New Year Today For Trees: Tu bi-Shevat

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                

As I sit here reading and remembering Tu-bi-Shevat in Israel when we planted trees, and I'm watching snow blowing down past my 3rd floor apartment window on the coldest day Portland, Oregon has had with temperatures in the 20s.  

     Edible fruits from a hot country, Sao Paulo, Brazil, at their stall  São Paulo, Brazil has a large Jewish community, with many synagogues, schools, and other organizations. Almost half the Jewish population of Brazil lives here.  

In Israel at this time it was nice and warm, however.  Right now in Tel Aviv it's about 61 degrees, Safed is much cooler in the 50's.                                             

This is the date marking a dividing line for fruit tithing:  all fruits becoming ready for tithing after this date require a separate tithing. In Judaism, tithing is the practice of donating one-tenth of one's income to support the community and those in need. The word "tithe" means "a tenth part". The first tithe is the gift of one tenth of the remaining agricultural produce to the Levite after removing from the produce for gift of terumah to the priests). Historically, during the First Temple period, the first tithe was given to the Levites.  Levites were the tribe of Levi, not given a certain parcel of land like the 11 other tribes, but they were to live with others for a time and educate them in our religion and history.  

This started with Abraham when a 10th of all to Melchizedek (Gen.14:18-20 who was king of Salem.  when Abraham returned from his pursuit of 5 Mesopotamian kings, this king blessed him in the name of "God the Most High".  Scholars identify Salem with Jerusalem.  

 It is popularly celebrated by the eating of various fruits, especially those connected with Israel.  Jewish mystics developed a fruit ritual still widely observed among Sephardi communities.                                                         

 We in Safed/Tzfat held a fruit seder and that not only educational, but a great social experience. The Seven Species are eaten on holidays like Rosh Hashanah and Tu BiShvat. The Seven Species are seven fruits and grains that are considered special products of the Land of Israel in the Hebrew Bible. These fruits are: Wheat: (chitah);  Barley: (se'orah);  Grapes: (gefen);  Figs: (te'enah);  Pomegranates; ;   Olives: (oil)Dates:  and (date honey)

The first fruits of the Seven Species were considered holy and were brought as offerings in the Temple. 

 The animal soul constitutes that part of ourselves that is common to all living creatures: the instinct for self-preservation and self-perpetuation. 

But man is more than a sophisticated animal. There are qualities that are unique to us as human beings—the qualities deriving from our G‑dly soul. The point at which we graduate beyond the self and its needs (How do I survive? How do I obtain food, shelter, money, power, knowledge, satisfaction?) to a supra-self perspective (Why am I here? What purpose do I serve?) is the point at which we cease to be just another animal in G‑d's world and begin to realize our uniqueness as human beings.   Oh yes, we were told to take care of the world.                                                   

                                                                       

     There is a forest of fir trees near Safed where we buried our German Shepherd.  At some other time, we helped to plant one of these trees, too.  

 In modern Israel, the day is celebrated as an "Arbor Day" with tree planting by school children as well as adults.  I know I did as a new Olim.  

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2776/jewish/The-Seven-Species-and-Seven-Attributes.htm#:~:text=Based%20on%20the%20teachings%20of,and%20modes%20of%20human%20life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithes_in_Judaism#:~:text=The%20poor%20man's%20tithe%2C%20also,supported%20in%20the%20seventh%20year.

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2776/jewish/The-Seven-Species-and-Seven-Attributes.htm#:~:text=Based%20on%20the%20teachings%20of,and%20modes%20of%20human%20life.

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Israel and Its Desert lands, Sinai and Negev: Part I

 Nadene Goldfoot                                           

The total area of the State of Israel is 22,145 sq.km (8,630 sq. miles), of which 21,671 sq. km is land area.  Beersheba is in the Negev Desert which comes up between Gaza City   on the coast.  Israel's land looks to me like a side view of a head, a long neck, and a large tummy of a man coming out of the genie bottle.  The largest section of land is all desert.  

                   Ein Avdat in the Zin Valley in the Negev

The Negev contains the oldest discovered surface on Earth, with an approximate age of 1.8 million years. It covers more than half of Israel, over some 13,000 km² (4,700 sq mi) or at least 55% of the country's land area. It forms an inverted triangle shape whose western side is contiguous with the desert of the Sinai Peninsula, and whose eastern border is the Arabah valley. The Negev has a number of interesting cultural and geological features. Among the latter are three enormous, craterlike makhteshim (box canyons), which are unique to the region: Makhtesh Ramon, HaMakhtesh HaGadol, and HaMakhtesh HaKatan.

The Negev covers 5,138 sq miles of dry land, which is 55% to 60% of Israel. Thee annual rainfall is less than 200 mm per year.    

This shows how the brown Sinai Desert is touching the Negev Desert.

             

   Usually regarded as being geographically part of Asia, the Sinai Peninsula is the northeastern extremity of Egypt and adjoins Israel and the Gaza Strip on the east. The Sinai is administratively divided into two muḥāfaẓahs (governorates): Shamāl Sīnāʾ in the north and Janūb Sīnāʾ in the south.                  

The basic parts of Israel are: Negev Desert, Eilat-a  resort, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Dead Sea, Haifa, Galilee and Golan Heights areas. 

                                               

Beersheba is the main city in the Negev.  It's history includes or 3 patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Jews settled here after their return from Babylon in 538 BCE.  When the 2nd Temple of Solomon was destroyed in 70 CE, it became a fortified frontier post against the Nabateans, and a Roman garrison was stationed there.  Then it was pretty much deserted area.

The Turks rebuilt Beersheba in 1900 when they saw Jews living here until 1929, the time of attack against Jews.

                                        Bedouin woman

By 1948, the birth of Israel, the population was Arab numbering 5,700 and they abandoned the city.  It became the chief Jewish city of the Negev.  It's on the national railway route of 1956 and the Mediterranean -Elath-oil pipeline and is the site of Ben-Gurion University.  

Average temperatures in Negev Desert vary greatly. Considering humidity, temperatures feel nice most of the year, excluding some hot weeks in the summer, with a very low chance of precipitation throughout the year. The area is somewhat temperate — in the 58th percentile for pleasant weather — compared to tourist destinations worldwide. If you’re looking for the very warmest time to visit Negev Desert, the hottest months are August, July, and then September.  The warmest time of year is generally early August where highs are regularly around 96.7°F (35.9°C) with temperatures rarely dropping below 73.7°F (23.2°C) at night.

                                         

      Bedouin protest against tree planting in Negev Desert

Over 2,000 Bedouin staged a violent protest near Beersheba against tree planting in the Negev by the Jewish National Fund. Protesters threw rocks at police, who managed to push them back off of the highway that they were blocking. Protesters claimed that the police infringed on their right to protest. Bedouins evidently don't want any trees marring up the desert.  The traditional nomadic Bedouin is almost an endangered species as contemporary commerce and accepted caring for the land is rolling into the  expanding desert.  

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negev