Customs of Tu B'Shvat

Tu B'Shvat or the New Year of the Trees is an agricultural-related holiday with a heavy kabbalistic symbolism. For me, it is one of the most beloved holidays because it announces that the winter will finish soon, but also for the hard work of every year for finding that new special fruit (still not found what I am looking for this year). 

There are a lot of customs associated to this holiday, some of them introduced recently or after the creation of the state:

- On this occasion, children are planting trees or money is collected for planting trees in Israel.

- It is preceded by Shabbat Shira, when it is assumed that the birds are returning from the warm lands. Seeds are left for the birds on this occasion. It is usual to prepare kasha as part of the Shabbes meal.

- According to Magen Avraham, "It is custom to eat many different kinds of fruits" on this occassion, for saying as many brachot as possible. The new fruit is for  the shekianu. The fruits should generally include shvat haminim, the seven species of the land of Israel: grapes, olives, dates, figs, wheat, barley and pomegranate. Rabbi Isaac Luria mention 15 varieties of fruits corresponding to the 15 of the month of Shvat, when this holiday is celebrated - according to Beit Hillel. The rabbis from Tsfat mention 12 fruits, corresponding to the number of possible permutations of the letters used for Gd's name. Thus, to the 7 species are added: apples, almonds, walnuts, carob and etrog. Rabbi Eleazar used to say that he rather eat less during the year for savig money for eating as many new fruits as possible on Tu B'Shvat. 

- Tachnun is omitted from the Shachrit and Mincha in this day and also from the Mincha the afternoon before. Rabbeinu Gershon says that because this holiday can be compared to Rosh Hashana, fasting is not allowed on this occasion. In Responsa Yehaveh Da'at 1:81, Rav Ovadia Yosef z''l concluded that although it is customary for the bride and groom to fast on the day before the wedding, if this day fallls on Tu B'Shvat, they do not have to fast.

- The custom developed in Tsfat and first used among the Sephardic communities is to celebrate the holiday with a seder, similar with the seder Pesach. There are some similarities, like: drinking white wine at the beginning and red at the end - parallel with the 4 cups on Pesach, or to say a version of MaNishtana (this was introduced relatively recent, by Nogah Hareuveni of Neot Kedumim in 1979).

- Some of the usual meals served on this occassion include many fruits and vegetables, such as vegetarian pilaf, salads - including fruit salad -, fruit compot, almond cakes, couscous or lamb stew with various vegetables. 

- There is customary to eat now the etrog from Sukkot, either raw or in various combinations.In this day also one can pray for a beautiful etrog for the next Sukkot. 

- According to some customs, carob is eaten on this occasion. Considered the food eaten by Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa who knew how to bring miracles. The last Lubavitcher Rebbe recommended during the Gulf War the consumption of carob by the population as a protection against the possible life threats. 

- On Tu B'Shvat the age of the trees for tithing is calculated. It also marks the beginning of the fiscal year of agriculture.

- The erev Tu B'Shvat is considered a time for learning and it is customary to spend the time in Torah study. The tree is actualy a symbol of Torah. 

What about you? Do you have some special customs for this holidays? Feel free to share!

Sparkle of chessed

I was again in one of those situations when the unexpected and inimaginable is happening, out of millilards of people in the world, exactly to me. My domesticated side was requesting me to welcome everything with a good big graceful smile. After all, gam zu le tova, isn't it? My fighter side of the brain was commanding me to do not give up and revolt. While I was caught up in this left versus right dispute, more bad things were happening to me, but hopefully the focus on the brain debate helped me - again and again - to go smoothly through this new trial.

What really happened and why is the topic of a separate discussion that I am not ready to develop yet. What matter is something completely different what happened: the sparkle of chessed from simple unknown people. That woman that brougt me hot water for preparing the food for my baby, or that guy that called another friend to help me carry the very load luggage, or that woman that started to search with me the little sock that I lost, or that religious guy that brought me a sandwich for the night. And many others. In those moment of darkness they brought the light into my life. 

The dispute right versus left is still running out on the back on my head, but now I know for sure that out of everything the chessed won. So, maybe it is gam zu le tova after all. 

