There will be a special program during dinner tonight for the Jewish students to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shevat. The students are asked to get dinner, silver ware and cups from their families and join Rabbi Michele in Serenity Hall.
Tu B’shevat (which means the 15th of the Jewish month of Shevat) is called the “New Year for the Trees.” 2000 years ago, this day marked the beginning of a new year for calculating the tithing of each persons’ harvest.
Today we celebrate it as a way to connect to our history and to connect to the land of Israel. While we are still in the midst of winter here in upstate NY, in Israel, spring is beginning and the trees and flowers are starting to bloom. There are wonderful messages in the Tu B’Shevat seder that are meaning for all and especially for the students at the Family School. Messages of hope, “planting” for the future, working towards building a better world, caring for the environment, caring for each other, the importance of good acts, even small ones.
In the 16th century the Jewish mystics created a Tu B’Shevat “seder” based on the passover seder but using the food produced from trees – fruits and nuts. People are compared to different types of fruits: those who have a “hard shell” on the outside but are sweet inside if you can get through the outer coating. (Fruits such as oranges and nuts.); and those who have a strong inner core (pit) such as olives or dates. Fruits in which you can eat the entire fruit (such as raisins or figs) symbolize a complete person who no longer has put up barriers to others. We will be eating this different fruits and nuts and talking about what they symbolize.
