Tu B’Shevat – the New year for the Trees
by Nalini Ibragimov
Happy Tu b’Shevat, the new year of the trees! On Tu b’Shevat, we often reference the verse in the Torah which compares a man to a tree of the field. Some have the custom to partake in the festivites with a tu b’Shevat seder which is not so simple if you are not a fan of fruits or nuts (like many members of my household!), but we can always share an idea to help connect us to the energy of the day :).
Everything in the universe at large exists in each of us to some degree or another since humans are called an olam katan, a small world. In the universe, there are inanimate objects, plants/vegetation, and animals or living things. Kabbalistically, these correspond to action, emotion and intellect.
What does something inanimate contain? What are its properties? Nothing really, it just takes up space. An action is something that happens in the physical world. And then it’s over.
Vegetation takes up space as well but it also grows. Similarly, emotions can grow and develop. Actions, however, don’t grow. They are binary. You either shook a lulav and etrog or did not, whereas, love and awe can grow. Emotions can intensify.
Animal life which corresponds to the intellect has the additional property of movement. A plant can grow but it’s rooted in one spot, whereas a person or animal can get up and move. Emotions are rooted, they stay where they are, and are quite difficult to sway. Intellect, however, moves around, it has the ability to understand different perspectives. The nature of intellect is that it can perceive and process different sides of an argument, which is the gift of objectivity. Human intellect is above animal intellect because animal intellect only serves its emotions.
Why would a human be compared to a tree which kabbalistically represents emotion? Why use a metaphor which corresponds to emotion and not the intellect? It seems demeaning, as if we are taking away from the importance and greatness of the human being.
There can be a situation where you receive information that is 100% accurate but is completely irrelevant to your life. Many subjects that children learn in school remain in the intellect. Many ideas that we are exposed to or articles and books that we read, remain just as they are – ideas. Plant life corresponds to the emotional aspect of humanity, because if information remains in the intellect and doesn’t take root in the emotion, then it doesn’t serve us well.
Tu b’Shevat is a time when we try to focus on integrating the intellect with the emotion. It’s a time for us to ensure that the Torah we have learnt doesn’t remain in the realm of ideas but rather becomes an acquisition where I feel emotionally connected, so it can truly take root in the deepest way possible.
May the Torah we learn touch the deepest part of us and nurture a loving relationship with our Creator.