We all go through difficult times. Whether it’s not getting a desired
job, dealing with a difficult coworker, struggling to get along with a
boss, hurting financially, coping with health problems, or nursing a
damaged relationship, we all have to face adversity and trials in our
lives. Sometimes the struggles we go through are the result of choices we made, and sometimes they are the result of consequences that were
completely beyond our control. Regardless of the cause, no trial we
experience or pain we suffer should be wasted. Trials can educate us;
they can build our character and help us develop patience, humility, and
strength if we choose to let them.
Rabbi Ephraim Nisenbaum, in his book, “Power Lines: Insights and
Reflections on the Jewish Holidays,” takes the comparison of people to
trees and ties it back to a powerful insight for Tu Bishvat. “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 Bishvat! 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.”
This is the message of Tu Bishvat: there is a cycle of decay, renewal,
birth, and growth that we human beings share with nature, specifically
trees, over the course of our lifetimes.
