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What a Buddha Hand Made Me Realize About Tu B’Shvat

February 3, 2015 by Patrick Beaulier

Tu B’Shvat is the best holiday a Jewish environmentalist could ask for. The New Year for the Trees gets us to think about the natural world, and indeed I’ve enjoyed that focus at Hazon’s Tu B’Shvat seders the last couple of years. However, my Tu B’Shvat observance has often been at odds with my general environmental outlook on food. Whereas I normally prioritize locally grown produce from a farmers market, for Tu B’Shvat I adore exotic, varied fruits. Celebrating the full bounty of nature isn’t consistent with limiting your carbon footprint if that oddball fruit had to travel 3,000 miles to get to you.

My love for Tu B’Shvat dates back to my freshman year of college, when a Chabad Shabbat dinner featured 44 different types of fruits and nuts instead of the regular brisket or chicken. Since then I’ve hosted a series of non-seder gatherings in which I tried to present a diverse array of fruits. At the Tu B’Shvat Disorder! ’08, I served coconut, horned melon, persimmons, pineapple, uglifruit, honeydew, cantaloupe, bananas, grapes, apples, peaches, tangerines, olives, starfruit, figs, dates, cherries, blueberries, kiwis, pistachios, almonds, pine nuts, cashews, walnuts, filberts, and Brazil nuts. Let’s just say that it hadn’t all been grown locally in Virginia in January.

This year’s I-can’t-stop-thinking-about-it fruit is the Buddha hand, also known as a fingered citron. (Many readers will be familiar with the etrog, another type of citron, which is used on Sukkot.) I’d seen the Buddha hand at a NYC Whole Foods store a few times before, but I’d never found any legitimate reason to buy this masterpiece of citrus. When I spotted a California-grown Buddha hand that appeared to be giving me the finger on Thursday—so close to Tu B’Shvat—I knew I just had to spend $3.14 for it.

The Buddha hand was a big hit at a Shabbat potluck the following night. We started amputating fingers off the Buddha hand left and right. One guy ate an entire finger (including the rind), and he put a little nub in his wine and called it sangria. Several of us gnawed into the flesh at the base of the fingers instead. We passed around the opened Buddha hand to appreciate the scent. After the night was over, I was able to salvage the base of the hand for some flesh. I cut some of it up and put it in tea, and as of this writing, I’m not sure what I’ll do with the rest.

The Buddha hand was fun, but did this fruit—which we did not even consume to a significant extent—really help us to respect the Earth?

In celebrating Tu B’Shvat, it’s important to have foods that are native to Israel and that represent the different categories of fruits and nuts: those that have edible insides but inedible outsides, those that have edible outsides but inedible insides, and those that are edible throughout. Beyond that, if you have a choice and you truly want this to be a holiday that is good for the Earth, buy local when possible.

Filed Under: Random (Feelin' Lucky?), Tu B'Shevat Tagged With: buddha hand, buying local, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, heebnvegan, michael croland, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, shevat, tu b'shevat, Tu B'Shvat, What a Buddha Hand Made Me Realize About Tu B’Shevat

Tu B’Shevat For Kids

February 3, 2015 by Patrick Beaulier

Alright kids, it’s almost time for Tu B’Shevat, the birthday of the trees.

First, we kick off the holiday by reading the story of Tu B’Shevat with one of our book reviewer Tamara Levine’s new favorite books, Happy Birthday, Tree! written by Madelyn Rosenbery.

happy birthday tree

What would you give a tree for its birthday? Ribbons, water, a present? Does it have all that it needs already? Joni in the picture book Happy Birthday, Tree!, written by Madelyn Rosenbery and illustrated by Jana Christy, doesn’t think so. She believes her favorite tree needs something for its birthday so that it can celebrate.

Tu B’Shevat is one of the Jewish New Years. It’s the birthday of the trees, of course! It’s celebrated on the 15th of Shevat.

Read this beautifully written and illustrate book to find out what Joni gives her favorite tree for its birthday. -Review by Tamara Levine

This wonderful craft project by blogger Miri Flower is a great way to bring a little light during a dark time of the year, while connecting to the spirit of Tu B’Shevat.

