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Shvat:
A Time to Grow
by
Shprintzee Herskowitz, Midreshet Rachel v'Chaya
Not many people appreciate the importance of the
month of Shvat. Shvat is most known for the fifteenth
day of the month called "Tu B'Shvat" or the "tree
holiday".Unfortunately, since we are not much of
an agricultural society today, the significance
of trees, and thus the month of Shvat, is lost on
us. But now more than ever, it is crucial that Jews
all over the world tune in to the message inherent
in this month.
When you think about it, Man has always had a close
association with trees. The job of first man was
to (Genesis 2:15) "Work and watch over the Garden
of Eden," - a garden full of trees. The first Mitzvah
given to Man involved trees: (Genesis 2:16-17) "From
all the trees in the field you shall eat. And from
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad, you shall
not eat". The first thing Noach did after the world
was destroyed was to plant.But the most obvious
connection between Man and trees is the Torah's
statement (Devarim 20:19), "Man is the tree of field."
What exactly does that mean?
According to the Midrash on Sefer Bereishit, Adam
was created from the dust of the Earth. Perhaps
this is why the Gemara (Yevamot 63) says "Adam she'ayn
lo karka, ayno Adam - Man without land is not Man."
It is probably this statement which gave Arnold
Toynbee the idea that a nation without land is not
a nation. But long before Toynbee said it, we learned
this idea from Avraham. At one point, Hashem tells
Avraham (Genesis 12:1-2) "Go from your land, your
place of birth, to the Land that I will show you
(Eretz Yisrael). And I will make you into a great
nation". Avraham could only go to Eretz Yisrael
in order to be made into a great nation. Hashem
implies that Avraham needed to further evolve spiritually
in order to be the progenitor of the Jewish nation.
For this, Avraham needed the type of soil that would
be conducive to his spiritual growth as a Jew. In
Galut, depending on which land you are "planted",
you grow as an American, Canadian, Englishman, South
African, etc. In Eretz Yisrael, you grow as a Jew.
Ramchal (R. Moshe Chaim Luzzato) compares Avraham
to a tree and says ("Derech Hashem" Section II,
Chapter 4:3) "Avraham succeeded in elevating himself
and was therefore permanently made into a superior
tree, conforming to Man's highest level".Ramchal
notes that every individual has the potential to
be either a branch or a root of a tree. A branch
is a person who continues what his forefathers did
and does not significantly change his future descendants
via his actions. A root is an individual who, as
a result of his actions, significantly affects his
future descendants and thus creates an entirely
new tree. Examples of root individuals are converts,
Baalei Teshuvah and people who make Aliyah to Eretz
Yisrael. These people significantly affect their
future descendants, putting them on a new, much
higher, tree.
Chazal equate the cutting down of a tree to the
soul leaving the body. In Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer
it says "When a tree is cut down, its voice goes
from one end of the world to the other, but no one
hears it. The same is true when a soul leaves a
body". In Sefer Kohelet (Ecclesiastes, 3:2) Shlomo
HaMelech writes, "There is a time to be born and
a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot
planting.” Why does Shlomo follow the concept of
death with that of planting?
It is interesting that people do not cry when a
seed is planted in the ground, even though it decomposes
and dies. The reason is because we know something
better comes after the seed's "death"- namely, the
tree. Rav Nachman Kahana, shlita, once noted, "It
is interesting that even though we all know we will
die one day, that knowledge does not overwhelm us
so much that we are unable to get out of bed in
the morning.The reason why is because deep down,
we know that there is something much better waiting
for us after death. Our soul knows it."
Trees produce fruit. Man produces children. It can
be no coincidence that the Torah refers to having
children as "P'ru Urvu--being FRUITful and multiplying",
just as it is no coincidence that the Torah refers
to children as "Zera--seed". Interestingly, the
Gemara (Yoma 20) says that if a person cuts down
fruit trees, there is a danger of his children dying.
Why must we be so careful with trees? Perhaps it
is to teach us that just as trees produce good and
thus benefit the world, Man was put on this Earth
to produce good and thus benefit the world. One
of the ways Man does this is by having children.
The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 10:6) says that everything
in nature (including trees) has an angel who hits
it and says, "Grow.” As to why nature must be hit
in order to grow, the Rabbis say that where there
is no challenge, there is no growth. Today, the
Jewish nation is being hit and faces a serious challenge
to its growth. As to what can save us, once again
we look to a tree. The Torah is called an "Etz Chaim—Tree
of Life". If we learn Torah, we grow. If we do not
learn Torah, we get hit.
Regarding the month of Shvat, R. Avraham Issac Kook
writes (in "Meged Yerachim"), "The planting of fruit
trees on holy ground will sprout the hope for many
generations."Based on what we've said, the "planting
of fruit trees" would refer to producing and raising
Torah-observant children. "On holy ground" means
doing this in Eretz Yisrael.The "sprouting of hope"
refers to Moshiach, described by the prophet Zechariah
(2:7-8) as "the sprouting plant". Putting all of
this together, R. Kook is saying, "Only if we raise
Torah-observant children who have a love for Eretz
Yisrael, can we hope to see the coming of Moshiach
and thus survive for many generations to come".
This is the message of the month of Shvat.
May Hashem plant this seed in the heads of Jews
all over the world. |
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