ChaBaD Jewish Calendar Times Monday, February 6, 2023 15 Shevat, 5783
ChaBaD Jewish Calendar Times Monday, February 6, 2023 15 Shevat, 5783
R. Nechemiah was a brilliant Torah scholar who lived in Dubrowna, a town in what is now Belarus. He was a disciple of the first three Rebbes of Chabad, R. Schneur Zalman of Liadi , R. DovBer of Lubavitch, and R. Menachem Mendel Schneersohn of Lubavitch (who was also his first cousin through marriage). He kept a scholarly correspondence with R. Menachem Mendel, some of which is preserved in his book of responsa, Divrei Nechemiah.
R. Nechemiah was born on 15 Shevat in the year 5548 from Creation (1788), and passed away on his sixty-fourth birthday in 5612 (1852).
Link: Man Alive
Today is Tu BiShevat ("the 15th of Shevat") which marks the beginning of a "New Year for 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 must be separated from produce grown in the Holy Land. We mark the day by eating fruit, particularly from the "Seven Kinds" that are singled out by the Torah in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land (wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates). On this day we remember that "Man is a tree of the field" (Deuteronomy 20:19) and reflect on the lessons we can derive from our botanical analogue.
Tachnun is omitted from the prayer services today.
We are trees, living two lives at once.
One life breaking out through the dark soil into this world, struggling with all our might to rise yet higher, to answer the call of a distant sun. There we are laid bare to the fury of life’s storms, fuel to be consumed by its fires.
Then there are our roots, deep under the ground, unmoving and serene. They are our ancient mothers and fathers, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. Enlightened beings who lie within the very core of our souls.
For them, there is no storm, no struggle. There is only the One, the Infinite, for Whom all the cosmos with all its challenges are nothing more than a wondrous creation renewed every moment from the void. A miraculous story and a delight.
Our strength is from our bond with them. A bond that stretches over many thousands of years.
A bond that passes through an intricate network of finely tuned heavenly wisdom, weaved into our story as a people, delivered in packages of divine rituals and celebration.
With their nurture we will conquer the storm and revive ourselves after the fire. We will bring beauty to the world within which we were planted.
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