Earlier in the service:
Today we will learn about and honor a Jewish holiday that has a Hebrew name. Because most of us don’t speak Hebrew, I want to help us get over the hurdle of its name. Let me break it down for you. Repeat after me “Two! Be! She! Vat! Together it’s “Tu B’Shevat! Tu B’Shevat! ..
Sermon:
(sings)Tu Tu Tu B’Shevat. Tu B’shevat is on its way.
Yes, no joke. I’m starting with a children’s song. It’s just a minute long or so. You can handle it. Then I’ll ask: if you were a child what would this song do for you?
Tu Tu Tu B’Shevat. Tu B’shevat is on its way.
Clap Clap clap your hands. It’s a happy holiday!
Stamp Stamp Stamp your feet.
Now’s the time to sing and play.
Cause Tu B’Shevat is a birthday, the birthday of the trees.
Plant Plant plant a seed. Plant a seed right in the ground.
Rain, rain, rain will fall. Raindrops falling all around.
Sun, Sun Sun will shine. Shining brightly in the sky.
To help the trees grow up so high, to help them grow so high.
Grow Grow Start to grow, like the trees we see outside.
Stretch stretch stretch up high, branches reaching up very wide.
Sway sway side to side, leaves are dancing in the breeze
To celebrate a birthday the birthday of the trees
To celebrate a birthday the birthday of the trees
If you were a child what might you would get from this song? (Takes answers from the congregation)
..happy holiday, people are like trees, trees are something to celebrate..
I liked starting with a children’s song because it gets to the simple power of religion. UUs have sometimes been called a thinking person’s religion. We do value fresh thinking, critical thinking, intellectualism. However, intellect is not all we need for success in the religious endeavor. To keep our congregation’s religious life vibrant, attractive, relevant and powerful we need that simple power.
For our faith tradition to carry us through times like these, we need some ability to keep it simple, some ability to get deep, some practical application, some challenge, and enough repetition to form habits.
We can be like a tree with roots going down deep and branches reaching high and wide. We need the capacity to celebrate life, to see the wonder, the power, the holiness, the infinite, the awesomeness of life and death, to sing the greater story when all about us is flourishing and when its barren or looking grim.
Maybe someone here is wondering why is this UU congregation celebrating a Jewish holiday? One answer that the Minister is a Jewish UU. Beyond that, when practicing our UU tradition, we frequently appreciate wisdom, teaching and practices from Buddhism, Christianity, Native American spirituality, UU history and literature as well as science and plenty of secular endeavors.
Through our multiculturalism, we keep our focus on learning, exploring, sharing and continuing Unitarian Universalist tradition. When today I speak about the Jewish holiday Tu B’Shevat, the question is what we can learn to help us do a better job of doing what we promise each we are here to do as UUs.
You ask: “What is it that we come together to do?” My answer for today is- that we promote everything that is currently under attack; diversity, equity, inclusiveness, compassionate efforts to realize the kingdom of heaven which we refer to as the beloved community.
On that cheery note, let’s return to Tu B’Shevat:
Like most religious things this holiday can be understood and observed on several levels. We will look at how creativity built life affirming practices on top of top of practical living. I hope that by looking at how this holiday has emerged and changed, we will be inspired to creativity in our liberal religious living.
Although its roots are ancient, it has only been celebrated as a holiday for the past 500 years. Tu B’Shevat refers to the 15th day of the month of Shevat. At first Tu B’Shevat was the date designated to demarcate one agricultural year from another for the purposes of tithing and other agricultural laws.
However, even before Tu B’Shevat was celebrated as a holiday, Jews related to trees through their relationship with G*d. Jewish law (Torah) told the Ancient Hebrews that when they reached the promised land they were to plant trees. BUT they were not to pick the fruit for the first three years. In the fourth year, fruit was to be given to the Temple for consecration. Only in the 5th year were they free to eat (sell or trade) the fruit of these trees.
This law gives instructions for consecration. Consecration is a central purpose of religion. It directs human intention to reverence and gratitude. Our UU tradition also directs us to reflect on the process of creation.
The Torah, the sacred scriptures, Jewish identity and religious practices are intimately tied to the land of Israel. After the destruction of the 1st and 2nd Temples, consecration was impossible. Diaspora posed an acute threat to the continuation of the people and their religion. How could Jews practice their temple- based religion when THE temple no longer existed?! How do you celebrate G*d’s fulfillment of promise when you no longer live in the promised land?
The diasporas meant that Jews scattered to the corners of the globe. Judaism survived because of adaptation and creativity. Tu B’Shevat gives one example.
