Sadness is a tree without leaves!

Sadness is a tree without leaves but it is also a sign of hope, for with the passing of the winter, spring arrives and the tree awakens from its sleep to blossom once again.  The tree has always been a symbol of life, renewal and energy.

The fifteenth of the month of Shevat is the New Year for Trees.  The tree is still bare but within the tree, the sap has risen and will cause the tree to flower in the spring: we don’t yet see the signs of life but they are there.

Whenever we are despondent we need but look at the naked tree and learn the lesson that the sap of renewal and repair is present at the time of the greatest starkness and emptiness. Thus, we must be encouraged that bleakness will give way to birth, growth and new development.

Tu Bishvat is always celebrated around Shabbat Shira when the Torah portion of  Beshalach is read, telling the story of the desperate Israelites who saw no way out of their impossible predicament –  Pharaoh’s army pursuing them, bent on destroying them and the sea facing them,  – and no means of  survival.

They survived! The tree grows!

Tu Bishvat Shabbat Shira

Both give the same message: however bleak the situation don’t give up – the seeds of renewal are germinating.