Seeing the Beauty of Nature around Us

I was walking in the quad of the University of Washington after a Jewish Studies Advisory Board meeting when I was asked is there a beracha to be made on these beautiful cherry blossoms? Well there is a beracha for the blossoms of fruit trees in the Hebrew month of Nissan, but these Yoshino cherry trees are only good for birds and animals so despite their beauty they don't get the beracha for blossoming fruit trees. 

Since this year we have our extra month of Adar Sheni, Pesach and Nissan are later in the year. What do we do for actual blossoming fruit trees that start budding early? Is there a concern of missing the opportunity of making the beracha over the blossoms? Generally speaking the blossoms should last until Nissan. If one knows for sure that all fruit tree blossoms will have gone by the time Nissan comes around it is permitted to say the beracha in Adar. Conversely, in a year when spring is late and the fruit trees don't blossom until after the month of Nissan it is permitted to make the beracha in Iyar.

The text is:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁלֹּא חִסַּר בְּעוֹלָמוֹ כְּלוּם וּבָרָא בוֹ בְּרִיּוֹת טוֹבוֹת וְאִילָנוֹת טוֹבוֹת לֵהָנוֹת בָּהֶם בְּנֵי אָדָם. Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has made nothing lacking in His world, and created in it goodly creatures and goodly trees to give mankind pleasure. 

But going back to these beautiful blossoms in the quad at the UW. There is another beracha that one can say when appreciating something very beautiful in nature such as a person, animal, or tree and that beracha is:

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱ-לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁככה לו בעולמו

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has such [beauty] in his universe.

Collecting for Matanot La'Evyonim

It happens every year, everyone is really excited about what food they will be sending their friends for Mishloach Manot and what costumes they are going to wear at the Purim Party (by the way the Hassan costumes will be legendary) but most of us pay less attention to the Mitzvah of Matanot La'Evyonim.

One of the four mitzvot of Purim is Matanot La'Evyonim - gifts to the poor. These contributions to the poor allow them to celebrate Purim just like we do and helps them out with their day to day needs. The mitzvah of Matanot La'Evyonim – providing the equivalent of a Purim meal for two individuals on Purim day – was always understood by our rabbis as being even more important in priority than the monies spent on mishloach manot and personal seudot. Therefore, one should spend less money on mishloach manot and more on matanot la'Evyonim. I encourage you all to be generous. 

Once again, SBH is looking to raise funds for needy families in our community. We are collecting funds for the Nathan Etkin Chesed Fund. This Chesed Fund has already helped many families with saving homes from foreclosure, paying rent when a job is lost, paying health insurance premiums, debt reduction structure planning, certified financial counseling, money for weddings and everyday needs like groceries, utilities, and helping families make Purim, Pesach and other Holidays.

How can you help? The holiday of Purim is around the corner. And as we say at SBH, “Purim, Purim lanu, Pesach en la mano” – Purim is here, Passover is near.  

This time of year brings two wonderful opportunities to help:

1. We will be accepting Purim Matanot La’Evyonim donations starting now and until March 22nd, 2016, so we can distribute those funds in a timely fashion. You can make those donations by either sending a check to the SBH office with the word “Purim” in the memo line and the checks made payable to the Nathan Etkin Chesed Fund, or by making arrangements with me directly prior to March 22nd. 

I can be reached at rabbibenhassan@gmail.com. Please note that sending in money early for Matanot La’evyonim is the best way of fulfilling this mitzva and I will be acting as your shaliach in this matter. Of course, we will also accept donations up until the day of Purim as well.

2. Rabbi Morton & Leya Moscowitz have established the “Chasdei Shmully” fund in honor of Rabbi Shmully Moscowitz, zt”l. This fund, part of the larger Seattle Chesed Fund, ensures that local families have enough food to feed their children and provides dedicated assistance for major Jewish holidays. In order to help financially struggling families with the significant costs of Passover, congregants are encouraged to give to this fund specifically. Donations for Pesach should be mailed to the SBH office by April 8th, 2016 so we can make our distributions. Please write “Chasdei Shmully Matzah Fund” in the memo of your check.

Please note all checks whether for Purim or for Pesach need to be made out to The Nathan Etkin Chesed Fund and NOT to SBH.

The Chesed Fund functions with total respect for the person in need, and all requests are handled with dignity and confidentiality. It partners with Jewish Family Services when the need becomes more long-term.  A dollar donated is a dollar distributed. The Chesed Fund is a registered 501(c)3 organization, and all gifts are tax deductible.  

Honi and Tu Bishvat

There is a wonderful piece of Aggadata (the narrative material in the Talmud) about the Rabbinic personality Honi HaMa'agel - Honi the circle drawer. Honi had a special gift, much like Moshe that his tefillot (prayers) were able to be answered by God almost immediately. As such whenever the Jewish people of his generation needed something they would ask Honi to pray on their behalf and their needs were met instantly. 

