Next Dor Tu Bishvat Seder: Skit for Beginning

Ask someone to be the rabbi and someone to be his child. Have the volunteers leave the room to plan the
skit, making sure to include as many details as possible.

Hasidic Story

The child of a certain rabbi used to wander in the woods. At first his father let him wander, but over time he
became concerned. The woods were dangerous. The father did not know what lurked there.

He decided to discuss the matter with his child. One day he took him aside and said, ―You know, I have
noticed that each day you walk into the woods. I wonder, why you go there?‖ The boy said to is father, ― I go
there to find God.‖

― That is a very good thing,‖ the father replied gently. ― I am glad you are searching for God. But, my child,
don‘t you know that God is the same everywhere?‖

―Yes,‖ the boy answered, ―but I‘m not.‖

Question and Answer #1

1) Q: Where did the Tu-Bishvat seder come from?

A: In the 16th century in northern Israel, in the spiritual town of Tzfat, the mystic kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria
and his disciples instituted a Tu B‘Shvat seder in which the fruits and trees of Israel were given symbolic
meaning. The main idea was that eating ten specific fruits and drinking four cups of wine in a specific order
while reciting the appropriate blessings would bring human beings, and the world, closer to spiritual
perfection.

These mystics recognized the many and varied dimensions of God's creation and used the fruits of Israel to
symbolize their existence.

2) Q: Why is Tu Bishvat called Tu Bishvat?

A: In the Hebrew numerical system, the letters "tet" and "vav", (which can be pronounced together as "tu")
represent the numbers, nine and six, respectively, for a total of 15. Therefore "Tu b'Shevat" is the 15th day of
the month of Shevat. Tu b'Shevat was the date set for the tithing of fruit, and the date defining the end of
the fruit crop of the previous year.

3) Q: Tu Bishvat has sometimes been called ―the New Year for the trees.‖ How many other New Years are
there in Judaism besides Tu Bishvat?
A: Three.
4) Q: What are the other new years?
A: Tu b'Shevat is one of four new years in the Jewish calendar. According to the Mishnah (the book of
Rabbinic Jewish oral law recording debates from about 70-200 CE) there are four new years in the Jewish
calendar: The first of Nissan for counting the reigns of kings and the three festivals; the first of Elul is the
new year for the tithing of animals. Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Shimon say that the first of Tishrei is the new
year for years, for the shmitah (sabbatical year), for the jubilee year, for planting and for vegetables...Rabbi
Hillel says that the fifteenth of Shevat shall be the new year for the tree (Mishnah, Rosh Hashanah 1:1).

Regarding the counting of shmitah: the Hebrew word Shmita, literally release, is normally translated as Sabbatical.
The Sabbatical cycle is a cycle of seven years, which HaShem commanded Jews to observe in Israel. A year
of Shmita is the biblical sabbatical year during which the land of Israel may not be worked and produce
produced not be sold.

5) Q: How will tonight‘s seder be similar to a Passover seder?

A: We will drink four cups of wine, ask four questions, and eat special foods related to the festival.

Action

What can we do here?

What are we (individually and collectively) already doing?
What does action mean to you here at Next Dor or in your own life?

An idea: eating vegan one day/week – no meat or dairy one day/week reduces carbon footprint more than
eating local all the time (cows burping - methane, corn production and transport, antibiotics – transport,
production far more of a carbon footprint than just production and transport of plants)
 Next Dor Tu Bishvat Seder
Renewing Wonder

Understanding Jewish Environmental Activism

through the Themes of Awe and Stewardship Found in Jewish Tradition
Skit: two volunteers perform

Welcome: round of introductions and personal (first, most glorious, most shockingly beautiful, etc.)
experience of wonder at something, anything or creature in the natural world

Introduction to the Theme

“The world will never starve for want of wonders,

only for want of wonder.”

-G.K. Chesteron

Background on Tu Bishvat: Questions and Answers

1) Where did the Tu Bishvat seder come from?
2) Why is Tu Bishvat called Tu Bishvat?
3) Tu Bishvat has sometimes been called ―the New Year for the trees.‖ How many other New Years are there
in Judaism besides Tu Bishvat?
4) What are the other New Years?
5) How will tonight‘s seder be similar to a Passover seder?

