There is a Talmudic story of an elderly man who was planting a carob tree. A young person passed by and scoffed.
“Old man, it takes 70 years for this tree to blossom, you will never see its fruit.”
To which the old man replied, “just as others planted for me, so too will I plant for others.”Today was TuBShvat.
The birthday of the trees.
Tu stands for the numerical value of 15, so literally the birthday of the trees is the 15th day of the month of Shvat.
Much is made of the fact that at this time of year there doesn’t seem to be much to celebrate.
The weather is cold and gloomy, and the trees themselves bare and looking dead.
But the reality is different.
What meets the eye is not the whole picture.
Because miraculously, in that very tree that seems devoid of life, something is stirring.
The sap is starting to rise within the tree.
Rebirth is taking place.
This message of hope is so vital to us now.
In the time of greatness darkness when hope seems out of our grasp, the trees provide us with the ultimate inspiration.
It may look dark, there is not even a glimmer of change, but deep beneath the surface, far from the seeing eye, there is movement.
That movement will bring growth and change.
Ella Blumenthal survived 3 concentration camps. At one point she was actually in a gas chamber waiting to be gassed. The Nazis had an order to murder 500 women and there were 700 in her group. As the orders were for 500 her group was led out and saved. In Auschwitz, Ella was determined to survive. Her only remaining relative, a niece named Roma, begged Ella to allow them both to end the suffering by touching the electrified fence. Ella convinced her to hang on just one more day. Each day she delayed the darkness just for one more day.
When asked about her gestalt in the face of such despair, Ella said she never gave up hope.
In 2022 she was quoted as saying “there is always sunshine tomorrow”.

It seems that TuBshvat teaches us about patience and fortitude.
It teaches us to hang in there even though the future seems bleak or the efforts we are making do not seem to bear fruit.
In this day and age of instant gratification, that is a powerful lesson.
We are so conditioned to get whatever we want whenever we want it - and I mean Yesterday!!
We have no patience.
But all outcomes that are worthwhile require resilience and fortitude.
Think of parenting for example.
The lessons we hope to pass on to our offspring take years to impart.
Often we despair that they have heard us at all.
When our oldest child became a parent I overheard him speaking quietly to his oldest child. I actually gasped as I heard what he said and quickly called my husband to listen as well. My husband wasn’t really sure what all the fuss was about until I told him those were my words coming out of my son’s mouth. Apparently he had been listening after all.
Malcolm Gladwell proposed the 10,000 hour rule, a premise that dedication to practicing something for 10,000 hours will lead to mastery of that topic.
Another theory has emerged which debunks Gladwell’s which is called deliberate practice. This practice refers to “getting better at something by developing specific abilities, identifying weaknesses in order to correct them and intentionally pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.”
These theories speak to the efforts one must make to reveal a hidden talent, to access something which is dormant and bring it to fruition.
This is in essence the unique quality of a human being.
An animal is called a “Behema” in Hebrew. That word can be broken down to two words
“Bo Mah” which essentially means, what you see is what you get, what’s before you, is there.
When man was created Gd gave man the name Adam.
Adam comes from the Hebrew word Adama, earth. After all, man was created from the earth and is a physical being.
But if you change one vowel the word can be read Adameh, which means I will resemble.
Who can man resemble?
Gd.
That is the choice that lies before each person at every juncture.
To choose the base animalistic response, or to go higher and choose to resemble the Creator.
Both those choices lie deep within and if we choose well, there is no limit to the heights that can be attained.
Every birthday passes so quickly. The presents long opened and the cake long gone.
But a birthday is just the right time to take stock and reevaluate our time on planet earth.
Are we nourishing ourselves with the spiritual food I need to survive?
Am I part of a nurturing environment?
Am I looking to the future and providing the foundations and roots for what comes next?
This week a beautiful story came to light. After Eli Sharabi was kidnapped to Gaza, his sister posted on Facebook asking for someone to wrap her brother’s Tefillin every day as he could not. Kobi Levi took that responsibility. For the duration of Eli’s incarceration, Kobi put in the Tefillin daily.
When Eli was freed last week, Kobi wrote him a letter describing the commitment he had made, praying every day for Eli’s safe return.
Now Kobi prays for Eli that despite the darkness of his loss, “brighter days are ahead”.
Amen!
Shabbat Shalom and so much love!