Rabbi Eliyahu Blum is Rabbi of the Neve Sha’anan community in Haifa, and Av Beit Din for monetary law. He iis former Rosh Yeshivat Hesder Nahariya and former Rosh Kollel Cleveland (1999-2001).
One of the Jewish holidays is the 15th of Shevat - the New Year for the Trees.
The Mishnah says: There are four New Years.
On the first of Nisan is the New Year for kings and for festivals.
On the first of Elul is the New Year for the tithe of animals; Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Shimon say on the first of Tishrei.
On the first of Tishrei is the New Year for years, for Sabbatical years and Jubilees, for planting and for vegetables.
On the first of Shevat is the New Year for the tree according to the words of Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel say on the fifteenth of it.
Before delving into the foundation of this holiday, which of course does not appear in the Torah, one must wonder how the New Year for the tree became a festival for us as human beings. After all, we do not celebrate the New Year for the tithe of animals as a festival, nor do we celebrate the first of Tishrei as the New Year for vegetables; rather, it is a day of sounding the shofar and a sacred assembly.
In contrast, the 15th of Shevat for us is a day that we mark by not reciting Tachanun due to the joy and festivity of the day. The Magen Avraham adds [ibid.]: “And the Ashkenazim are accustomed to increase [their eating of] various kinds of fruits of trees," meaning that there is also a way to celebrate it.
Two answers to this question:
-The praise of the Land of Israel is expressed through the fruits of the tree, for the first fruits are brought from “the fruits with which the Land of Israel was praised," meaning only from the Seven Species, of which five are fruits of trees.
Therefore, the New Year for the tree symbolizes the renewal of the goodness and blessing of the Land of Israel.
-The special connection between the life of the tree and the life of man, as the verse states: “For man is a tree of the field, to come before you in the siege" . Both express growth and rootedness, the giving of fruit and stability. Therefore, the tree, as a symbol, has a special status among the various types of vegetation.
The main significance of the 15th of Shevat is in the realm of the laws dependent on the Land of Israel, and here two central questions arise:
a. Why specifically the month of Shevat?
b. What is the dispute between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, and what is the significance of the two-week gap between the two opinions?
a. The Gemara says:
On the first of Shevat is the New Year for the tree. What is the reason? Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Oshaya: since most of the rains of the year have already fallen, yet most of the season is still outside. What does this mean? This is what it means: even though most of the season is still outside, since most of the rains of the year have already fallen.
Rashi explains there:
“Since most of the rains of the year have already fallen" - for most of the days of rain have already passed, which is the time of saturation, and the sap has risen in the trees, and thus the fruits begin to set from now.
The Gemara explains the view of Beit Shammai and says that even though most of the Tekufat Tevet is still ahead of us, most of the rains of the year have already fallen. Rashi explains that the sap has risen in the trees and the setting of the fruit begins from now.
Of course, in practice one does not yet see any change in the tree on the first of Shevat, but the sap that has risen in the trees testifies to the potential that will soon begin to be realized. We are essentially celebrating the stage of peak potential before its realization.
It is important to emphasize that this phenomenon has no parallel in other agricultural crops.
In every other agricultural product there is a determining stage by which we define to which year of the tithes that year’s produce belongs. Usually the stage is connected to the reality of the ripening produce. For vegetables we follow the time of picking; for grain, olives, grapes, and legumes we follow the stage of one-third growth, at which point the grain leaves the status of unripe and the fruit begins to be noticeable at the beginning of its ripening.
Only with trees is the determining time for the year of tithes the time when there is still no discernible fruit on the tree. As stated, we mark the year according to the time when “the sap rose in the trees."
This matter, the difference between trees and other agricultural products, calls for interpretation:
The Ritva in Masechet Rosh Hashanah 12b brings the words of his teacher, the Ra’ah, on this matter:
“And if you ask: why with trees they follow the setting of the fruit for all their laws except for the season of tithes, whereas with grain they follow the one-third stage for all its laws - my teacher, may his light shine, says that the tree, which is already large, planted and rooted in the ground, its trunk drinks and is nourished from all the rains of the year, and once it reaches the setting of the fruit it has already received all the nourishment needed to bring the fruit to completion, and on its own it continues its nourishment and completes its fruit from then on.
"Therefore, even though the fruit itself has not yet reached completion to be considered finished fruit for the purpose of the season of tithes - for tithes we require actual finished fruit and that is not yet present - nevertheless for these matters it already has completion of the fruit in potential, and therefore that suffices. But grain, until it reaches one-third growth, is not considered to have any completeness, even in potential, for it has no essential body planted in the ground to receive nourishment and sap from then on to complete its fruit thereafter. And this is a correct reason, and so Rashi explained."
In other words, the month of Shevat symbolizes a stage that focuses on the tree itself before the actual growth of the fruits. It exists only with a tree, since with every other agricultural product, without the fruits there is no independent status to the stage of growth beforehand.
b. As stated, the Gemara explains the reasoning of Beit Shammai. But what is the root of the dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel?
According to Tosafot, the reasoning brought by the Gemara - that in the month when most of the rains of the season have already fallen - applies both to Beit Shammai and to Beit Hillel; rather, they differ regarding the time of the setting of the first fruits [a dispute about reality].
In contrast to the view of Tosafot, it appears that the Meiri makes a fundamental distinction between the view of Beit Hillel and the view of Beit Shammai.
The Meiri argues that the Gemara’s reasoning, that most of the rains have already fallen, applies to the view of Beit Shammai, but according to Beit Hillel one must wait another two weeks until the midpoint of the Tekufat Tevet:
“Since half of the Tekufat Tevet has passed, its strength has already weakened, and the power of the cold is not so strong, and the setting of the fruit increases; and setting is the emergence of a small fruit… and some explain that setting refers to before the fruit emerges at all, to the emergence of something like flowers."
It appears that Beit Hillel, in determining the New Year for the trees according to the understanding of the Meiri, place emphasis not only on the potential for growth that forms within the tree, but also on the beginning of its realization in practice in the form of the setting of the fruit.
The time of setting has great significance in several halachic areas. We will not address them here, but the message that emerges from the 15th of Shevat is a message that is relevant to the life of each and every one of us.
This message is especially relevant to those, who in the course of shlichut are engaged in bringing hearts closer and strengthening the connection between the Jewish people in the Diaspora and the Land of Israel.
I assume that the potential for a strong connection to the Land exists in most of the communities to which you are sent.
But you strive to turn this potential, which lies deep in the heart, into a small bud that begins to sprout and blossom toward the making of fruit.
That small flame which you sustain and fan is destined to become, for many members of the communities, a blazing fire of love for Zion and Jerusalem, also thanks to your devoted work.
And to the dear members of the communities, I send you an article from the blessing of the Land, in the hope of a strong bond between you and the people dwelling in Zion.
Be strong and courageous. I wish us all a joyful Tu BiShevat, adorned with the fruits by which the Land of Israel was praised, and filled with longing and yearning for the State of Israel, and with deep spiritual meaning.
For comments: eyblum@gmail.com