A bit of additional background: The 16th-century mystics of Safed understood the emanations of God in the
form of an inverted Tree, whose roots (above) are invisible and inexplicable to us and whose trunk and
branches reach (down) toward us. Through this Tree there courses the ultimate flow of universal life. It
originates in the unimaginable Ein Sof or Infinite One, and becomes progressively more in touch with our
world, in which creation is continually taking place.

Nature is perhaps the richest symbol available to the kabbalists to provide insight into the Divine realm.
Unlike philosophers, for whom nature allows for an appreciation of God, the kabbalists believe that nature is
a symbolic representation of the hidden divine realm.

The First of the Four Questions

 1) Why do we drink four cups of wine tonight?

We will drink four cups of wine of different colors during the course of our Seder. The colors symbolically
take us through the seasons and the colors of the year; from winter whites to a touch of spring red, from rosy
summer to the full redness of autumn.
Our first cup of wine is white, symbolizing winter. While drinking it, we recall that nature has been dormant
for many months, awaiting the warmth of spring and its annual renewal of life. Each also cup represents a
different realm of creation in the kabbalists‘ understanding of the universe.

The highest world, nobility, is as close to God as possible. It is pure spirituality. The next world, creation,
begins to have physical aspects and materials. In the third world, formation, the materials are formed. The
fourth world, the world of doing, combines all of the elements of the upper worlds to make the universe as
we know and experience it.

The Chart below outlines some of the symbolism in the seder. This can serve as a reference throughout.

KABBALISTIC Base
CUP WORLD SEASON Element WINE COLOR FRUIT
First Making – Assiya Winter Earth All White Inedible shell
White with a drop of
Second Formation – Yetzira Spring Water red Inedible inner pit
No shell or pit – whole
Third Creation – Beriah Summer Air Half white, half red thing is eaten
Red with a drop of
Fourth Nobility - Atzilut Autumn Fire white None

First World: Assiya - Making

First cup of wine

Pour a cup of white wine and say the following blessing:

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam Boreh peri ha-gafen.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe Who creates fruit of the vine.

Explanations of Assiya
In small groups, read all three texts, then focus in particular on your group‘s text. Take a few minutes to
discuss it, figure it out a bit, and try to ―translate‖ it – i.e. break it down and explain the gist of it in a way that
we can all understand. If you finish before other groups, feel free to move onto the other texts and analyze
and translate them in the same way.

Text #1

ASSIYA is the fourth of the four worlds and is the material world, "the world in which we ordinarily live,
with all that it embraces, is called the 'world of action' and it includes the world of both our sensual and our
nonsensual apprehension." (Steinsaltz, 13 Petalled Rose, p. 4)

Text #2
"Assiya...has the connotation of final action and completion...it represents a consciousness of the world as a
vessel that was made to receive God's light. It is in the universe of Assiya that the spiritual actual interacts
with the physical dimension, bringing the entire continuum of the universes to its intended fulfillment."
(Kaplan, Innerspace, p. 27)

Text #3

―The realm of assiya is the furthest from perfection in the Kabbalistic scheme. Symbolically, this realm
requires the most protection, and therefore we eat fruits that have a shell on the outside – to protect them
from the external elements. With this fruit and cup, then, we have a rooted awareness of the tangible world
around us, in both its natural and human dimensions. We concentrate on our proper place in that world.‖
(Hillel‘s Tu Bishvat seder, p. 2)

Quotes for this World

―Human beings have indeed become primarily tool-making animals, and the world is now a gigantic tool box
for the satisfaction of their needs.... Nature is a tool box in a world that does not point beyond itself. It is
when nature is sensed as mystery and grandeur that it calls upon us to look beyond it.‖

-Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man, 1976

―As civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines. Such decline is an alarming symptom of our state of
mind. We will not perish for want of information; but only for want of appreciation.‖

-Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Man is not Alone, 1951

―Modern man has made himself unnatural by training himself not to be amazed, by working hard at not
responding to the world in awe. That is the root affliction of an age anxious to the point of personal paralysis
and moral incapacity. What men need most today is to recapture that radical amazement which is the most
basic level of faith. They need to let themselves ask once again with full force and fervor: Why is there
anything at all? Why is it so wondrous, so unexpected? Why is it men can even ask the marvel?‖

-Eugene B. Borowitz, A New Jewish Theology in the Making

The First Fruit

Fruit from the realm of Assiya is hard on the outside and soft on the inside, such as pomegranates, walnuts,
bananas, coconuts, or almonds. The hard shell symbolizes the protection that the earth gives us and reminds
us to nourish the strength and healing power of our own bodies.

For most nuts and fruits for the world of assiya the blessing is the one that is said over fruits. Eat the fruit
immediately after saying the blessing.

Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam Borei peri ha-etz.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe Who creates fruit of trees.

Some fruits that come from this realm are considered to come from the ground and not from trees (even
though we may think of them as ―tree-fruit‖). Such fruits and nuts include bananas, and peanuts. For these
fruits say the following blessing:

Baruch Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam Borei peri ha-adama.

Blessed are You Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, Who creates fruit of the ground.
Action
Environmental Action in the Torah and Rabbinic Literature:

―It is forbidden to sit down to your own meal before you have fed your pets and barnyard animals.‖
(Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 40a)

―A person should not acquire domestic animals, wild beats, or birds before buying food for those animals to
eat.‖ (Jerusalem Talmud, Ketubot 4:8)

―When, in your war against a city, you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not
destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down. Are
the trees of the field human to withdraw before you into the besieged city? Only trees that you know do not
yield food may be destroyed.‖ (Deuteronomy 20:19-20)

―When you enter the land and plant any tree for food...(Lev. 19:23) God said to Israel, ―Even though you will
find [the land] full of good, you shouldn‘t say ‗we will sit and not plant.‘ Rather, be careful to plant.‖ As it
says, you shall plant any tree for food. Just as you entered the land and found trees that others had planted, so
too you should plant for your children. A person shouldn‘t say, ‗I am old; how much longer will I live? Why
should I toil for others when I may die tomorrow?‖ (Midrash Tanchumah, Kedoshim 8)

Back to the Theme

When it comes to environmental activism within the world of Assiya, the world of action, the physical world
we experience every day, what do you need beyond just action?

Jewish Environmentalists Taking Action: What is going on in the physical world right now to preserve it