Jewish practices, laws and stories are geographically based. Torah gives instructions for consecration. Fruits grown in Israel were mentioned specifically. However, Jews often lived far from Israel, and the majority have always been peasants or working class people. Acquiring the Israel fruits became difficult if not impossible. After the destruction of the temple it became an important tradition to say a blessing (a form of consecration) known as Shehekeanu when a person experience an important event for the first time or first time that year. So it became tradition to say this prayer every time a person got to eat a new fruit. Additionally, you might not be able to acquire a pomegrate, almond, date or fig, let alone one from Israel. However the fruits you could find also fit into common categories: those with shells, those with pits, those that could be eaten in entirety. The fruits mentioned in Torah always get mentioned, and whenever they could be attained, it would be considered great fortune.
In the 16th century one of the most famous Kabbalists, Isaac Luria created a Tu B’Shevat seder, sort of a spin off of the Passover Seder which is in some ways the most famous religious ritual in the world.
Kabbalists practice Judaism has always had a special emphasis on spirituality. Kabbalists believe that we exist for the purpose of the healing or repair of the world, “Tikkun Olam” in Hebrew. These days were Tikkun Olam usually emphasizes progressive social change. The Kabbalist used the phrase to refer to spiritual growth that happens when we become aware of the divine spark within each of us. Kabbalists believe that fulfillment occurs by awareness of the divine within us, by emulating the divine qualities. Doing this will result eventually in the return of our spark to the one divine light and source of creation. This Kabbalist view of Tikkun can be compared to the Buddhist concept of karma. Both see consciousness, our thinking as the seed of what we create and experience.
Kabbalist understand Torah and all life as existing on several different levels. The literal level can be useful, but to the Kabbalist, movement toward divine reality is the point. They look at Torah to find spiritual significance and direction for growth.
For example, the date of Tu B’Shevat is in the middle of winter when nothing much appears to be happening on the outside. By this date in Israel the bulk of winter rains have fallen. Life energy that has been underground in the roots begins its journey upward. The sap begins moving to the branches where it will become fruit.
Kabbalist see this as reflective of life and instructive for spiritual growth. They caution against evaluation based solely on the result of what’s happening on the outside. They place more value on the life force inside us, and upon effort to correct our intentions. Kabbalah suggests placing value on what is ours to do in this season and in this moment.
This story is often told on Tu B’Shevat
One day when Honi, the righteous man, was out walking, he came upon a man planting a carob tree. Honi watched as the man dug a hole for the roots of the small tree and then carefully put the tree in the hole and patted the soil around it. Afterward, he gave it some water from a nearby stream.
“How long will it be before this tree bears fruit?” Honi asked.
“Seventy years,” the man replied.
“How do you know you’ll be alive in 70 years?”
“Just as I found carob trees when I came into the world,” answered the man, “so I am now planting carob trees for my grandchildren to enjoy.”
Honi then sat down to have a meal and fell asleep. When he awoke, he saw a man gathering the fruit of the carob tree and he asked him, “Are you the man who planted this tree?” The man replied: “My grandfather planted this tree. ” Honi realized that he had been sleeping for 70 year! As he watched the man gathering the fruit from the tree, he saw beside him several small trees waiting to be planted in the ground to nourish future generations.
The tradition of planting trees on Tu B’shevat began with Zionists in the 19th century. When I was a child in religious school we gave pennies and our families made donations to buy trees to be planted in Isreal. Fall is more commonly the time for planting trees. My point is that there has been creativity and new life as the holiday has evolved.
Tu B’shevat grew from a calendar date for demarcation for tithing into the popular celebration is today. It seemed that poetry played an important role. We have poems about trees in Israel that were written in the 3rd century. In the Middle Ages the first seders combined poems with the ritual eating of the fruits and nuts.
The evolution of this holiday can inspire us to become intentional about creating ritual that celebrates the relationship between us and nature. Besides enriching our lives, we need help to get moving on climate change and issues of environmental sustainability. Necessity hasn’t been enough to ignite human efforts. We need empowering religion, ritual, poetry and theatre.
In my 41 years of UU, I have seen us move slowly and steadily in this direction. We can learn from Jewish creativity and survival.
Lets take one last look at this Jewish holiday. As a UU I was taught that it was a harvest festival. Wait! Don’t harvest festivals occur at harvest time? Tu B’Shevat occurs in mid winter when the landscape and the trees are bare. Jews celebrate the future harvest with fruits and nuts from last year’s harvest! It’s a powerful expression of faith. It’s affirmation of the fruit to come as a result of underground and invisible action.
I think it’s perfect for us this year. Outside we see a season of destruction of hallowed institutions. The hardship that has been promised has begun. There will be a lot of work to do. In such a time we need to keep faith in things that will take time to achieve.
We know that things change from season to season. Soon the almond trees will bloom in Israel. We give thanks for nuts and dried fruits from previous seasons and for fresh ones to come. And we believe in the powerful creative force of nature. I saw a meme that I like. It says “they tried to bury us. They didn’t know that we were seeds!”
L’Chaim, to life, dear ones! We celebrate the life force inside of each of us. And today we celebrate a birthday, the birthday of trees!
Recent Comments