RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:TALMUD YERUSHALMI:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: TU B'SHEVAT SEDER HAGADDAH

 

A Short Snap Shot of Rabbi Arthur Segal

Rabbi Arthur Segal

United States

I am available for Shabbatons,and can speak on various aspects of Jewish history,(from the ancient past to modern day, and can be area specific, if a group wishes), Spirituality, developing a Personal Relationship with God, on the Jews of India and other 'exotic' communities, and on Talmud, Torah and other great texts. We have visited these exotic Jewish communities first hand. I adhere to the Mishna's edict of not using the Torah as a ''spade'', so while I do ask for expenses to be paid if I am asked to travel, I do not have exorbitant honorariums for my services. I am post-denominational and renewal and spiritually centered. On this site is an entire Compendium to the Torah entitled "Chumash Candescence." I am available to perform Jewish weddings, and Jewish inter-marriages (Jewish intermarriage, Jewish inter-marriage, Jewish interfaith weddings) My post-doc in Psych from Penn helps tremendously when I do Rabbinic counseling. My phone number and address will be made available once I am sure of one's sincerity in working with me.

Rabbi Segal is the author of three books and many articles on Torah, Talmud and TaNaK and Jewish history. His books are : The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud, and  Spiritual Wisdom of our Talmudic Sages. The first two are published by Amazon through their publishing house, BookSurge. For information on how to purchase these, please contact RabbiASegal@aol.com.  Todah Rabah and Shalom v' Beracoth. Rabbi Arthur Segal ,( Dr. Arthur Segal )RabbiASegal@aol.com . 

 

Shalom :

 

The Talmud Yerushalmi in Tractate Rosh Hashanah 1:3 reads:

"At four times in the year the world is judged.

Some teach:  all of them are judged on Rosh Hashanah and the divine sentence of each one is sealed on Rosh Hashanah.

Others teach: all of them are judged on Rosh Hashanah and the divine sentence of each is sealed on Yom Kippur.

Others teach: all of them are judged on Rosh Hashanah and the divine sentence of each one is sealed at its appointed time.

Others teach: each one is judged at its appointed time and the divine sentence is sealed at its appointed time.


Talmud Bavli Tractate Rosh ha Shana  1.1 teaches us that there are four new years: 

(1) Nissan (the month of Passover) is the new year for kings and festivals and the first month of our calendar.

(2) Elul (the month before Rosh Hashanah) is the new year for the tithes on cattle

(3) Tishrei  (Rosh Hashanah) is the new year for years, Sabbatical years, Jubilees, and most importantly, as taught in Tractate Sanhedrin, the New Year of the World and Adam and Eve's birthday,

and (4) Shevat is the new year for trees.  Beit Shammai says this new year is the first of Shevat.  Beit Hillel says this new year is the 15th of Shevat. 

Our contemporary society has many new years. For example we have January First, the new secular calendar year. We have April 15th, the tax cycle year and for those in business, this repeats, each quarter. Corporations have fiscal new years which can be any day they assign it to be. And farmers still have a new year for planting and harvesting certain crops. Our government's Executive branch even has a new year beginning every 4 years on the third Tuesday in January. And our Supreme Court has a new year as well, the first Monday in October.

 As humans we celebrate birthdays and we tell ourselves this is our new year. As Jews, the 12th year of a girl's life or the 13th year of  a boy's, with some minor exceptions if they were born in Adar during  a leap month-year, is the beginning of their adult life. Jews have  yertzeits marking the anniversaries of a beloved one's death. And of course couples have wedding anniversaries marking the new year of their marriages. And we in the USA have July 4th, the new year of our country's birth.

So Judaism having 4 New Years is nothing unusual.

 

When do judgements occur? Nissan is truly the Jewish New Year. It has our Passover which is our July 4th. We need to be spiritual pure. But because of God's mercy and grace, if we aren't ready by Pesach, we are given another full month, to be ready by Pesach sheni, a second Passover.

