Tu B'Shvat Primer (Preparation) with Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston and Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

[Music] i want to wish everyone a extremely uplifting and inspirational tuba spot what we're about to do is to give you some insights myself right now and after i finish rabbi breitowitz we'll speak for about 15 minutes about insights tremendous insights into tuberculos and hopefully this will be act as a preparation for your own seder now i want to mention that this torah this preparation that we're presenting to you is dedicated by merrily and jonathan bloom for the illuminati of ruth avram that she should have an elitist in the shama this is the yard site and all of a sudden just keeps going up and up last year we actually had an in person to the schwa seder and i will actually put in links below go down below into the youtube description box and there will be links to previous seders conducted by gibanet okay so you'll be able to go through them what i'd like to do is just share some insights as i mentioned you'd hey we don't use the term you'd have we used okay that is nine and six is but really it's it's the 15th the 15th of schwart of the month of spot interestingly enough i want to give you some background to what i'm about to tell you talk about number one there is a disagreement in the gemara in the talmud in the oral torah when the world was actually created okay now in chapter one of genesis it does refer to the seven days and who created it the attribute of elokim so we see that the name elohim is judgment is strict justice however chapter 2 is kind of going over from the beginning what actually happened in chapter one in a different format but it's using the name the attribute of hashem yudkeva elokim in other words hashem elokim and we have a famous expression in rashi rashi tells us that hashem wanted to originally when he thought of creation he actually wanted to create the world with strict justice but he himself realized this is not a good idea it will not last therefore when i do create it i will create it with both both attributes of utk vk which is mercy and of the attributes of strict judgment okay now so what do we review so far there's such an argument when was the world actually created was it in tishrei or was it in nissan okay ruby eliezer says it was in tishrei strict judgment rev yeshua says it was in nissan mercy but we already know the truth is it was created with both so how can there be such an argument so tostos explains that the argument is just based on one particular point and that is where we're going to go into a little bit deeper one says that it was conceived in thought alone on one of those two days one of those two options but it was actually created in actuality on the other option and vice versa so let me just explain so rev the ezra would hold that it was actually created in tishrei but it was only thought about perhaps in nissan where ezra yeshua said no the opposite that it was thought about on rosh hashanah and actually created la masa in actuality in nissan now when do we actually make a bracha right every 28 years there's a special blessing that we make on the sun and the moon when the the morose when the heavenly bodies were created on the fourth day they're in the exact same position every 28 years and we make a special bracha at the very morning on the fourth day of this creation that happens meaning the um the structure of the universe falls into place every 28 years and the the truth is we say to nissan so ptosis actually says that is actually the truth because we could figure out it's very easy go back through the calendar work out every year every day we know exactly when the leap years were when the elite months everything could be worked out to the day of when the world was created it was definitely created in nissan which means that god actually had in mind thought din in tishrei now just think about the names right we always go from the right we always go up to the right we do things with the right first because the right has to do with mercy the left has to do with then in judgment and the even the hebrew alphabet in those names what is the name tishrei which is backwards meaning it starts at the hebrew alphabet in reverse order meaning starts with tough then shin and then resh which symbolizes din and not only does it symbolize then even the even the constellation for that month is the mosain which are the scales and that symbolizes judgment and the whole month is full of judgment from rosh hashanah yom kippur the the seven days of sukkot where we bring qarabanot for the world for atonement for the world and hoshanah which is the last day of the actual holiday of circus itself is the final judgment for the non-jews and the following day shemini teres is the final uh atonement for the jews okay what about the other side in terms of the month of nisan nunsamich already it's going from 50 to 60. it's going up in order it's going order of the alphabet and even aviv which is means springtime the torah calls it the the kufa the month of aviv which is aleph bet going from right to left okay so we have this concept already now when was the world actually created anyway it's a little bit of a trick question because the world is actually created six