Sampling of Jewish Environmental Organizations

1) Teva Learning Center: New York, New York, a non-denominational Jewish Environmental Education
Institute whose programs combine ecology, Jewish environmental ethics, and environmental activism.
2) Shalom Institute Camp and Conference Center: Malibu, California, with the Marla Bennett Israel
Discovery Center and Garden, an interactive hands-on learning center that teaches about the history and
ecology of Israel as well as organic gardening and farming and the relationship between Judaism and the
environment.
3) The Jewish Nature Center: Milford, Pennsylvania, pioneers new ways of making nature a partner in
Jewish education, develops curriculum integrating Jewish studies and nature experiences, explores the
application of ancient Jewish ecological wisdom to contemporary Jewish life and serves as a forum for Jewish
naturalists, environmentalists, educators and students.
4) Torah Treks: Explores the connections between Jewish spirituality and the experience of wilderness
through a variety of backcountry adventures such as hiking, camping, kayaking, and skiing.
5) Hazon: (Hebrew for "vision") seeks to foster a vision of a renewed, inclusive, passionate, and creative
Jewish community rooted in tradition and engaged with the world through outdoor and environmental
education programs, including environmental bike rides in the U.S. and Israel.
6) Teva Adventures: Combines outdoor environmental, and adventure education with Jewish programming
to rekindle the integral link between the natural world and Judaism, to the benefit of both.
7) The Mark and Sharon Bloome Jewish Environmental Leadership Institute: an event held each year
by COEJL for Jewish and environmental professionals, lay leaders, community organizers, activists and
students who want to learn more about Judaism and the environment and to organize environmental action
and advocacy in their communities.
8) Jewish Farm School: Environmental education organization whose mission is to practice and promote
sustainable agriculture and to support food systems rooted in justice and Jewish traditions. Programs address
the injustices embedded in today‘s mainstream food systems and work to create greater access to sustainably
grown foods. Contact them for alternative spring breaks, Jewish farming jobs. Works closely with Hazon,
Teva, and Kayam Farm.
9) Adamah: The Jewish Environmental Fellowship that is a three month leadership training program for
Jewish young adults — ages 20–29 —that integrates organic farming, sustainable living, Jewish learning,
teaching, and contemplative spiritual practice.
10) Eden Village Camp: Jewish environmental overnight camp for kids and teenagers that supports campers
in developing outdoor and leadership skills. Teaches skills such as organic farming, animal care, pickling,
animal tracking, natural science, climbing, etc. Also features outstanding organic kosher food, a zero-waste
pool, and Shabbat celebrations.
11) Jewish Global Environmental Network: (JGEN) develops partnerships and projects through which
Jewish environmental leaders in Israel and around the world can work together toward a sustainable future
for Israel.
12) The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life: Promotes environmental education, scholarship,
advocacy, and action in the American Jewish community and is sponsored by a broad coalition of national
Jewish organizations.
13) Shomrei Adamah ("Guardians of the Earth"): promotes the connection between ecology and Jewish
tradition through education, religious practice, activism, and social events in the greater Washington, D.C.,
area.
14) Canfei Nesharim ("Wings of Eagles"): an organization of Orthodox Jews who are dedicated to
educating the Orthodox community about the importance of protecting the environment from the
perspective of Jewish tradition and Halacha.
15) Jews of the Earth: Provides educational programs and religious outreach activities focused on the
connection between Judaism and the environment, and offers educational and technical assistance regarding
environmental practices.
16) Greening Reform Judaism: Launched by the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), which provides vision
and leadership to Reform Jews and congregations on spiritual, ethical, social justice and management issues.
URJ launched Greening Reform Judaism, where you'll find ways as individuals to help live an
environmentally sustainable life and as congregations to reduce your carbon footprint. Among the resources:
programs, guides for greening your building, educational materials, Jewish texts, advocacy guides, funding
resources, and much more. Planning to reduce meat consumption of Reform Jews by 50%.
17) Green Zionist Alliance: Works from North America to educate and mobilize Jews around the world for
Israel‘s environment; to protect Israel's environment and support its environmental movement; to improve
environmental practices within the World Zionist Organization and its constituent agencies; and to inspire
people to work for positive change.
18) Jewish Climate Campaign: Campaign with open pledge for all Jews. Includes following goals: 1)
To play a distinct and determined role in responding to climate change, and fostering sustainability,
between now and September 2015; both the Diaspora Jewish communities and the state of Israel shall be
widely seen – and shall see ourselves – as being at the forefront of education, action and advocacy
responses to the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation.

2) For each Jewish organization, small and large, to create a sustainability committee by September 2010.
The sustainability committee can be a Green Team, a climate change task force; it can be professional or
volunteer. This document contains some information on initial steps and a framework for progress.

3) To integrate education, action and advocacy in addressing the challenges of climate change and
environmental sustainability.

A sampling of mainstream institutions going green: When the students at the Hannah Senesh
Community Day School in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn returned to school earlier this month,
they drank their water out of bottles that read, ―mal‘a ha‘aretz kin‘yanecha,‖ or ―the earth is full of your
creation.‖


 The school‘s new building was designed last year with input from students for how to make it more
environmentally friendly, and the school composts, serves lunch on washable plates and encourages students
to go to local farmer‘s markets to understand the process of how food gets from the farm to the kitchen
table.

In addition to schools and newly formed environmental organizations, the Coalition for the Advancement
of Jewish Education (CAJE) made eco-Judaism a centerpiece of its 33rd annual conference last month.
Jeffrey Lasday, executive director of CAJE, said the environment is an emerging issue in the Jewish and
mainstream worlds, one he felt needed to be a focus of his organization‘s annual meeting.

