At first glance, Tu B’Shevat in Milwaukee seems absurd. The holiday song, “HaShkediya Porachat” (“The Almond Tree is Flowering”), evokes images of green and white that are sharply juxtaposed against our gray, frozen winter.
In Israel, the almond trees are blossoming white and fragrant, and spring wafts in like hope and light. The rains have drenched the earth and people begin to plant trees.
But in Milwaukee, the ground is frozen, the sky is gray, the trees are bare and the air is chilling. So how do Jews, bundled in mid-winter, celebrate the festival of the trees, the start of Israel’s spring?
Some celebrate the earth and renew their commitment to environmental protection; some thank God for the earth. And others dig into their love of Israel and Zionism.
By far the most common ritual of Tu B’Shevat is the seder, developed in the 16th century by Jewish mystics who used the Passover seder as their model.
Modern Tu B’Shevat seders are celebrated by eating special foods, specifically the seven indigenous species of Israel: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. Participants also tell stories, read poetry, sing songs and discuss Israel and the environment.
The Internet is testament to the popularity of these ancient rituals; a quick search reveals thousands of sample seders.
Mindy Alezra, office manager at Hillel Academy, plans to conduct a seder tonight as part of her family’s traditional Shabbat dinner. “Every year we buy dried fruits and nuts. We go around and serve them and say the brachas, and then we like to talk about Israel — planting trees in Israel and just talking about the land of Israel and why it’s important.”
She remembers living in Israel and planting little trees on the holiday. Ros Roucher of Shorewood remembers too. She says that even living in Los Angeles made Tu B’Shevat more accessible. “There’s nothing here to remind you that spring is about to come,” she said.
Roucher and her family usually plant parsley that will be used for the Passover seder. “It connects the holidays. Also, because it’s not green here, the parsley gives us a little hint of green,” she said.
Roucher, adult learning coordinator at Congregation Sinai, has also made “edible collages” with her daughters. Spreading carob or chocolate fudge on a plastic plate, they create a tree trunk, and then, with an array of dried fruits and nuts, they create branches, leaves or blossoms. Of course, children are welcome to create free-form collages.
Jewish educator David Dropkin uses the holiday as an opportunity to help his students become more aware of the outside world. “Usually I try to involve my students in some discussion as to the whole issue of living in Wisconsin. I try to increase their awareness of the world around them, not just trees but also how they impact on the environment in general,” said Dropkin, who teaches at Beth Torah Religious School, the joint religious school of Congregation Beth Israel and Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue.
Dropkin, who is incoming president of Congregation Shir Hadash, also celebrates the holiday with his own annual ritual: He browses seed catalogs and plans his wildflower garden for summer.
Though Milwaukeeans won’t be out in the cold with shovels and trees, many will donate to the Jewish National Fund to have trees planted in their name or in a loved one’s memory or honor.
Rabbi Benzion Twerski of Congregation Beth Jehudah plans to eat not only a variety of fruits, but specifically etrog. “There’s a special segula, or omen, that if you eat etrog on Tu B’Shevat you get a beautiful etrog for Sukkot,” he said.
Most Jewish institutions mark Tu B’Shevat with special holiday programs. Sandy Brusin, family education coordinator for Shir Hadash, said that their program will “link [the holiday] to the mitzvah of baal taschit, which means, ‘we shall not destroy,’ or ‘we should take care of the world,’ if you state it positively. So we’re going to learn about that mitzvah, which is the underpinning of the Jewish environmental movement,” she said.
The way we serve that mitzvah, she said, is by “taking care of the earth by planting things and growing things.”
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