EQ- How do you recognize growth?
EU- Practice finding out where real changes and growth are happening.
באחד בשבט ר"ה לאילן: מ"ט אמר רבי אלעזר א"ר אושעיא הואיל ויצאו רוב גשמי שנה ועדיין רוב תקופה מבחוץ מאי קאמר ה"ק אע"פ שרוב תקופה מבחוץ הואיל ויצאו רוב גשמי שנה ת"ר מעשה בר"ע שליקט אתרוג באחד בשבט ונהג בו שני עישורין
ON THE FIRST OF SHEVAT IS NEW YEAR FOR TREES. What is the reason?
R. Eleazar said in the name of R. Oshaia: Because by then the greater part of the year's rain has fallen and the greater part of the cycle is still to come.
What is the sense of this?
It means this: ‘Although the greater part of the cycle is still to come,
yet since the greater part of the year's rain has fallen, [therefore etc.]’.
הואיל ויצאו רוב גשמי שנה - שכבר עבר רוב ימות הגשמים שהוא זמן רביעה ועלה השרף באילנות ונמצאו הפירות חונטין מעתה:
Since most of the seasonal rain has come, it is the time of flowering and the sap rises in the trees as the fruit begins to ripen.
באחד בשבט ר"ה לאילן - ואין תורמין מפירות אילן שחנטו פירותיו קודם לכן על פירות האילן שחנטו לאחר מכאן:
We do not take the terumah tithe from fruits before this date.
(ז) רבי אלעזר איש ברתותא אומר, תן לו משלו, שאתה ושלך שלו.וכן בדוד הוא אומר (דברי הימים א כט) כי ממך הכל ומידך נתנו לך.
רבי שמעון אומר, המהלך בדרך ושונה ומפסיק ממשנתו ואומר:
מה נאה אילן זה ומה נאה ניר זה!! - מעלה עליו הכתוב כאלו מתחיב בנפשו.
(7) Rabbi Elazar, man of Bartuta, says: Give God from what is God's, for you and yours are God's, and thus by David he says, For all comes from You, and from Your hand we have given You (I Chronicles 29:14).
Rabbi Shimon says: One who is walking on the way and repeating his or her studies, and interrupts his or her studies and says, 'How lovely is this tree! And how lovely is this newly plowed field!' - Scripture considers that person as if s/he is liable for his or her life.
(ז) מה נאה אילן זה מה נאה ניר זה הוא הדין לכל שיחה בטלה, אלא שדבר בהווה שדרך הולכי דרכים לדבר במה שרואים בעיניהם.
ויש אומרים, דאשמועינן רבותא דאע''ג דעל ידי כן הוא מברך ברוך שככה לו בעולמו, אעפ''כ מעלין עליו כאילו מתחייב בנפשו, מפני שהפסיק ממשנתו:
(7) "'How lovely is this tree! And how lovely is this newly plowed field'": This is true of all idle talk, but it is is speaking according to what is common; as it is the way of wayfarers to speak about what they see with their eyes.
And some say that it comes to make us understand a new idea- that even though s/he will make the blessing, 'Blessed is God, Who it is like this in His world;' nonetheless, Scripture considers it as if s/he was liable for his or her life, because s/he interrupted his or her study.
WHEN DOES CHANGE HAPPEN?
The tree goes through cycles in its life. The heavy-laden tree of summer empties itself of fruit in the autumn, and then slowly loses its leaves, one by one. By winter time, the tree stands shorn of its previous glory. For all purposes, it appears to have died.
But then comes Tu B'Shevat! In the midst of the cold winter days, when all vegetation seems frozen or dead, the sap of the tree starts to flow beneath the surface bark. Rising slowly from roots buried in the hardened soil, the sap pushes its way up, pumping new life into outstretched branches that reach towards the heavens.
In life, we too often go through cycles of growth. Periods of renewal and growth may alternate with times of stagnation or dormancy. Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe cites that this cycle is part of man's nature. He adds that a person must not become disillusioned when spiritual growth seems halted; the "low" period will usually be followed by a "high" period that will yield new opportunities for growth.
That is the message of Tu B'Shevat: Even when we feel lethargic, in a rut, and seem to have lost the drive to achieve, we must not despair. Just as winter is an annual hiatus in the life cycle of trees, so bouts of lethargy and unproductivity are necessary phases in the human cycle. Just as with the coming of spring, life-giving sap moves imperceptibly through the trees to branches stretching to the sky, so we too will have renewed energy from deep within our spiritual reservoirs, so long as we set our goal heavenward. (- Rabbi Ephraim Nisenbaum)