Tu B’Shevat Leaves Lantern

A craft to brighten up your day, close the curtains, turn off the lights & read a book by the light of a couple of these beautiful lanterns!

paper leaf lantern

You will need: dried leaves, tissue paper cardboard paper

1) Cut your tissue paper into a square
2) Glue the leaves onto the top half, fold over the bottom & glue it together.
3) Cut a circle out of the cardboard, fold up the edges & glue your tissue paper around the circle. This is the bottom of your lantern.
4) Place a glass jar inside , light a candle & carefully place it inside the jar,
enjoy!

Of course, there are lost of great learning opportunities on Tu B’Shevat. Check out our Tu B’Shevat Portal for resources on the holiday, podcasts and grown up how-to guides.

Filed Under: Jewish Kids, Tu B'Shevat Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, jewish kids tu bshevat, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, tu b'shevat, Tu B'Shvat, tu bishvat

Tu B’Shevat Happy New Year Trees

February 3, 2015 by Patrick Beaulier

em_fwf_wa_rainforest

Tu B’shevat is very much a minor holiday to us today, perhaps it’s because most of us no longer work the land to provide for our families and communities. Perhaps it’s because few people care for the Earth as deeply as we once did. Whatever the reason is this is no longer a holiday celebrated by most families with a full Seder. It’s now seen almost as an Earth day or Arbor day. A day that even most people in America don’t tend to celebrate. Tu ‘B’shevat is important to me though, it is the new year for the trees. What exactly does a new year for a tree mean? One thought holds trees as one of the closest to immortal things living on this planet today. While no tree is immortal some are very old. The oldest non-clonal tree in the world today is known as The Sisters or the Sisters Olive Trees of Noah, The sisters are believed to be over 6,000 years old and is thought to be where the dove found the olive branch to bring Noah at the end of the great flood. What is another year for them? What does that mean for us? The trees new year means for them an awakening. Almost all trees especially fruit baring ones go through a dormant phase during the year and Tu B’shevat is the time that inside of them they grow another ring. This ring might be thin or thick depending on how the growing season treated them. You can learn a lot about a trees life from their rings. So what does that mean for us? It’s hardly time to plant trees the only thing right now you can do is prune the dormant and dead branches.

Well for us I believe that Tu B’shevat is a great time for our own awakening. It’s time to awaken to ourselves and to our soul. The great thing is that we don’t have a yearly dormant phase but perhaps our community involvement or passions or even our spirituality does. Perhaps you were volunteering your time more frequently around Rosh Hashanah. Or maybe you get in the mood to let your passion of baking run wild for Chanukah (which would make a ton of sense considering you may have been meshuggah enough to host a giant Thanksgivukkah party.) However, lately you have found that you haven’t been doing these things as much as you would like. Perhaps you were taking comfort in going to minyan and meeting new people and then for one reason or another just stopped. Inside of you as with the trees it is time for an awakening. One that will allow you to flourish and blossom just like our trees. This doesn’t happen over night. Our trees won’t bud tomorrow, they will simply begin to put their energy in that direction, that will allow us to appreciate them. Perhaps you can take this Tu B’shevat and begin to use that energy to awaken yourself so that you can greater appreciate the world around you. We don’t have the luxury of living up to 6,000+ years but if we can appreciate today maybe we can plant the seeds for others to appreciate their tomorrow.

Melissa Bullins is an Atlanta based chef and is active in the local Jewish community at Shabbat Atlanta. Come hang out with Melissa and the Shabbat Atlanta chavurah!

Filed Under: Judaism & Belief, Random (Feelin' Lucky?), Shabbat & Holidays, Tu B'Shevat Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, Melissa Bullins, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, tu b'shevat

PunkTorah Radio: Kosher Vegan Cookbooks and Birthday Trees

February 3, 2015 by Patrick Beaulier


This week is all about Kosher Vegans, Tu B’Shvat and a big OneShul announcement!

PunkTorah Radio: Kosher Vegan Cookbooks and Birthday Trees

Also, subscribe on iTunes!