days let's just say five days before adam right adam was created on the sixth day of creation so it means five days before is when the world itself was created so either way you look at it if you're gonna look at the the birth of the world the 25th of ello which is five days before the first of tishrei or the 25th of adar which is five days before the first of nisan fine there's another famous expression in our oral torah and that is that before and and the shama before saul comes into the world hashem cree announces that this soul will marry that soul already from before the conception which is an amazing concept before conception hashem already has made it has already decided who will marry who unbelievable so what is 40 days before these two dates that i mentioned 40 days before the first or let's say the 25th of ello it's real simple to figure out but it's the 15th of of happens to be the 15th of is a great day for shidduchim we'll get to that in a second what about 40 days before the 5th of the 25th of adar guess what it's it's the holiday so actually both of those days both to beshvat and ultimately is about shidduchim as i mentioned what okay i didn't mention it yet i'm going to mention it now a roman asked rebecca i get it your god created the world right created in six days but what's he doing since then says he rested on the shabbos what did he do come sunday morning or saturday night so really says the whole what god is doing with his time he's making shidduchim he's making pairs he's making what does that mean that's what he's involved with that's really hard for us it's impossible but for hashem everything that happens to us whether you get a promotion and you move to a new city and you meet new people or god forbid you get fired you know whatever and you meet new people and you go to a new city whatever happens in this world ultimately is for the sake of shidduchim you stub your toe you go to the hospital you or you go to the store and buy band-aids whatever it is everything every single thing that happens to us is ultimately to bring about the fruits right shidduchim is for marriage the point of marriage is what not only to have pleasure and to be a giver but also to procreate to have to give off fruits okay keep this all in mind so as i mentioned the word to tough uh is what is fifteen hashem created the world with the yud and the hey yuden hey is god's name that he used to create the world okay and the yud is masculine meaning it represents the masculine aspect and the hate represents the feminine aspect so ultimately he created the world both with both male and female aspects in order to unify our goal here in this world is to unify hashem's name so ultimately it's our goal to figure out how we can best get along with our partner and have sean bias of course right and work on our character all the things that we're here to do right to do mitzvahs right so i want to go back into the this idea okay so ultimately tu b'shvat is related to the a demarcation for when we separate our tithes of the trees so the fruits that have grown from a certain period of time and we're going to base it on the blossoming the blossoming is like the early part of the fruit right as soon as the blossoms come you know that there's going to be fruit so it's the blossom things that are going to determine because we don't mix one year of tithe to the next year of type okay so it's there's a halal practical reason for tuberculot but there's a very metaphysical thing going on as well what's really happening on even a physical level that the sap that let's start with the rains the rains have come down we're now towards the later part of the winter right most of the winter rains have come so the sap that is now being drawn up or beginning to be drawn up i don't know if you want to call sap it's like the blood of the tree the life let's call it the life force of the tree is only beginning to start to draw up the energy and the end product will be fruits but that's what's happening on tu bishvat okay now tuba of there's also relationship to trees but the difference between tu bishvat which you were talking about the life force coming in just beginning as if we're talking about uh makshava and then to ba'a'av which is towards the end of the summer when the wood there's a demarcation mark the wood that has been laying out all summer the the assumption is that the worms and the little creepy crawler nonsense bugs have died and because of the heat of the summer and therefore that wood can be brought into the bait of mikdash into the temple to be burnt you don't want to bring wood that's full of worms or creepy crawler things and put it onto the the altar of god okay so this is called dead trees so whatever is dead it sounds like it's the very opposite of what we're talking about in tuberculosis when it is the potential of life and that's going to be the mercy side whereas tu b'shevat which is right before nisan sorry ab which is going to be the 40 days release 45 days before the yom hadin so you talk about dead trees but again there's a demarcation specifically for when those um those insects or or whatever these creeper crawler things are finished with um so the truth is that human beings are like trees we are like the tree of the field a man is like the tree of the field in