Local Action

St. Louis Environmental Organizations: http://missouri.sierraclub.org/emg/links.htm,

http://www.stlouis.com/environmental-organizations/business-directory

Some Examples

1. St. Louis Jewish Environmental Initiative: Projects and groups through the local JCRC that are
engaged in environmental work locally (http://www.jcrcstl.org/jei.php).

2. Earth Share of Missouri:
 Fundraising and awareness building for more than 65 environmental
organizations.
3. Gateway Center for Resource Efficiency:
 EarthWays Home showcase energy efficiency, recycled
products, and waste reduction.
4. Gateway Greening:
 Community gardening
5. Great Rivers Environmental Law Center:
 Legal Services to protect the environment

6. Green Drinks:
 Socialize, network, and learn from others interested in sustainability issues.

7. Greenway Network:
 Encouraging sound use of natural resources and green space in St. Charles County

8. Missouri Mycological Society:
 Study and enjoyment of mushrooms with forays, meetings, and
education focused on fungi

9. Missouri State Public Interest Research Group:
 Research and advocacy for environmental and other
 public interest issues.

10. Missouri Votes Conservation
 Advocates: for the environment through legislative channels

11. TrailNet:
 Dedicated to creating trails, encouraging bicycling, walking.

12. Tyson Research Center:
 A 2,000-acre field station providing opportunities for environmental research,
preservation, and education

13. Wild Canid Research Center:
 Wolf sanctuary and research.

14. Webster Groves Nature Study Society:
 Amateur naturalists interested in plants, insects, birds of St.
Louis area.

Even more local

In small groups, discuss the following questions. Then we‘ll give feedback as a full group to see what
everyone discussed.

1) What is going on here in this community?

2) What kinds of actions would you like to see Next Dor as a community take to go green and promote
sustainability?

3) Reading and deciding whether to sign the Jewish Climate Campaign‘s pledge. What do think of this
pledge? Are the demands and time frame reasonable?

The Second of the Four Questions

2) Why do we eat different groups of fruit tonight?

We eat different fruits to honor the Four Worlds in which we live simultaneously. The first is Assiyah, or
Action, the physical world around us. 
 The second is Yetzirah, or Formation, the world of feelings and
emotions. 
 The third is B'riyah, or Creation, the world of knowing, and the mind. 
 The fourth is Atzilut, or
Emanation, the world of spirituality. For Assiyah (earth, action), we eat nuts and fruits with a tough skin to
remind us of the protection the earth gives. Through this act we acknowledge that we need protection in life,
both physical and emotional.

Thought: Some people are hard to know, but once their outer layer is peeled away, you are rewarded.

Second World: Yetzira - Formation

Second cup of wine

Pour a cup of white wine and say the following blessing:

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam Boreh peri ha-gafen.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe Who creates fruit of the vine.

Explanations of Yetzira
We now turn toward inner, spiritual development. The fruit for this world has no outer shell but has an inner
pit that we don‘t eat. The pit or seed is a means of regrowth. It symbolizes the earth‘s reawakening and with it
we can cause a transformation of raw materials.

Quote for this World

―Wherever I turn my eyes, around on Earth or to the heavens

I see you in the field of stars
I see you in the yield of the land,
In every breath and sound
A blade of grass, a simple flower, an echo of Your holy Name.‖

-Abraham ibn Ezra, one of the great Torah commentators

The Second Fruit

This fruit is soft with a pit in the center—olives, dates, cherries, plums, peaches, apricots, etc.—and
symbolizes the life-sustaining power that emanates from the earth. It also reminds us of the spiritual and
emotional strength that is within each of us.

Take one of the fruits from the realm of formation and say the following blessing:

Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam Borei peri ha-etz.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe Who creates fruit of trees.

While you eat, and after you finish this fruit, focus on the pit of the fruit, which we normally throw away and
don‘t pay any attention to. We recognize that the pit is a means for re-growth and it is through the pit that
there is fruit and produce for the next generation. As you‘ll remember from a text in the First World,
Rabbinic literature talks of the importance of planting trees. Without the seed, planting for the next
generation would be impossible.

Back to the theme

How are yetzira and assiya interrelated and interdependent? How does spiritual development relate to action?

