We often think of environmentalism as a new, late twentieth and now twenty-first century, discipline. When I was a child, recycling was limited to large, but occasional and typically school sponsored, drives. I still have a vivid image in my memory of the piles of neatly tied newspapers collected during one such newspaper drive that took place at my elementary school in the early 1970โs. We were determined to set a record in our community, and I believe we did (or at least I remember it that way)!ย
Today's expectation that recycling collection come directly to our neighborhoods on a weekly basis bodes well of how much our awareness of the impact we have on the environment has changed in the last fifty years. Our knowledge of and our commitment to caring for the environment has increased exponentially. That being said,ย Judaism hasย always maintained anย awareness of our human responsibility for taking care of the natural world.
The first century Rabbinic figure Yohanan ben Zakkai is recorded as demanding, โIf you are holding a seedling in your hand and you hear that the Messiah is coming, plant the seedling and [only] then go and greet the Messiah.โ Taking care of and plantingย a seedling is a priority even when redemption is on the horizon. Tu Bโshvat, the 15th of Shevat, is a holiday that historically enabled Jewish farmers to count the years of a treeโs existence in an organized and efficient manner so that the trees could be harvested inย a wayย which protected the treesย and the environment in which they grow.
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Today, Tu Bโshevat has become a holiday where we celebrate the world in which we live and thatย is in our care.ย Itย is also a celebration of the start of spring inย Israel which is marked beautifully by the blossoming of the almond trees there.
At Temple Emanuel, We willย celebrateย Tu B'shvatย onย Shabbat Shira (Saturday, February 4).ย Festivities will begin withย a Shabbat worship service, that will be enhanced by the voices of Kol Zemerย andย a Tu Bโshvat seder featuring the foods of Israel.
