Though in
contemporary times we relate to Tu biShvat as a holiday, it is not a
true holiday. The earliest mention of the significance of the date is the Mishna’s
statement [Rosh haShana 1:1] that the fifteenth of Shvat is the
“new year for trees” (in the opinion of the House of Hillel, which is the
accepted Halacha). The Mishna’s statement indeed conveys Halachic
implications, as the relevance of this new year is in determining to which year
of the six year cycle of ma’asrot (tithes) fruit belongs.
Tu biShvat is mentioned in Shulḥan Aruch
Oraḥ Ḥayyim only twice:
|
|
The custom is not to say taḥanun (penitential
prayers) on the fifteenth of Shvat. 131:6
The community does not institute a public fast on the
fifteenth of Shvat, since it is the new year for trees. 572:3
|
|
Interestingly,
Maimonides, in his codification of the Halacha [Mishneh Torah Laws of
Prayer 5:15] omits Tu biShvat from the list of days on which it is customary
to omit reciting taḥanun. Thus, it would seem that Tu biShvat was
added to this list only sometime during the last eight hundred years.
Rabbi Zalman
Baruch Melamed notes two unique points concerning Tu biShvat versus all
other holidays within the Jewish calendar. Firstly, other holidays commemorate
historic events, while Tu biShvat does not. In essence, the other
holidays look towards the past, while Tu biShvat looks to the future.
This is especially true as the fifteen of Shvat is well before the trees
will actually bear fruit. Secondly, every other holiday within our calendar
commemorates a miraculous event, while Tu biShvat relates to nature, and
conveys the message that nature is not independent of God, but is under His
direct and constant supervision.
It is worth
noting that the holiday which precedes Tu biShvat is Hanukka. As
we noted in a Dvar Torah for Hanukka, the concept of
Divine supervision of nature was important in the Hanukka story as well.
Greek culture and philosophy clashed with the traditional
Jewish approach. The Greeks deified nature, while Judaism sees nature as being
governed in a direct and ongoing way by the Almighty. Rabbi Yehoshua David
Hartman phrases it thus: “for the Greeks, the miraculous was natural, while for
Jews, nature is miraculous.”
Thus, there is a conceptual
continuity between the celebration of the Maccabean victory over the Greeks and
the new year for trees.
No comments:
Post a Comment