The Third of the Four Questions

3. Why do we celebrate the New Year of the Trees in the middle of winter?
In Israel, winter is usually a time of heavy rains and rushing, surging creeks and rivulets. At about the middle
of the month of Shevat, the severe rainstorms cease, and soon thereafter, signs of spring begin to appear.
Although two more months of winter remain, buds begin to swell on the trees, the enduring symbol of God's
promise of renewed life.

The ancient New Year of the Trees, or Rosh Hashanah L'ilanot, was thought to be sacred to the women of
Israel. It celebrated the New Year of God's female aspect, the Shechinah.

According to some traditions, Noah's Ark landed in the month of Shevat, and the dove (a long-established
Near Eastern symbol of God's feminine qualities), returned to the Ark with an olive branch in her beak. She
heralds new life and the promise of a world that will once again bloom and provide nurture, as God promises
never again to destroy all living creatures (Genesis 8:21)
Third World: Beriah - Creation

Third Cup
Pour a cup of wine that is half red and half white, and say the blessing over wine.

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam Boreh peri ha-gafen.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe Who creates fruit of the vine.

Explanation of Beriah

In the third realm, Creation, the tree has grown into a full being and is blooming. No protective shells are
needed within or without. This realm is the realm of intellect.

We help complete creation because we are partners with G!d in it.

Quotes for this World

―And if you ask me of God, my God ‗Where is God that in joy we may worship?‘ Here on earth too God
lives, not in heaven alone A striking fir, a rich furrow, in them you will find God‘s likeness, Divine image
incarnate in every high mountain. Wherever the breath of life flows, you will find God embodied. And God‘s
Household? All beings: the gazelle, the turtle, the shrub, the cloud pregnant with thunder . . . God-in-Creation
is God‘s eternal name.‖

-Saul Tchernikovsky (Haskalah poet)

―If you think ahead one year, plant a seed. If you think ahead 10 years, plant a tree If you think ahead 100
years, educate the people.‖

-Kua-Tsu 3rd Century B.C.

The Third Fruit

The fruit of the realm of Creation has no shell or pit. This fruit is soft throughout and completely edible.
Fruits from this realm include: grapes, figs, apples, raisins, citrons, lemons, pears, quinces, and carob.

Take one of the fruits from the world of Creation and say the following blessing:

Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam Borei peri ha-etz.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe Who creates fruit of trees.

Some berries, such as strawberries also come from this realm. The blessing for most berries is the following:

Baruch Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam Borei peri ha-adama.

Blessed are You Lord our God, Ruler of the universe, Who creates fruit of the ground.

Quote for this world

―Master of the universe grant me the ability to be alone;

May it be my custom to go outdoors each day
Among the trees and the grass,
Among all growing things;
And, there may I be alone to enter into prayer
There I may express all that is in my heart Talking to you, the one to whom I belong.‖

-Rabbi Nachman‘s Prayer: Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (18-19th c.)

The Fourth Question

4. What is the significance of Tu b'Shevat in our time?

In Israel, since the beginning of agricultural settlements in the late 19th century, the New Year of the Trees
has acquired great significance, symbolizing the revival and redemption of the land. Tu b'Shevat is celebrated
with songs, and trees are planted to honor or memorialize loved ones.

Tu b'Shevat has also become a day of commitment to protecting the environment. Judaism teaches that the
earth is the Creator's, and that we are to be partners and co-workers with God in preserving our planet and its
resources.

An ancient midrash has become all too relevant today:

In the hour when the Holy One created the first person, God showed His creation the trees in the Garden of
Eden, and said:
"See My works, how fine they are; now all that I have created, I created for your benefit. Think upon this and
do not corrupt and destroy My world. For if you destroy it, there is no one to restore it after you."
(Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:28)

The New Year of the Trees is regarded as a holy time. By saying blessings and partaking of many kinds of
fruits, we have the opportunity to thank God for the wonder of renewed life, and to reawaken our own
spiritual connections. In addition, we honor the land of Israel by enjoying her fruits, especially those of the
seven species: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.

