Sunday, January 20, 2013

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH RENEWAL: TU B'SHEVAT: MAN IS LIKE A TREE IN THE FIELD

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH RENEWAL: TU B'SHEVAT: MAN IS LIKE A TREE IN THE FIELD

Take lessons from trees in these dispiriting times

by Rabbi Arthur Segal

The news is full of tragedy. Many are hurt economically or by war, or are fearful of the political future. Homelessness, bankruptcies, defaulting bonds and crashing stocks fill our minds.

A spiritual lesson is that "a person is like a tree of the field." When fortune has turned for someone, and they have lost all hope and are despairing, then they should ponder a tree in winter. Its leaves have fallen, its moisture has dried up, it is almost a dead stump in the ground. Then suddenly, it begins to revive and to draw moisture from the earth. Slowly it blossoms, then brings forth fruits. People should learn from this not to despair, but to take hope and have courage, for they, too, are like a tree.

January 26, 2013 marks one of the four Jewish new years -- Tu B'Shevat, the New Year for Trees. It celebrates the rebirthing of trees in the midst of winter, the Kabbalistic reawakening of divine energy with God as the tree of life.

This holiday is the first Earth Day. The Talmud declares: "If you have a sapling, and someone says that the Messiah has come, complete the planting, and then go welcome the Messiah."

The idea of the importance of having faith and moving forward, as well as being stewards of the earth, is as old as Judaism itself.

Rabbi Arthur Segal

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism, Spiritual Renewal
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Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

If visiting SC's Low Country, contact us for a Shabbat meal, in our home by the sea, our beth yam.
Maker of Shalom (Oseh Shalom) help make us deserving of Shalom beyond all human comprehension!
Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
facebook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 
Rabbi Arthur Segal www.jewishspiritualrenewal.org
Jewish Renewal www.jewishrenewal.info
Jewish Spiritual Renewal http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
facebook.com/RabbiArthurSegalJewishSpiritualRenewal
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA