Tu Bishvat

 Hi All,

Today is the Jewish festival of the trees. 

"And you, mountains of Israel, you shall give forth your branches and you shall bear your fruit for my people Israel, for they shall soon come."

Ezekiel 36:8

"There are four new years... the first of Shevat is the new year for trees according to the ruling of Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel, however, places it on the fifteenth of that month". - Talmud, Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1

Also tonight we had a festive meal and Seder: 

"A feast to sing the praises of Eretz Israel, a country that produces wheat and barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates,olive oil and the honey." (Deuteronomy 8.8)

"Go, eat your bread in gladness, and drink your wine in joy....Whatever it is in your power to do, do with all your might. “(Ecclesiastes 9: 7, 10)

In the 16th century in northern Israel, in the spiritual town of Tzfat (Safed), the Jewish mystics created the Tu Bishvat seder. They recognized the many and varied dimensions of God's creation and used the fruits of Israel to symbolize their existence. This Seder became a Sephardic and mystical Ashkenazi  tradition .

Barukh ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melekh ha-olam, borei peri ha-etz.

[Blessed are You, Source of all life, Creator of the fruit of the tree.]

Amen 

(but not Awoman).