The significance of trees and nature to Jewish life was reexamined again with the advent of Zionism and the
settling of the land of Israel at the end of the 19th century. Picking up on the fact that Tu B‘Shevat already
exists in the Jewish calendar as a day focused on trees, and the practical need to develop the land of Israel to
make it habitable, Tu B‘Shevat was adopted as a national arbor day. Jewish school children living in Israel
would plant trees to commemorate the day. Jews not living in Israel would hold fundraising drives and tree
campaigns.

More recently, with the rise of the environmentalist movement and an awareness of the earth‘s vulnerability,
Tu B‘Shevat has been adopted by Jewish environmentalists as a day to examine what Judaism has to say about
protection of the earth and of nature.

Fourth World: Atzilut – Nobility

The Fourth Cup

The fourth cup of wine is all red with a drop of white. It symbolizes complete development and ripeness. Say
the blessing over wine:
Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam Boreh peri ha-gafen.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe Who creates fruit of the vine.

Explanation of Atzilut
The highest world, nobility, is as close to God as possible. The world of nobility represents pure spirituality
and it cannot be embodied in anything physical. Therefore there is no fruit associated with this realm. You
may want to have fragrant spices or fruits to smell. This allows us to be aware of our senses beyond that of
taste and touch.

Quotes for this World

―The energy contained in nature, in the earth and its waters, in the atom and the sunshine will not avail us if
we fail to activate the most precious vital energy: the moral-spiritual energy inherent in humankind, in the
inner recesses of our being, in our mysterious, uncompromising, unfathomable and divinely inspired soul.‖

-David Ben-Gurion

Connecting the Lower and Highest Worlds

―When God created Adam, God took him around all the trees of the Garden of Eden and said to him: ―See
how wonderful and praiseworthy all of my creations are. Everything I have created, I created for you. Be
careful not to destroy My world; for if you destroy it, there is no one who will fix it after you.‖

-Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:19

―To be a Jew means to wake up and to keep your eyes open to the many beautiful, mysterious, and holy
things that happen all around us every day.‖

-Rabbi Lawerence Kushner, Honey From The Rock

The Fourth Fruit

Remember? There isn‘t one.

However…

Blessing for Fragrant Fruits and Spices

There is a blessing recited over smelling spices and fruits that are particularly fragrant.

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam Boreh minei besamim.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, Ruler of the universe Who creates different types of spices.

Small group discussion: What does it mean to you that the world of nobility is associated with the season of
autumn? Do you think these two symbolic aspects of the seder are meant to be interconnected?

Back to the Theme

Why do you think the seder progresses from the most physical, material world to the most spiritual world?
Conclusion
We have now completed the Tu B‘Shevat seder. Tu B‘Shevat allows us to think about our relationship to
trees and the physical world around us. It also allows us to think about our social responsibility to the
environment, to the world, and to the future. Tu B‘Shevat introduces us to the Kabbalisitic understanding of
the world and of God. Tu B‘Shevat also allows us to concentrate on the land of Israel and its fruits.

Additional Sources for Perusal

Dates (in Second World) Jewish Text
Rebbe Hiyya Bar Luliani recounted: Why does it say: (Psalms 92:13) ―The righteous will flourish like a date
palm, and like a cedar in Lebanon will they thrive?‖ If they are like dates— why cedars, and if they are like
cedars—why dates?

If it said only dates and not cedars, I would have thought just like a date palm whose trunk cannot grow back
from the trunk if it were to be cut down, so it is with a righteous person, God forbid! And if it said only,
cedar, and not date palm, I would have thought just like a cedar does not bear fruit for the next world, so, too
a righteous person, God forbid, does not bear fruit. That is why both must be rendered. (Babylonian Talmud,
Ta‘anit 25a-b)

Figs in Jewish Text

Rabbi Chiya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan. What is the meaning of the verse, ―He who tends
a fig tree will enjoy its fruit...?‖ Why are the words of Torah compared to a fig? Just as a fig tree, as long as
someone examines it, one will find figs, so too with the words of Torah, as long as someone meditates on
them, one will find new insights. (Babylonian Talmud Eruvin 54a-b)