what way we're actually the opposite right the tree of the field you see the roots you're going down into the earth and the fruit is coming out from the top on our side on human being side the truth is that we are really upside down that our roots hopefully and this is what we're going to pray for that our roots really should be and we're going to draw our nourishment from the heavens we're upside down as many of the hasidic stories and the stories in the talmud and so forth in the zohar that man is really hopefully rooted above that's where his roots are and we this world is about producing fruits so what i want to say is that what is our job in this world what what can we take advantage of comes to beshema this is the time of conception in the mind that what you think of the brain is very powerful the spirit is extremely powerful and this is the day that we also want to become like hashem right hashem that's why he gave us the mitzvahs that's where he actually commanded us that we should be like him this is the day where we can conceive in the word usually is translated as power but it also means potential this is the day where we can open up and tap into all the potential this coming year and this is a very important time to pray to meditate and to really get our own house in order but it starts here so have a clear mind set aside a place set aside a time and think of all your desires all your dreams and i'm talking about the ones that are rooted in heaven where you can figure out a way to draw that energy from on this particular day and pray and pray well and pray hard and pray often just this is a special day and now that you're going to also eat the fruits just imagine what you're doing you're actually eating the fruits that were produced right from the energy that came previous year so you're getting a taste because the fruits represent the world to come in meaning the the product of your of your actions right you're getting a taste of the world to come so you're getting an idea of what you should want right you may not be aware of it but when you eat the fruits you really think about wow this is what i was created for pleasure right pleasure of what to get it straight to be rooted in heaven and to draw the sap to be the beginnings all beginnings are tough it's true but all beginnings that's where you want to do your your best prayers and your best motivation to get on the right track and stay on the right track but it all starts if you're not on the right track to start with you're not going to end up in the destination you want to be so bizroth hashem you'll have clarity right you're going to eat these fruits you're going to drink the four cups of wine or grape juice whatever you do right and you're going to start to draw up the sap we start with white wine or white grape juice and move on to the full to the full to the full red because we're starting with ethereal we're starting with call colorless but it's it's just the beginning of the sap until you get to real real hazak strong life so bizrat hashem you'll stick around you'll hear rabbi bridowitz and i wish you all shauna tovah happy new years for the trees we are the tree of the field we know that this wednesday night and thursday will be what you might call a relatively small holiday in the jewish calendar but one that is actually quite beautiful and has many many depths of great meaning and that is the fifteenth day of shabbat the fifteenth day of the month of schwartz two two simply means test love two bishops uh is mentioned in the gemara as rosh hashanah ilanats it is called the new year for trees at least according to base hillel bashamai says the new year is the rosh basil says the 15th of shivat but in the context of the gemara this is really a very very technical rule and that's a rule about tithing and the rule of tithing when you have to give true moats and mouse wrote you have to give various tithings for the produce of eric israel so the halaqa is every year must have its own tithing i cannot give tithes from the produce of one year on that of another year so consequently you have to know when does a new year start for purposes of combining produce so for most purposes the new year starts on rosh hashanah so i cannot give tithes for the produce after rosh hashanah with the produce before rosh hashanah or vice versa but for trees the talmud says the demarcation point is not rosh hashanah but the fifteenth of shevat because with respect to fruits we have a different tithing date for reasons i'll get to a little later so technically there is no mention of it being a holiday there is no mention of it having deep spiritual significance it is simply the technical demarcation points between the fruits of one year and the fruits of the other year for purposes of true moats in moscow nevertheless in the course of time particularly through the influence of the great cabalists of spots in the time of ramosa carjavero and then the irizal and the talmidum of the arizona tubercult became invested with a great great deep spiritual significance they pointed out that although we call it rosh hashanah the illa nuts the rosh hashanah for trees it has a relevance to human beings because in the mush a human being himself is called a tree kihadam ates hasadeh in fact we are considered to be upside