“All the Jewish holidays come to remind us of something that we should be doing year round. We should always strive to be our best selves – but if we forget, Rosh Hashana comes to remind us. And we should always strive to get rid of the fluff and superfluity in our lives—but if we forget, the period between Purim and Pesach is a reminder. And Tu B’Shevat…the new year of the trees…what does it come to remind us of?”

“Tu B’Shevat, comes to remind us of our connection to the natural world. To the earth. To seasons. To the cycle of growing things. And also to our responsibility to care for those things.”

This was Leah Koenig, sharing words of wisdom via Shlomo Carlbach and Nigel Savage, at the 7th Annual Park Slope Tu B’Shevat Seder this past Monday. All of the Tu B’Shevat events I went to this year start out by asking the question: what is Tu B’Shevat? In the same week that the IPCC released its unequivocal findings that global warming is real, human-caused, and a fact that will significantly affect life on earth for the next fifty years (and more), this Tu B’Shevat we acknowledged the holiday’s roots in the tax year, the kabbalists, and early chalutzim in Israel, but the main theme at all the Tu B’Shevat events I was at — from UJC to JTS to the JCC and Brooklyn — was food.

At JTS, we taught a group of rabbinical and Jewish education students. When we went around the room, nearly everyone said they had come to the session “because they were concerned about the state of the world,” “they miss winter,” or “they really care about the environment and want to know what Judaism has to say about it.”

At Hazon’s seder at the JCC in Manhattan, nearly ¼ of the people in attendance were members of a CSA or had read Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma. We talked about balancing the knowledge that there are changes in the world that are beyond our control to solve, with real grounded commitment to learning and change.

At the Park Slope Seder at Noam Dolgin’s house, the whole first hour was devoted to talking about food issues. The seder was held on Monday night, in fact the 18th of Shvat, because all the Jewish environmental educators in attendance had been working all weekend. After talking about the difference between ‘food’ and ‘food products’ (ie, ‘not food’) with reference to “Unhappy Meals” (that boy is everywhere!), Julie explained: “Tu” is how you pronounce the letters Tet and Vav, which equal fifteen. But today, it’s the 18th. We all know the letters yod and chet spell the word chai, life. But if you pronounce them as they are written, you get “Yuch!” My blessing for us all is that we stay away from foods that are “Yuch” and eat foods that bring life.”

In further celebration of Yuch B’Shevat, Ana Sobel did an amazing puppet show about the 2007 Farm Bill with the tortoise and the hare – the hare taking the long route, naturally, around the world, stopping to take cover from a crop duster with a bird over the cornfields in Iowa, and to chat with a fellow in India about the effect of US cotton price supports on the Indian economy. Brilliant!

And of course! Eric Shulmeiller’s amazing Fair Trade
Seder out on Long Island was a huge hit.

It was a good holiday. Kind of overwhelming, to do so many gigs (Hazon taught at 9 different places this year!) but also really exciting to take the time, with every dried fig (third world – completely edible) and cup of red/white wine (2nd world, half of each), to think about the world and our place in it, with all its mystery, beauty, challenge and opportunity.

Shana tova – may it be a good year for the trees, and for all of us.