trees
Unearthing Shevat: The Month of Trees
By Chaim Barzel “On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month of the second year of Darius—the month of Shevat—this word of Hashem came to the prophet Zecharya son of Berechya son of Ido.” (Zechariah 1:7) This verse from Zechariah is...
Save the Trees: A Divine Imperative
By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz When we first moved into our house in the Golan, I did something I had always wanted to do. I planted a kumquat tree in my backyard. I love to eat the tiny oranges on Friday night, popping them whole into my...
Israel: A Ravaged Oak Tree Stump?
When describing the future exile of the people of Israel from the Holy Land, the prophet Isaiah says: “...it shall be ravaged like the terebinth and the oak, of which stumps are left even when they are felled: its stump shall be a holy...
Put the Brakes on the Messiah: There are Trees to Plant
Picture this: You are out in your garden planting a tree when a big ruckus begins at the end of the block. Your neighbor comes running up, out of breath, “The Messiah is here and he is coming down the street,” he says. You begin to wipe...
What is Tu B’Shevat?
Tu B'Shevat, the New Year for the Trees, is considered a minor festival in Judaism. There is no reference to the holiday of Tu B'Shevat in the Bible, but the Mishna (Rosh Hashana 1:1) notes that there are four distinctive New Years in the...