down trees an earthly tree has its roots in earth and it reaches up to the heavens we are the opposite we are rooted in the heaven and we extend into the earth therefore we are retreated therefore when tu b'shvat is a rosh hashana lil nuts there is a dimension of tu bashvat that applies to us as well and the hidushi harim the first gara rebbie explains this in a very powerful way the talmud you shall me writes that any fruits that blossom on the tree after tubashvat is a product of the reigns of the new year meaning the rain of this new year produced the sap that caused the fruit to blossom if on the other hand a fruit blossomed or budded before tuber the primary rain that generated the sap was of last year the fiduciary room says metaphorically the word geshem which means reign refers to all of the spiritual brachot that god puts into the world the barakah of health serenity the ability to understand torah shalom by its love and compassion that exists between people these are also these are the reigns of blessing that god brings into the world so the halluciarium says although it is on rosh hashanah that god this god decides what blessings we're going to get we don't draw on those blessings till after tuber meaning from rosh hashanah to tu bishvat we are living off last year's reign after two bishop we are living off the rain so to speak that god decreed for us on rosh hashanah therefore the hiddurim says one should be able if you're since if you're spiritually sensitive enough to feel a difference in your life between pre-tu bishvat and after two bishop now it may not be better sometimes on rosh hashanah perhaps god forbid something more negative was decreed for me but it will be different which means yes it was on rosh hashanah kippur that god decided we're going to get in the air but from tu b'shvat those gates are open we can access spiritual treasures that we otherwise could not get and therefore it is a time of renewal of new opportunities just as the winter is gradually fading as we approach the rejuvenation of the spring so too in our own human existence our own spiritual existence there are new gishma bracha reigns of blessing that are available and thus by parallel to pesach that has a seder the mukubalam created a tubishvat seder of eating various fruits and even drinking four cups of wine to suggest that this too is a time of liberation and opportunity in a more prosaic way though it is a time to feel gratitude for all of the blessings that god put into the world particularly the blessings of the fruits and the grains that god blessed the land of israel and therefore one should eat those perhaps and one should understand that when you eat the fruit and you make a bracha and you have gratitude to god you are releasing the spiritual energy in the fruit and by releasing that spiritual energy you are bringing a bracha down to the world there's a very famous explanation i think it's from the arizona but if not it's from a cabalist that the well-known statement in the gomorrah anyone who eats without a bracha is as if they are stealing so most understand that to mean that everything belongs to god and god gives you permission only with the bracha so if i eat without a bracha i'm stealing from god because it's god's property until i make the bracha the talmud itself explains it that way because one verse says hashem shamayim lachem viara god owns the heavens but he gave us the earth another passage says la shema or somaloa god owns the earth and the answer is it's god's property after bracha i have permission to use it so the simple meaning of gizella is you are stealing from god but the makubulum say you are also stealing from the rest of the world because through your bracha you could have unleashed spiritual blessing into the world that would benefit the whole world when you don't make a bracha you are stealing from people the blessing that could have come in so although i would not call to beshvat the jewish version of arbor day or earth day but it does have some connection to that idea and that is we glorif we glory in the beauties of nature and that generates within us feelings of gratitude and joy for the very beauty that hashem put into the world the diversity of taste and smell and color and these are things to think about gratitude is always a wonderful quality to cultivate and tu bishwat gives us an occasion to express that gratitude in the context of understanding that unlike perhaps other religious traditions judaism does not disparage the physical judaism does not reject the pleasures of this world but judaism teaches that you can take the pleasures of those worlds and sanctify them elevate them dedicate them and then the very beauty that exists in the physical realm now becomes connected to an inner spiritual radiance that brings bracha to you and brings bracha to really the entire world in one way or the other so i know it's a little early we're a few days early but i want to wish everyone a happy tu bishvat and may all of us merits to tap into the new potentials the sap so to speak that comes from the new brachate that become available precisely at tuberclat and may us always when we always appreciate the beauties of nature and use them as a stepping stone to appreciate the kindness and the benevolence of our of our creator [Music] oh