Carobs have long been associated with Tu Bishvat and are included in the Turkish traditional seder tu bishvat called Fruticas. The following piece of Aggadata comes from Masekhet Ta'anit (page 23a).

Rabbi Yochanan said, this righteous man [Honi] was troubled all of his days about the meaning of the verse, 'A Song of Ascents, When God brought back those that returned to Zion, we were like dreamers.' Is it possible for a man to dream continuously for seventy years?

One day he was journeying on the road and he saw a man planting a carob tree. He asked him, how long does it take to bear fruit? The man replied, seventy years. He then further asked him, are you certain that you will live another seventy years? The man replied, I found carob trees in the world; as my forefathers planted these for me so too I plant these for my children. Honi sat down to have a meal and sleep overcame him. As he slept a rocky formation enclosed upon him which hid him from sight and he continued to sleep for seventy years.

When he awoke he saw a man gathering the fruit of the carob tree and he asked him, are you the man who planted the tree? The man replied, I am his grandson. Thereupon he exclaimed: It is clear that I slept for seventy years. He then caught sight of his donkey who had given birth to several generations of mules; and he returned home.

He there enquired, Is the son of Honi the Circle-Drawer still alive? They answered him, 'His son is no more, but his grandson is still living.' Thereupon he said to them, 'I am Honi the Circle-Drawer', but no one would believe him.

He then went to the Beit Hamidrash and there he overheard the scholars say, “The law is as clear to us as in the days of Honi the Circle-Drawer, for whenever he came to the Beit Hamidrash he would settle for the scholars any difficulty that they had.' Whereupon he called out, 'I am he'; but the scholars would not believe him nor did they give him the honor due to him. This hurt him greatly and he prayed and he died. Rava said, that is the popular saying, either companionship or death.

The piece is very poignant and hard to understand. It certainly doesn't have the happy ending that we are used to in Western Civilization stories. How is it that Honi could not understand the Jewish lesson of planting, not just physically but also spiritually for our children and grandchildren? Isn't this Judaism 101?

The farmer is telling Honi that we don't see the outcome of our efforts overnight they take time to develop sometimes long after we are gone. For Honi this is too hard to take because he is used to Hashem giving him instant gratification for all of his needs. This is not so for us. We are used to making berachot and waiting before we enjoy our food. We are also used to waiting as it were for Hashem's answers to our difficult questions in life.

Why is it so hard to be Jewish? Why is there anti semitism? When will the exile end? These long term questions were beyond Honi. It was only after sleeping for 70 years that he understood for most Jews we have to grapple with these issues. On Tu Bishvat in the middle of the winter we eat carob chips to remind ourselves that we are in a long game of Jewish peoplehood. Many of questions take many years to answer and sometimes several generations. 

As parents and grandparents we are providing the strong roots for our children and grandchildren to follow after us. We are providing the fruit for them to enjoy in the future when they in turn will be making deep roots for their children and grandchildren so they too can enjoy their fruits. May we take on the lesson of this piece of aggada to appreciate the long term picture but also to hope that the long path of exile may be coming to an end with the coming of Mashiach.

Happy Tu Bishvat!

Tu Bishvat and Fruticas: What's it all about?

I've always enjoyed Tu Bishvat and everything that it represents. Tu Bishvat is probably the lowest ranked Jewish Holiday and certainly one of the least well known. Tu Bishvat is the New Year for the Trees. This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.

Legally, the new year for trees relates to the various tithes that are separated from produce grown in the Holy Land. These tithes differ from year to year in the seven-year shemittah cycle, the point at which a budding fruit is considered to belong to the next year of the cycle is the 15th of Shevat. 

As a child my primary memory of Tu Bishvat was eating the Shivat HaMinim - the 7 species special to the land of Israel - wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. I loved singing the words from Devarim Chapter 8 Verse 8. 

אֶרֶץ חִטָּה וּשְׂעֹרָה, וְגֶפֶן וּתְאֵנָה וְרִמּוֹן; אֶרֶץ-זֵית שֶׁמֶן, וּדְבָשׁ

A land of wheat and barley, and grapes  and figs  and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey (dates).

If you ask me very nicely I won't sing it! The other memory I had was planting trees and sending money to JNF to plant trees in Israel. In the last 100 years Tu Bishvat has been used as both a Zionist day with support for Israel and a day for furthering environmental issues and concerns.

Sephardim, have a much older custom which is to have a Seder Tu Bishvat The custom goes back to the Kabbalists in the 16th Century who worked on a Seder with 4 cups of wine and all the fruits and nuts and highlighting the 7 special fruits of the land of Israel. 

In Seattle, we have a slightly different Tu Bishvat seder called Fruticas. Here's the text of the service.