Dear Interfaith Families and Friends,
Holiday in January: Tu Bishvat
The next holiday on the Jewish calendar has interesting roots. Tu Bishvat (spelled many different ways, just make the sounds as best you can) has it’s roots in the Torah. Among the laws given for living in the land of Israel were the ones that outlined sacrifices given to the Temple. A portion of the orchard harvest was given in tithe. The farmer had to know when the year “began” for the trees and how old they were - you don’t harvest from a very young tree. A date was needed and for those of you who are gardeners you can see the sense in choosing a date in January - February (the season for planting trees from rootstock). The name of the holiday means the 15th of Shvat (think of the fourth of July).
But this rather straightforward meaning was enhanced by the mystical rabbis who used the image of a tree with it’s roots in heaven and it’s branches here on earth as a metaphor for the relationship between heaven and earth. So for the holiday marking the new year of the trees they developed a mystical seder, the Tu Bishvat seder.
The holiday begins at sundown on Monday, Jan. 21. Here’s a link with some information and some book suggestions.
http://www.hebcal.com/holidays/tu‑bshvat.html
You can also go to www.jholidays.org and click on Tu B’shevat “more info.”
Seders will be held by many synagogues and Jewish Community Centers around the bay. I’ll list some here and you can call Jewish Community Information and Referral to have them check for one near you. Their number is 415-777-4545.
Christian Man, Jewish Father
Here is an interesting article of a Christian man talking about being a Jewish father
http://urj.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=2023&pge_prg_id=30372&pge_id=4659
