Education

Dear Friends,
Tu Bishvat – the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shvat - celebrates "the New Year of Trees", meaning the renewal of the natural cycle in the Land of Israel, represented by the flowering of the shkediah - the almond tree during the peak of the Israeli winter. This is a day of great joy in Medinat Israel, when children and young Israelis turn en masse to plant trees throughout the length and breadth of the Land of Israel - the world's most forested country, with a forestation rate far above local wood consumption. Many families also celebrate Seder Tu BiShvat, something like the Passover Seder, with blessings, red and white wine, and different types of dried fruits (nuts, figs, raisins and many others ) greeting the arrival of spring and its fresh fruit.

The joy of this year's (5771) Tu Bishvat celebration is overshadowed by the biggest and worst forest fire in the history of the modern State of Israel, which devastated some of the most beautiful forests in the country, and consumed more than 5 million trees - mostly mature pines - and even parts of small towns like Kibbutz Beit Oren. Most tragic, of course, was the loss of 44 lives, prison warders recently graduated from an officer's course in a bus on their way to evacuate a jail threatened by the blaze. All of Israel was in deep mourning, grieving over the loss of life.

During the days of fire Maccabi World Union received countless expressions of concern and several proposals for action from Maccabi members from all over the world -- manifestations of true solidarity aimed at what we can together, as one people, do to repair. Once again, members and leaders of our Maccabi showed in a very concrete fashion our ideal of Zionism and the centrality of the State of Israel, suggesting different ways to join the reconstruction of what was destroyed, and expressing shared grief over the loss of human lives. A very appropriate allegorical midrash to this celebration of Tu BiShvat eloquently describes exactly this spirit of mutual responsibility and solidarity present during our acute distress over the great fire. The midrash relates to nuts - one of the celebration's most distinctive fruits – explaining a verse in the Song of Songs – “I went down to the nut grove…” – as follows:
Just as with nuts, if you remove one from the pile, all of them move and roll after each other. So too with Israel, if you hit one of them, they all hurt.

All the people of Israel were deeply affected by the deaths of so many men and women serving the country and the loss of the wonderful forests. We all feel the pain, the sorrow - if you hit one of us, we all hurt. This Tu BiShvat 5771 raises challenges, then, different from other years during Israel's many decades of continuous growth and forestation. The first one is to repair our souls distressed by the loss of so many human beings consumed by the flames. The second great challenge is the restoration, reconstruction, and renewed greening of the Carmel region once so filled with natural life and now burned to the ground, a mute and blackened reminder of the tragedy. Many proposals by conservationists, scientists and environmentalists are being considered to produce the best overall plan for revitalization of the Carmel. Until selection of the best alternative is made to determine the course of action, we will celebrate Tu B'Shvat 5771 with on the one hand, heavy hearts, but also filled with the renewal afforded by our mission of re-greening our wonderful little country where Jewish life and our national destiny develops to its richest and most meaningful sense.

In this celebration of Tu Bishvat may we root our souls in renewed commitment to the Land of Israel and the State we build within it, marvel at the fruits that have flowered from its profusion of greenery, and renew our commitment to the promise it holds of our future growth and development.

Tu Bishvat Sameach!
Chazak ve'ematz!

RABBI CARLOS TAPIERO
Deputy Director-General & Director of Education
Maccabi World Union