This Sunday we had Rabbi Pesach Efune join us, to share on Tu b’Shvat, the Jewish ‘New Year of the Trees’ holiday.
We started the morning with a light ‘fruit breakfast’ in the cafe, with a selection of culturally significant fruits including dates, figs and pomegranates, which are traditionally eaten during Tu b’Shvat.
Occurring on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat, the day is celebrated as an ecological awareness day, and trees are planted in celebration. The Tu b’Shvat is the start of a season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.
It was amazing to hear how Israel is the only country in the world that has more trees now than it did 70 years ago! A real encouragement for us all to keep planting and bearing good fruit.
Psalm 1
1 Oh, the joys of those who do not
follow the advice of the wicked,
or stand around with sinners,
or join in with mockers.
2 But they delight in the law of the Lord,
meditating on it day and night.
3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither,
And they prosper in all they do.
