Preparing for Tu B'Shvat by Rabbi Sandra Kviat

Preparation

By Marge Piercy

It is the New Year of the Trees, but here,

the ground is frozen under a crust of snow.
The trees snooze, their buds tight as nuts.
Rhododendron leaves roll up their stiff scrolls.

In the white and green north of the diaspora

I am stirred by a season that will not arrive
for six weeks, as wines on far continents prickle
to bubbles when their native vines bloom.

What blossoms here are birds jostling
at feeders, picking sunflower seeds
and millet through the snow: tulip red
cardinal, daffodil finch, larkspur jay

The pansybed of sparrows and juncos, all hungry.
They too are planters of trees, spreading seeds

of favorites along fences. On the earth closed
to us all a book in a language we cannot yet read

The seeds, the bulbs, the eggs
of the fervid green year await release.
Over them on February’s cold table I spread
a feast. Wings rustle like summer leaves.

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It is the New Year for Trees this month, even if signs of spring still feel far away. And though we might not see any snow, it is cold outside, the trees and bushes are asleep, and there is little evidence of any sap rising in the trees. Celebrating Tu B’shvat in January always seems like an act of wishful thinking in the Northern hemisphere. And so our tradition has adapted, from encouraging us to plant indoors, to focus on feeding all the birds that visit our gardens and in turn help spread seeds far and wide, to reflecting on what symbolic seeds we hold, or thinking about the metaphorical sap warming us in these cold and dark months, and how we would like to grow.  

Exploring the wisdom, challenges and wonders of our tradition is one way you can plant new seeds, whether through the newly established Rosh Chodesh group, which is a space for women to come together to learn, talk and share (18th January), or the Learning Circle, exploring what it means to be a progressive Jew today (29th), or coming together to talk about Mental Health over Shabbat dinner (19th). 

The month of Shvat is a time to think about what helps us grow and flourish, as individuals, as families, and as a community.