Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Tu B’Shevat: In Harmony with Nature

The fifteenth of the Jewish month of Shevat is designated by the Mishna (Rosh Hashana 1:1) as the new year of trees. It is important to the Biblical prohibition against eating fruit from a tree that is less than three year old and the mitzvahs concerning annual tithing. The halacha does not number the years starting from the date the tree was planted. Rather it counts the years like the grade in grade school which allows for a slight range of ages.

Concerning tithes there is a seven year cycle. In four of the years the tithes are given to the Levites to support their Temple service. Two of the years the tithes are set aside for visits by the owners to Jerusalem or to support a member of their family who is residing in Jerusalem. In the seventh year all land is considered as ownerless therefore no tithe is taken. To distinguish between one year and another, the fifteenth of Shevat is set as a cut off.

Concerning orlah i.e. the fruits of a tree less than three years old, there are three dates relevant to its calculation, the fifteenth of Av, the first of Tishre, and the fifteenth of Shevat. The fifteenth of Shevat is the midpoint between the shortest day of the year marking the start of winter (winter solstice) and the day in which there is twelve hours of light and twelve hours of night marking the start of spring (spring equinox).

On the average Tu b’Shevat is the coldest day of the year. The seasonal cold, which starts in the autumn, causes many types of trees (deciduous) to go into hibernation. When the weather starts to become warm, especially after a season of rain, the trees come back to life. They will then bud and produce fruit.

The first of Tishre, which is also the first day of fall, is designated as the new year of “tree planting”. The commentaries (see the Bartenura on Mishna Rosh Hashana 1:1) explain that if the tree is rooted for at least 30 days then the first of Tishre is its first birthday. However, a newly planted sapling takes two weeks for it to take root. It comes out that the cutoff date is 45 days earlier or the fifteenth of Av. Tu b’Av is coincidentally the middle of summer and on the average the hottest day of the year.

While it’s possible to plant trees in the summer it’s a poor time to do so because the strong heat dries them out. It is impossible to plant a tree in the frozen ground typical in the winter. After the heat of the summer has turned to moderate autumn temperatures one can also plant a tree provided the winters are mild and there is no concern of a harsh frost. Generally though, the ideal time to plant a tree is in the spring and late winter. Therefore, when Tu b’Shevat is approaching, it is appropriate to consider planting trees.

The Jewish calendar, though, is primarily lunar with a solar correction. This means that Tu b’Shevat and all of the other dates are often not precisely aligned with the solar phenomena. For example the earliest day Passover can fall is the first day of spring i.e. March 21. However it has fallen within the last century as late as April 25. In fact there is a debate in the Mishna with Beit Shammai saying that the new year of trees is two weeks earlier on the first of Shevat. At times this will be closer to the day when trees come out of hibernation.

The use of the three dates tends to simplify the reckoning of the time of orlah as well as being a bit lenient. For example most trees will be planted around the month of Nissan. About six months later the first of Tishre will fall and all of these trees will be considered one year old, and the following year two years old, and the next year three years old. However the fruit will still be orlah until the fifteenth of Shevat falls. The result is that the tree will typically be a little less than three years old from the time it was actually planted. The calculation is a little elaborate but it’s better than keeping a record as to when each and every tree was planted. If somebody does plant a tree in the late summer or the fall, the tree may be as much as three years and six months old before the fruit is no longer considered orlah. It comes out that there is a small penalty for planting a tree at a time other than the ideal one. However, this inconvenience is outweighed slightly by the lenient situations.

It comes out that the Torah encourages a person to live in harmony with the physical world and tends to be kind and mild. A person will have to use his brain a bit, but it is not onerous. In addition just like the laws of Tu b’Shevat bring us to peace with our surroundings while making us a little bit wiser and hardworking, so to is the general way of the faith.




לע"נ, הסבא ,אהרן בן יוסף ז"ל נלב"ע כז טבת תשכ"ו
וגם בדואר אלקטרוני    ניתן באתר  http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.il



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