NIGHT LIGHT NEWS
DAILY POSTINGS
Thursday, February 13, 2025- 10am
Thursday, February 13, 2025- 10am
In the Jewish culture there is a day set aside to celebrate trees.
It is called Tu BiShvat. I wait for it every year, it is such a lovely & celebratory day. This festive celebratory day always falls in February. This year, it falls the day before Valentine’s Day.
This festival marks the “new year” or birthday for the trees, as they begin to awaken from their winter slumber & begin another leaf, fruit, nut bearing year.
A story – a tree planted during the holocaust, its seeds scattered & trees from those seed now growing in the United States –
https://mjhnyc.org/
History/Origins
In ancient time, farmers brought their 4th year fruits to the Temple as offerings. When a farmer at that tie planted fruit & nut trees, they did not eat them until the 4th year harvest ((Leviticus 19.23-25).�So the trees can gain strength over the 3 years & then produce a large harvest in the 4th year.
The celebration of the trees, after the destruction of the Second Temple (70 CE) & the end of Temple offerings, began to diminish among the people. However, the kabbalists** created a ritual: a seder (ceremonial meal) modeled on the Passover feast, during which people ate fruits and nuts associated with the land of Israel, paying attention to the different textures, tastes and symbolism of the items they consumed while reading biblical passages.
At the kabbalists’ seder of Tu B’Shevat, the celebration is structured around four cups of wine, from all or mostly white to red, to mimic the color changes of the seasons – the white snow and almond blossoms (in Israel) of late winter, to the red of the anemone blossoms of summer. Everything eaten became a symbol.
Pomegranates (for abundance) were the first fruits to be eaten, when peeled they reveal glistening red seeds – 613 seeds, corresponding to the number of commandments in the Torah. Then softer fruits w/ large inner seeds. Then figs for their luscious splendor & beauty.
Tu BiShvat is an agricultural festival, similar to Passover Seder. In Israel, it is a tree planting day. It remind the people to take care of the earth & her kingdoms, especially the plant kingdom that gives them food. It celebrates nature waking up from winter. It is like a spring festival. In the Torah, trees are given special significance, as their fruits sustain life.
The Torah actually refers to itself as The Tree of Life.
Over time, Tu BiShvat evolved to hold many cultural and religious meanings.
It is a contemplative time, reflecting on the seasons & the sacredness of the trees. It is also an active celebration, in areas of the world, especially in Israel, trees are planted on this day.
It is a day celebrating nature & the plant kingdom.
In the US, this festival is like our Arbor Day.
There is a children’s book called Thank you Trees, a rhyming story that gives thanks for the trees. (see below).
**Kabbalists – Jewish mystics who study Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism. Kabbalists believe that God works in mysterious ways, but that it’s possible to gain knowledge and understanding of God’s inner workings.
Each morning, as part of our meditation (focusing the M/mind),
we read a message from the trees – from Dorothy Maclean’s (co-founder of Findhorn) book, Call of the Trees.
Along with a paragraph or two from The Soul, Quality of Life.
Walking with the Christ on the Pathway of Light, surrounded by, lined with trees. Walking with the Christ on this Reappearance Meditation day. love, Risa
