Dear Friends:
I realize that I sent you an article last Friday about T’U B’Shevat, but I wrote another article, which I like very much, and I want you to have that also. It offers a slightly different perspective. T’U B’Shevat is so important that I thought it merited “T’U” articles!
That, of course, is a joke, but the sentiment is serious.
On the Fifteenth Day of the Month of Shevat, the soil of the Land of Israel is renewed and the sap begins to flow in the trees (Book of Our Heritage, Vol. 1). We do not see it, nor any indication of it. So why do we mark the day? Yes, it is the subject of a Mishna: “There are four Rosh Hashanas…..” (Rosh Hashana 1:1).
But why this day?
Everything holy is hidden.
In our society, “seeing is believing.” Everything is shown instantly. As soon as someone lifts a finger (or detonates an explosion) in the remote wilds of Afghanistan, it is seen on CNN. Events today in the Arctic Ocean get a photograph on the front page of tomorrow’s newspapers. We see everything in front of our eyes.
And we see nothing!
“Rabbi Yitzhak said, there is blessing only in things hidden from the eye… In the School of Rabbi Yishmael it was taught, ‘Blessing is only possible in things not under the direct control of the eye… Blessing is not to be found in anything that has been already weighed or measured or numbered, but only in a thing hidden from sight.’” (Taanis 8b)
Yosef ha Tzaddik walked in front of his mother Rachel when they met Esav (Genesis 33:7). By shielding his mother from Esav’s eyes, Yosef gained a power which in the course of history is destined to save the Children of Israel from the hands of Esav (Rashi on Genesis 30:25; Berachos 20a; Beraishis Rabba). “For the …. house of Jacob will be fire, the house of Joseph a flame … and they will devour … the house of Esav.” (Ovadia 1:15-18)
Our eyes are constantly exposed to impure sights. There is a saying: “one can see in eight minutes on the streets of a modern city what out zaydies and bubbies never saw in eighty years in the shtetl!”
Every day we say in the Shema, “[do] not explore after your … eyes, after which you stray…” (Numbers 15:39)
We get into trouble by following the gaze of our eyes. Looking into the Shabbos candles is considered a way to heal one’s eyesight. (Otzar Taamei ha Minhagim/Maharil)
On T’U B’Shevat the earth begins to awaken from the slumber of winter. Within the trees, unseen by the eyes of man, sap begins to flow from the roots to the tips of each branch and twig, awakening the nascent buds. This event is not broadcast on CNN, nor will it appear on the pages of tomorrow’s daily papers. Yet, its power and influence dwarfs the
importance of every news item blaring to the masses. G-d’s ways are hidden. “A boor cannot know, nor can a fool understand this….” (Psalm 92)
In the Shemoneh Esreh, the coming of Moshiach is described in a somewhat surprising way: “May You speedily cause the offspring of Your servant David to flourish….” The Artscroll Siddur explains: “[The Prophet] Zechariah (6:12) teaches that Moshiach’s name will be ‘Tsemach,’ literally ‘the sprouting or flourishing of a plant.’”
My friends, it is a dark world. We are shivering in the blanket of winter. The earth appears dead. This winter, especially, we have learned the meaning of cold. Even Florida suffered from an almost unprecedented cold spell; thousands of fish died in the chilly waters. Denver recorded temperatures of minus 16 degrees! And the Children of Israel are isolated; all our apparent friends seem to be turning away, leaving us alone in the frigid night. Indeed, this winter is dark and cold.
And yet, where no one sees, new life is forming. Inside the Tree of Life, the sap is beginning to flow upwards from the ancient roots – our Fathers Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov; our mothers Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah – to the tips of the branches and buds – our own generation, the “children’s children.” As we say at least three times every day, G-d will recall “the kindnesses of the Patriarchs and [bring] a Redeemer to their children’s children, for His Name’s sake, with love.”
Why is the coming of Moshiach compared to the flowering of a plant?
Perhaps because it is hidden.
Perhaps because it is inevitable.
Perhaps because only the wise can perceive its beginnings.
Unseen by the heedless masses, G-d is preparing to heal the world. The source of kedusha is rising, invisible within the apparently lifeless limbs. The Children of Israel, even though we ourselves may not be aware of it, are rising toward our destiny. Do you think that winter will not be followed by spring? Do you think that the world is condemned to the eternal grip of the icy hand of winter?
G-d said to Noah, “Continuously, all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22)
No, my friends! Moshiach ben Dovid is coming! The long-dormant bud is about to open. Unseen, the sap is rising through the withered branches, and suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, when the world has given up all hope, the flower will burst forth in glorious color and splendor and a new age of purity will explode upon the earth. In those days, soon to come, “A sun of righteousness will shine for you who fear My Name, with healing in its rays….” (Malachi 3:20)
