Tu BeShevat
Celestial Tax Day
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Who
could imagine a band of mystics choosing April 30 - Income Tax Day - to make a
festival for celebrating the rebirth of God? Yet that is what the kabbalists of Tzfat did in the
sixteenth century when they recreated Tu B'Shvat. Tu B'Shvat, the full moon of midwinter, had been important
only in Holy Temple days, in the calendar of tithing. It was the end of the "fiscal year" for
trees. Fruit that appeared before
that date was taxed for the previous year; fruit that appeared later, for the
following year. The Talmud called
this legal date the "New Year for Trees."
But
the kabbalists saw it as the New Year for the Tree of Life itself - for God's
Own Self, for the Tree Whose roots are in Heaven and Whose fruit is the world
itself and all God's creatures.
Why did they connect this abundance with the date of tithing fruit? Because they saw that God's shefa, abundance, would keep flowing only if a portion of
it were returned to God, the Owner of all land and all abundance. And who were God's rent
collectors? The poor and the
landless, including those priestly celebrants and teachers who owned no piece
of earth and whose earthly task was to teach and celebrate.
These
mystics saw a deep significance in giving. They said that to eat without blessing the Tree was robbery;
to eat without feeding others was robbery. Worse! - because without blessing and sharing, the flow of
abundance would choke and stop.
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