I remember getting the same birthday card more than once. On the front was a picture of a forest of date palms. I think there was an Israeli flag somewhere in the background. It said, “In honor of your birthday, a tree has been planted in Israel.” When you open it, there is a guy in a bathrobe and sneakers, who needs a shave holding a watering can next to a little tiny sapling, and it says, “Your day to water it is Thursday.”
A trite joke for a serious purpose. The Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael – the Jewish National Fund (JNF) – was founded in 1901 to rebuild the land of our ancestors. Its leaders and supporters around the world raised funds to purchase land - currently it owns 13% of the land of Israel! They have indeed planted trees to turn the desert green. They have also built 180 dams and reservoirs to ensure access to water and established more than 1,000 parks!
Why am I talking about this now, in January? Because Tu Bishvat – the new year of the trees – is coming. Tu Bishvat is one of the several new years that we celebrate as Jews. (Rosh Hashanah – when the date changes, Simchat Torah – when we start a new year of Torah, January 1st , when we celebrate with the secular world, and the first day of the month of Nisan, just before Pesach, which the Torah calls the first month of the year).
As a religious school kid, I wondered why the New Year of the Trees fell while I was shoveling six inches of partly cloudy from my driveway in suburban Chicago. Turns out, January/ February is prime early planting season in the land of Israel. There is an expression over there that that from Pesach to Sukkot, there is no rain, and from Sukkot to Pesach the rain rarely stops. This is a country where everyone follows and talks about the water level of Lake Kinneret.
This year, Erev Tu Bishvat falls on Wednesday, February 12. That gives us time to invite YOU to plant a tree in Israel this year. We will be distributing information through the school and making it available to all to enable us to contribute to the JNF and plant a tree.
By the way, the card was not really a joke. In the picture you can see me actually planting a tree on the grounds of a middle school in South Tel Aviv ON TU BISHVAT! There was a drought that year, and very few trees were being planted. This school has a concentration on environmental studies and was granted special permission. Let’s plant a tree together. We can talk about going over there to water it soon enough!
L’ Shalom
Ira Wise
TBT Temple Educator
