Given that one of my primary interests in Hebrew is its religious significance, many of my cultural posts will likely be about religious holidays that take place and how I honored them. Those, as well as regular Shabbos services, are my primary exposure to Jewish culture, and Hebrew being used in the real world rather than academically. To begin, in the Hebrew calendar days end at sundown, so holidays start in one day and end in another by the Gregorian calendar. For example, Shabbat starts on Friday evening at sundown and ends Saturday evening at sundown, so when I refer to a holiday as taking place over multiple days, that’s what it’s referring to.
January 16-17th was Tu Bishvat, the “New Year for the Trees” in the Jewish calendar. It occurs on the 15th day of the month of Shevat. Historically, the fruits that ripened from Tu Bishvat onward were counted for the following year’s tithes, though in modern times it’s kind of treated like an Earth Day. The day is spent raising ecological awareness, and trees are planted in celebration. I unfortunately was unable to plant a tree as I had rehearsal, but I planted a rosemary bush in a pot that lives in my living room! It was a lovely addition that’ll come in handy over the next few months.
I also made a traditional meal (or at least, the best I could do on an Aldi budget), which includes the foods wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates. Though I missed dates and barley, I had a lovely meal of Fig Newtons (wheat and figs), grapes, pomegranate juice, and ratatouille (olives in the sauce, and raising livestock is one of the primary polluters in many regions, so figured it’d be best to stay veggie-friendly.)
I also attended UR Hillel’s Tu Bishvat discussion on how Judaism relates to the environment, which I found fascinating. This talk was led by Josh Jeffreys, the Jewish Chaplain on campus. In essence, Judaism is intrinsically tied to the environment. Everything, from the set up of the calendar (follows the lunar cycle, day is defined by the sun, holidays follow agricultural seasons) to practices we celebrate every week (blessing the bread we eat, wine we drink, resting on Shabbos, just as the earth can’t handle constant farming or it’ll wear itself out) are all tied to the earth. It raises the question: what is Judaism in the diaspora? To some people, it means that you cannot properly practice Judaism outside the land of Israel. To others, and to me, it means that you have a responsibility to treat the land around you just as the lands of Israel that you have a named duty to.
In a world dealing with climate change, a world literally on fire, this becomes more complicated. There are a million other issues you can dedicate yourself to with the same logic. Try as we might, not everyone can be a champion for everything; they’d burn out, hard. Just as we must take care of the earth, so we must take care of ourselves. So, the key is finding that balance; doing what we can to leave a better tomorrow, while also taking care of ourselves. And as shown by the prayers mentioned above, we have a responsibility to the world around us, as well as finding comfort in it.
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