Celia Gurevitch Jewish Community Library

One of my favorite holidays is Tu B’Shevat, and this year it falls on February 9. I like it because it inspires me out of my sedentary lifestyle and into nature, to enjoy and appreciate a taste of spring. On this day I surely have my recommended amount of daily fruit.

However, I also have an ambivalent relationship with this holiday. It is about celebrating trees and as a librarian I surround myself with fallen trees, in the form of books. I feel guilty because a large number of trees had to be cut down to create the books that fill our library. I console myself in two ways.

First, I hope that more trees are planted than the ones that were cut down. Israel is a leading force in this regard, their tree-planting programs were essential in turning the desert into a living and livable place. I also enjoy planting trees myself, but I admit not doing it as often as I wish or should!

Second, as there is nothing I can do for the trees that were already turned into the books in the library I want to make sure that their sacrifices were not in vain, but to try to interest you in reading these books. The more books you, dear readers, borrow and read the less guilty I have to feel. In this spirit let me recommend the four very different items we have on Tu B’Shevat itself.

Our 30-page picture book for toddlers and olders, titled Tu Bi-Sh’vot: The New Year’s Day for Trees, follows two children throughout their day of celebration at home with their family and in school with their classmates. We also offer two different Seders for the holiday to help you celebrate it. One of them–written by Appelman and Shapiro–is full of joyful illustrations and is geared for 8-11 year olds. The other, by Adam Fisher, is richer in content suitable for all ages. It contains more songs, blessings, stories, and poems for your pleasure.

Finally, if you really want to be engaged with Tu B’Shevat check out our thick (500 page long) anthology titled Trees, Earth, and Torah. Its three editors, Ari Elon, Naomi Mara Hyman and Arthur Waskow, did a superb job of selecting essays covering the holiday from every imaginable angle, including its growth in history, its roots in biblical and rabbinic Judaism, its connection to Kabbalah, Hasidism, Zionism and Israel and its development into eco-Judaism. The last third of the book has everything you would ever want to know on how to celebrate it and why.

Let me end now with the opening words of the introduction to Trees, Earth and Torah.

“I hope more than any other Jewish festival, Tu B’Shvat is the celebration of Becoming. There is no halakha, no legal structure, to define it. It springs wholly from the spiritual depth and growth of the Jewish people in relation with the One Who always beckons us to grow and in relation with the earth where all things grow.”