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Jewish Media Reviews, Podcasts & Videos, Random (Feelin' Lucky?), Shabbat & Holidays, Tu B'Shevat, Your Questions Answered Tagged With: bible, cookbook, Counterculture, food, holiday, Holidays, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, kosher, newkosher, Parsha, Punk, rebel, Religion, shevat, Torah, Tu B'Shvat, vegan, vegan cookbook, vegetarian

Parshah Bo: The Power of Awareness

January 22, 2015 by Amanda Martin

Reconciling the concept of divinity with the ruthless slaughter of infants can prove a barrier of significant challenge, and one that may even be insurmountable. We are called to do so when reading this week’s parshah, and we are also asked to do so when viewing the morning’s global news report. Innocent people, many of them children, lose their lives in horrific and senseless acts every day. The luxuries of our western lifestyles appear gratuitous when compared with the daily reality of so much of the world. How do we, as Jews, actualize the command for each of us to love our God with all our heart, soul and strength? How do we maintain the fortitude to pursue justice and be that brilliant, shining light for all people?

The death of the first born is the tenth and final plague of the Exodus story, recounted every year during the Pesach seder. The story we tell around our tables, while ostensibly about freedom from slavery, includes much suffering. Lest we fail to appreciate the trials our ancestors endured, we dip our parsley in salt water to mimic the taste of tears, and choke down horseradish for the sharp sensation of bitterness on the tongue. Perhaps it is this emphasis on suffering which prompted a friend of mine to complain of the remarkable dearth of joy and celebration in Jewish holidays.

Appreciating the incalculable suffering of others, both historically and today, is valuable and necessary if we are to co-create a more just and gentle world. Understanding the persecution of our own people over the course of centuries is relevant when evaluating the anti-Semitism that now flourishes in some parts of the globe. Yet residing permanently in such a morass can be dangerous. I believe most humans are inherently empathetic, and we hurt to some degree when we learn of the pain of others. Our hearts are not invincible and our minds are not immune from the endless toll of violence, hatred and torment our news media so deftly provides. If our Exodus story were rendered in headline format, it may include such gems as, “Thousands Afflicted with Boils, No Known Remedy,” “Locusts Devour Crops, Famine Imminent,” and “Babies Slaughtered, Pharaoh Blames Hebrew God.” The information can be overwhelming. It can easily suffocate our joy, hope, and faith in divinity.

These moments call for practical intervention, returning us to the beauty of the present moment. Lengthy treatises on the dynamics of faith and the nature of God exist in abundance in our tradition. But when we are worn down by the reality of a child torn to pieces when her small body is used as a bomb, or when we burn with both anger and helplessness reading of attacks on synagogues, we need something less densely philosophical. When we honor our people through the yearly reading of the Exodus story, and the tenth plague sticks uncomfortably in our throats, all of the lofty invectives of Rabbis extolling us not to question the divine plan won’t make those murdered children any easier to accept.

This morning, I enjoyed the privilege of awakening next to someone I love, who loves me in return. There is much divinity to be found in snuggling. I climbed a mountain, ascending to its peak as the sun rose in the sky. There is peace and incomparable beauty in the wilderness outside my door. I ate lunch – itself a miracle in a world where so many go hungry – and savored an eggplant steamed to perfection. So much simple joy exists in how we choose to feed ourselves. On Pesach, we recline on cushions because the comfort of freedom is nothing less than sublime. We sing songs and hide the afikomen because silliness and laughter surely make life sweet. To live life fully, to cultivate open-hearted happiness, we must not linger too long in the shadows. We must be able to shift our awareness from a horror that deserves to be known, to a more perfect and mundane moment. Yes, a Yeshiva student praying with Chabad was stabbed by an assailant explicit in his anti-Semitic motives. We must recognize this reality. The story must be told. Any yet, we must also be able to move our awareness to the patch of sunlight illuminating dancing dust motes, or the chatter of birds outside the window. The perfection of these moments must be recognized, as well.

If we fail to redirect our awareness, we risk our joy and happiness. If we remain mired in the indisputable ugliness of our world, we risk losing the better parts of our nature which may only be nurtured through our world’s indisputable beauty. It isn’t always easy. It may seem flippant, even irresponsible. But if we are to ever truly feel a love for God, if we are to do the difficult work of justice, we need to be responsible for the tender care of our own souls. Parshah Bo calls us to tell the story of oppression. It does not ask that we reside there.

Filed Under: Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud), Judaism & Belief, Passover, Random (Feelin' Lucky?) Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, D'var Torah, darshan yeshiva, mindfulness, online conversion, parshah bo, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier

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