 

Rosh ha Shana is the new year for all humanity. It is the birthday of Adam and Eve. If we haven't made our teshuva by Yom Kippur, we have till the end of Shemini Atzeret. But it is we who write ourselves into the book of life, not God. Our actions and our beliefs determine if we are going to live  a life of peace with our fellows, or a life of conflict. In other words, we choose to live a living hell if we wish to ignore God's  will.

 

Elul and Shevat both have to do with tithes...animal and produce. It was regulated to one day, so that folks were not schlepping fruit or baby animals all year long to the Temple. They both are tax days. The first born animal belongs to God and is given to the priests. The first 4 years of fruits and vegetables are not eaten by the owner of the tree. Regardless of when the tree was planted in a specific year, its birth date in the 15th of Shevat. This is similar to our saying that regardless of when one's income was earned in 2008 (even on December 30th), the tax is due on April 15, 2009.

 

Since the new year for animals and trees were both tithe days and have no use without a Temple, a cult of priesthood and Hebraism, both holidays have been  rolled into Tu B'Shevat, by the Kabbalists, into a spiritual earth day, which we Jews celebrate with a Seder. In Israel, the early Zionists, revised it to help plant trees. As we know from the Talmud, multiple times in Tractate Bava Metzia , in acquiring an object, one must perform kinyan. Even if he paid for a car and signed the contract, if he did not get into the car and drive it, the sale is not complete.

 

With land, since one cannot physically take the land, the kinyan has to be done with some improvement. Building a home is the best way, but that takes time. The planting of trees is the quickest way to establish ownership of the land, besides all of the ecological and practical benefits the trees provide.

 

We are having our annual Jewish spiritual renewal Tu B'Shevet seder and all are invited.  The seder is on Erev Tu B'Shevet, Sunday the 8th of February. On the 9th, the actual day of Tu B'Shevet, each in our own way are doing ecological mitzvoth. Keeping in mind how the Elul holiday was folded into the Shevat one, some of us are continuing our work at the no-kill animal shelters.

 

THE HOLIDAY'S NAME :

 

Tu b'Shevat. This literally means the 15th of the month of Shevat. Just like we Americans call one of our holidays July 4th. The full name for the holiday is the New Year for Trees.... Rosh Ha Shana ha Atzim. Just as the proper name for July 4th is 'Independence Day.'

 

HOW IT IS CELEBRATED:

 

Like all Jewish holidays it begins at sundown, this year Sunday, February 8, 2009, and ends at sunset Monday, February 9.

Based on the Torah's verse from Deuteronomy 8:8 : ''For the Lord your God is bringing you to a good land: ... A land of wheat, barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates; a land of oil-yielding olives and date honey,'' Jews celebrate this New Year for Trees by having a Tu b'Shevat Seder (yes, the same name used for the ''order'' of the meal at Passover), using these seven fruits and grains in their foods. The Seder begins at sundown on the 8th. There is actually a Tu b'Shevat Hagaddah.

 

Like Passover, four cups of wine are used. But unlike Passover, they are four types of wine, representing the changes in the seasons - dark red, light red, pink and white. Carobs, raisins, and almonds are also eaten as they are fruits found in Israel.

 

WHY IS IT CELEBRATED:

 

Originally, when fruits could not be eaten for the first 3 years , and then tithed on the 4th year , and could only be eaten by the owner of the tree from the 5th year onward,[Leviticus 19:23-25], this date marked the day of  a tree's birth, regardless of when it was actually planted. The date was set for the 15th of the month of Shevat by Rabbi Hillel, as described in Talmud Bavli Tractate Rosh ha Shana page 1.1, circa 100 BCE, to make it easier for keeping track. Just as April 15 is when taxes are due regardless of when you were hired in a year.

 

But when the Temple was destroyed 170 years later, and tithing couldn't be done, and Jews no longer owned land, the holiday took on  a spiritual meaning.

 

"A man is a tree of the field" (Deut. 20:19) and fruit is the tree's highest achievement. Our  Kabbalistic sages tell us that each and every one of us has not one, but two souls: an animal soul, which embodies our natural, self-oriented instincts; and a Godly soul, embodying our transcendent drives--our desire to escape the ego and relate to that which is greater than ourselves. 

 

Tu b'Shevat is yet another Jewish holiday where Jews work on their Jewish Spiritual Renewal to break out of ego, and let the love of God and love for their fellows into their lives. Each fruit teaches us something spiritually. For example: the olive in us is that part of ourselves that thrives on struggle, that revels in it, that would no more escape it than escape life itself. Just like an olive, say our sages, which yields its oil only when pressed, so, too, do we yield what is best in us only when pressed between the millstones of life and the counter forces of a divided self. Yet our goal is to become integrated, one with God, with our fellows, in true Shalom.

 

The strength of the tree depends on how well it is rooted in the ground. The root of the Jew is his belief and experience with God.The beauty of a tree is the fruit it produces. Mitzvoth and good deeds are man's fruits. A healthy tree continues to grow and grow. A healthy Jew must continuously grow spiritually. This is accomplished through  studying Torah, Talmud, Kaballah , prayer and meditation. These are the lessons we teach via Jewish Spiritual Renewal at Tu B'Shevat.

 

The prophet Isaiah spoke of the planting of trees when he spoke to the people of their future  return to their homeland: "And you shall build houses and dwell there and plant vineyards and eat their fruit... because the life of my people is like a tree."(Isaiah 65:21-22)

 

The custom in Israel was to plant a tree whenever a child was born: a Cedar for a boy, a Cypress tree for a girl. (Talmud Bavli Tractate Gittin 57: 1) After the people were exiled from the Land of Israel, the physical connection between man, trees and the earth turned into one of consciousness.

 

During the planting of the President's Forest in 1949, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion said:
"Of all the blessed acts in which we are engaged in this country, I do not know if there is a more fruitful enterprise, whose results are so useful, as the planting of trees, which adds beauty to the scenery of our country, improves its climate and adds health to its inhabitants."

 

It was no coincidence that the 15th of Shevat - the day which symbolizes the revival of nature, as highlighted by the flowering of the almond trees, and of the renewed ties between the Jewish people and its land - was chosen by various institutions as their inauguration day:
The cornerstone of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem was laid in 1918; the Technion in Haifa in 1925; The Knesset - the Parliament of Israel in 1949.

THE FIRST EARTH DAY:

Tu b'Shevat has been called the first Earth Day as it celebrates all of the ecological commandments in the Torah and Talmud. They can be summed up with the Jewish notion bal tashchit  to neither to destroy wantonly, nor waste resources unnecessarily. Jews have countless laws in the Torah and Talmud to adjure us to open our eyes, and act responsibly and compassionately toward the world around us. We are reminded of these edicts on this holiday at the seder, and then on the day of the holiday, this year on the 9th, we do active work for ecology...planting trees, raising money for ecologic charities, etc.

TRIVIA:

Judaism has several different "new years," a concept which may seem strange at first, but think of it this way: the American "new year" starts in January, but the new "school year" starts in September, and many businesses have "fiscal years" that start at various times of the year.

In Judaism, Nissan 1 is the Jewish new year for the purpose of counting   months on the calendar. Nissan is the first month and when Passover occurs, when Jews became a free nation.

Elul 1 (in August) is the new year for the tithing of animals.

Shevat 15 (in February) is the new year for trees (determining when first fruits can be eaten, etc.),

and Tishri 1 (Rosh Ha Shana) is the new year for humanity, when Jews believe that Adam and Even were born. 

For those who wish to have a Tu B'Shevat Seder, a Hagaddah has been written and I have made it available to all at no cost: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:TU B' SHEVAT SEDER HAGADDAH:SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

Shalom :

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Jewish Renewal

Jewish Spiritual Renewal

Hilton Head Island, SC

Bluffton, SC

Savannah, GA

 

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