It is somehow paradoxical that at the same month when Tu Bish’vat, a feast of the renewal of nature is celebrated, this same nature has caused a terrible worldwide mourning for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
Tu B'Shevat, the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar -- celebrated this year on Shabbat, January 30, 2010 -- is the day that marks the beginning of a "New Year for Trees." This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.
Legally, the "New Year for Trees" relates to the various tithes that are separated from produce grown in the Holy Land. These tithes differ from year to year in the seven-year Shemittah cycle; the point at which a budding fruit is considered to belong to the next year of the cycle is the 15th of Shevat.
But for us and today, Tu Bish’vat should be a holiday that Integrates social action programming related to natural resources, health issues and endangered species.
So, this year, while celebrating Tu Bish’vat our hearts and commitments are with Haiti and its victims. But beyond that, this tragedy is a recall of how social injustice, which we witness every day, is responsible for the magnitude of the catastrophe.
Perhaps we cannot prevent natural disasters but we can work out the situations where those disasters generate unbearable consequences.
That’s what our sages called Tikkun Olam, the fixing of the world.
Rabbi Mario Gurevich
Sh’vat 5770-2010
