Treehuggers, Unite!Shalom and welcome to a Tu B’Shevat edition of Tikkun Tips. Ok, admit it. We’ve all done it. Walking alone in the forest or even on a tree lined street, late at night, the moonlight hits the branches at just the right angle, and once again you are amazed at the complexly simple beauty of a tree. You approach the trunk slowly, taking in more detail with every step. You glance over your should and confirm that you are alone. You reach out, gently touch the rough exterior layer that protects the tree from bitter cold, hungry pests and even fire. You get even closer, and closer, you reach your arms around and embrace the tree. At that moment you cross into a new level of existence. You are transformed. You are now a Treehugger!
We’ve all been called Treehuggers, sometimes by friends and sometimes by those who mock the work we do or the perspective we have on life. Yes, it’s true. We actually do care about these non-human organisms. We stand in awe of them, recognizing how much we depend on them for our survival. How much we love climbing up them, sleeping under them, or walking among them.
Our tradition reveres the tree as well. Our most sacred document, the foundation of our collective experience for the past 5,000 years, the Torah, is called a Tree of Life. We are forbidden from cutting down fruit trees, even in times of war. Our first temple contained timbers from the beautiful cedars of Lebanon. And tonight we celebrate the Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of the trees.
This year I want to encourage us to celebrate by declaring ourselves true Treehuggers, uniting with others who share our worldviews and discussing what it is we can do to spread the Treehugger spirit.
Sure enough, a forum for such a dialogue exists. Point your browser over to Treehugger.comand you will find a magical place of ecological wonderment.
The folks at Treehugger collect information on new, cool and green products. Updated several times a day, the site can serve as a great source for expanding your knowledge of green products, or a slightly more productive procrastinating tool than solitaire or Text Twist. They also archive all of their older postings and arrange them into easy-to-navigate categories.
The articles on Treehugger cover a wide range of topics from New York City’s push toward rooftop gardens to Recycled Bike Tube Wallets to Building a Sustainable Financial Portfolio (yeah, these folks are serious). Be sure to check out their Cool but Uglysection (fairly self-explanatory) as well as the Top Five Recycled Paper Products so that on this Tu B’Shevat we can learn of even more ways not to cut down trees.
It is a tradition to have a Seder on Tu B’Shevat in which we partake in various types of fruit. The fruit represent different mystical ways of being and are manifest in the physical makeup of the fruit. The fruit can also symbolize different personality traits or moods. Fruit with a protective shell or skin (oranges, bananas, peanuts) corresponding to those times when we wear a protective shell around our sweet interiors. There are also fruit that have a soft exterior but a tough core, such as dates and peaches. Finally there are those fruit that are wholly edible; sweet from the outside down to the center such as grapes and figs. Over the course of the next day, see if you can spot the fruit that jumps out at you, that calls to your mood. Take a moment to enjoy that fruit, savoring the flavor and how your frame of mind is manifest in its physical form. Enjoy the day, the season and the beginning of a new year in which trees will cause us to pause and gaze in wonder.
Chag Sameach!
Nati Passow
Teva Learning Center
307 7th Ave Suite #900
New York, NY 10001
teva@tevacenter.org
www.tevacenter.org
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