Teachings
Feasts of the Lord
TuBishvat- The New Year of the Trees
Yaakov, Béla Orbán
TuBishvat falls on the 15th of the month Shvat.
The Jewish calendar has several new years. There is the so called civil new year at Rosh Hashanah. There is the biblical new year at spring at Pesah and there is also a botanic new year the feast of the revival of the vegetal world, renew, the new departure when winter ends in Israel and when nature born again. It is in this moment that buds grow that trees blossom and that the country suddenly gets covered by flowers and fruits.
It is from this moment of the year that laws concerning fruits and trees start and come into force.
In this period, it is used to eat all kind of fruits (according to the tradition 15 different sorts), mostly those mentioned in the Torah as the ones growing naturally on the ground of Israel: the grape, the date, the fig, the pomegranate and the olive.
- The laws concerning the tenth on fruits together with the other similar laws are counted from the 15th of Shvat.
- The tradition also wants that people plant tree-growths on this day, since during the period that had preceded the foundation of the State, most of the trees and forests together with the plantations were devastated.
And why the term of TuBishvat?
Because in Hebrew, letters also have a numerical value. This way, the letterט "tet" worth 9, the ו "vav" worth 6 and their sum gives 15, so the 15th of Shvat.
The 10+5 version would be much easier. It would come from the י "Yod" and the ה "he" (YAH), that would give the name of God. Since that it is forbidden to use that name, then they use the preceding version of the Tu…
Although this YAH carries a big message for us concerning this feast, because in that again, we can feel the presence and the present reality of God.
Even these 5 fruits are signaling this presence to us:
- The big quantity of seed contained in the pomegranate and the fig point at the 613 Commandments of the Eternal, to His Laws and to His presence.
- The grape gives the wine. The wine is the cup of blessing, the blood of Yeshua that reminds us repentance, Grace, the new life and the Covenant.
- The date and the olive product the oil. This oil can be used for anointing, the sign of the power and of the Holy Spirit, the symbol of power.
It is wonderful, the way that God almost make us touch by our fingers His integrality and His unity in the Saint Trinity even through these palpable and edible fruits. And these 5 fruits became the symbols of Israel...the entirety that was offered to the People of God.
All these fruits are sweet, full of energy and nourishing.
Our relation with God, if it is real and alive, also nourishes us, gives us life and is sweet and full of happiness too.
Translated from hungarian by Richard (Zeev Shlomo)
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