I do love Jewish Holidays and I love that so many of their principles have found their way into our every day. Jan 21/22 is Tu B'Shvat. The world say things like Go Green or protect Your envirornment. This idea is not new. Arbor Day has been about since 1872 in America. Unlike Israel the dates in America change from state to state. http://www.arborday.org/arborday/arbordaydates.cfm
This is the Trees Birthday party. Today you read about their birth in Genesis 1 and your connection to them in Psalm 1. Today you eat a new fruit of the season and do not eat fruit fro a tree younger than four years old.
In Israel the Holiday is Tu B'Shvat and is on Jan 21/22 this year. The most popular custom is to plant a tree in Israel. These are the same trees that were bombed by Lebanon. This year however being a year of rest, no trees will be planted. They will be saved until next year. However they can still be bought and certificates will still be sent out.
The Lord says in Genesis 2:8.9.15 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil....15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
It is popular Now to take care of the Earth, but God has commanded it from the very beginning. This is our gift fro Him and we must do all we can to protect it.
Another custom on Tu B'Shvat is to eat fruits from the seven species for which the Land of Israel is praised: ...a land of wheat and barley and (grape) vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and (date) honey (Deut. 8:8). (also read Deut 8:1,7,8 , 19-20)
The proper blessing before eating any fruit is:
Baruch Atah Adod-nai Elohai-nu Melech HaOlam boray pri ha-aitz.
Blessed are you God, King of the Universe, Who creates the fruit of the tree.
On Tu B'Shvat, it is also customary to eat a new fruit (a seasonal fruit that you have not yet tasted this season), and to say the following blessing:
Baruch Atah Ado-noi, Elohai-nu Melech HaOlam, sheh-he-che-yanu vi-kee-yimanu vi-hee-gee-yanu laz-man ha-zeh.
Blessed are You God, King of the Universe, Who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this season.
recipes
Deut 20:19
19 “When you are attacking a town and the war drags on, you must not cut down the trees with your axes. You may eat the fruit, but do not cut down the trees. Are the trees your enemies, that you should attack them?
So let's spend the day thanking the Lord for the gift of the trees. Around our home we have amazing trees if it were not for our trees in summer we would bake in our home. Our Mighty Oaks (Isaiah 61 calls the Oaks of Righteousness) keep out home 15-20 degrees cooler than the temps outside! And our cedars look so beautiful dressed in our new fallen snow this morning.
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