Is it a coincidence that this climactic Torah Portion, in
which the Children of Israel meet Hashem at Mount Sinai, should fall out during
the week of T’U b’Shevat (The New
Year of Trees)? Well that question is of course unnecessary, because there are
no coincidences.
My study partner, Rabbi Yehuda Schiff Shlita”h, showed me a Ramban on the Torah Portion Bo which tells us that: “a person has no share in the Torah of Moses
our Teacher unless he believes that all our affairs and experiences are
miracles …. There is [no such thing as] ‘the ordinary course of the world.’”
(Ramban on Exodus 13:16) We learn from the Exodus from Egypt that Hashem
controls everything. The extraordinary miracles which took place in Egypt serve
to show us that the entire “everyday” conduct of nature and everything that
happens in this world emanate directly from Hashem’s will.
T’U B’Shevat’s
remarkable legacy is that, during the winter, when the earth is frozen, animals
are hibernating and all nature appears dead, this is not the real story. The
real story is that the sap hidden within the trees is starting to flow at
precisely this moment. The hidden rebirth, Resurrection of the Dead, the ascent
from death, the salvation of the world always begins in a hidden manner. “And Rabbi Yitzchak said: Blessing is not
found except in something that is hidden from the eye.” (Taanis 8b; Bava Metzia
42a)
T’U b’Shevat is
the day “when the sap rises in the
trees…” (Bnai Yissaschar, quoted in Book of Our Heritage)
Does anyone see the sap rise?
Only Hashem knows when the hidden explosion of salvation –
the cosmic moment of our Great Redemption – is beginning, concealed from all
eyes. All nature imitates Hashem, the Ultimate Hidden One. Similarly, our
Rabbis say about holy people: “Who is
destined for a share in the World to Come? One who is modest and humble, who
enters bowing and leaves bowing, who learns Torah constantly, but doesn’t take
credit for himself.” (Sanhedrin 88b)
Everything holy is hidden. This character trait is exactly
opposed to the society which surrounds us, which is obsessed with publicity,
pushiness and “me first.” My friends, the news is disastrous on every level.
Now they are outlawing shechita (kosher
slaughtering) in Europe. Next they will try to outlaw every other mitzvah until they try to outlaw those
who perform mitzvos, G-d forbid.
But the sap is rising in the trees and the rains are pouring
down on the Kinneret (the Sea of
Galilee). Our secret springs of blessing are pouring down from Heaven, and this
is all a prelude to the Redemption we are all awaiting. As I quoted recently, “when the wicked bloom like grass and all
doers of iniquity blossom, it is to destroy them till eternity…” (Psalm 92)
The world thinks it is close to the moment when they will
solve the “Jewish Problem” forever. Little do they know that, where no one can
see, the sap of redemption is rising in the Tree of Life, and the day is
dawning when we will hear “for a second
time in the presence of all the living … ‘I am Hashem your G-d!’” (Mussaf Shabbos
Kedusha)
PICTURE CAPTION:
The sap is flowing in the trees.