late spring. Though spring is still a long 2 months off
here in the US, Tu B’Shvat gives us a taste of spring in winter, since it marks the 1st day of
spring in Israel.
During Chanukah we read, in the Torah, the “prequel story” to Pesach, the story of Joseph
and his brothers. January 17th, we began the Book of Shmot, of Exodus, which tells the
“Passover story” of the exodus from Egypt about 400 years after Joseph. The Shabbat of
February 6th called Shabbat Shirah, is the story of the crossing of the sea of reeds, from which
we get “Mi Chamochah”, and this completes the exodus from Egypt. The next Shabbat of
February 14th tells of the giving of the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai. Coming to Shul
on Shabbat mornings in time to hear the Torah study during this period, is a great way to
renew your knowledge of this great foundation story of Judaism and prepare yourself for the
Passover Seder April 8th. Winter is the most difficult time to get a minyan both Friday nights
and Shabbat mornings. Please make a special effort to come to services, help us to have
minyanim, and fulfill the mitzvah of studying the Torah of Pesach.
---Rabbi Paul Bender
Congregation Ner Tamid 1705 Haddonfield-Berlin Rd. Cherry Hill, New Jersey