Truman Capote and the Jews

When I am looking for literary inspiration for my current writing projects, I always love to return to American literature and its art of short story telling. With its attachment to reality and ordinary life stories, it always teaches me how to properly use the power of words. Out of a long list of choices, I love the art of Truman Capote or Raymond Chandler.

Last December, I had a bit of time to return to my literary secret pleasures and spent an afternoon reading Music for chameleons, by Capote, a collection of short stories and literary interviews from the daily reality. 

In the story/interview A Day's Work, from June 1979, where the author is following Mary the cleaning lady during her job hopping from a customer to another, they arrive at the Berkowitz family, portrayed in a very negative ridiculous light. They have a perroquet screaming 'Oy, oy' all the time, they are not generous and nice with the poor Mary, shortly, not the kind of employer you would work for out of love and dedication. 'Jews should be stuffed and put in a natural history museum' he concludes in the house of Berkowitz where he accompanied Mary, in their absence.

This antipathic attitude of Capote towards the Jews is not surprising and not unique. During an air interview he attacked the 'Jewish interests' in literature warning that 'Jewish mafia was taking over the American literature and New York'. Norman Podhoretz absolved him of any anti-Semitic attitude, but it does not excuse his attitude. As I was showed on other occasions, being intelligent and gifted does not make you more human. This goes especially in the case of public intellectuals. 

The mysteries around Birkat HaRofeh

Source: chazin.com

On the desk of my children physician stays a glass support with the words of the Birkat HaRofeh, the doctor's prayer. Having many doctors in the family myself, I know how important is the role of the physician in one's life. For centuries, we relied on science not on superstition, developping permanently the methods aimed to cure and save lives.

Praising Gd for creating the human body, this blessing replaced the Hippocrat Oath in some medical schools in Israel. For a successful doctor, this is an usual gift from a healthy ex-patient. When someone finishes the medical school, a piece of art with harofeh is a common gift. 

The origin of this birkat harofeh is not very clear somehow. Traditionally, it is attributed to Rambam (Maimonides). However, recent researches assumed a much more recent date, attributing the birkat to Dr. Markus Herz, a German pupil of Kant and a friend of Moses Mendelssohn. Before him, there were other authors of the physicians's prayer, such as Asaph Harofeh (in the 6th century). Rabbi Judah Halevi, Jacob Zahalon or Abraham Zacutus. However, the current version appeared in print in a German version from 1783, with the first Hebrew version available only in 1790. The English version was published only in 1841. 

Understanding the history is always important for understanding ourselves. More information about this mysterious bracha can eventually shed more light on the history of Jewish medicine as well. 

Circumcision, by Jackson Pollock or what is in a name

I am not at all a bit fan of Jackson Pollock and very often I am not in the mood for his works. Very often I found his paintings disturbing, emotionally disbalanced and not easy to grasp. 

I visited though recently an exhibition presenting his works and surprisingly I stopped in the front of a work of him that I was not familiar with, Circumcision. Finished in 1946, the painting is considered by the art critics as a moment of independence from Picasso. The painting is following different directions, without a center. Each area has its own importance, given by the strong touch of the brush. Signs that reminds of the primitive art, such as eyes or arrows are spread over the surface of the canvas. While I was usuccessfully looking around the painting over and over again trying to make a connection between the name of the painting and the content, I fell in love with the special combination of colours, the gold yellow and the sweet salmon pink spread between the big patches of blue and light white. But at the end of my visit at the exhibition, I was not advancing any inch of knowledge towards finding the traces of the circumcision.Why Pollock, who grew up in a presbyterian family chosed this title?

Intrigued, I continued my search online trying to find some special art critique interpretation. Thus, I realized how void I was, obsessively trying to connect the title with a hidden meaning. Things were in fact much easier than expected. The title 'Circumcision' was suggested to Pollock after the painting was ready by his wife, Lee Krasner. An interesting painter herself, she was born in a Jewish-Russian family that emigrated to United States. Her connection to Judaism was not very manifested but it surged again in this moment of creative inspiration. 

Meanwhile, I am still trying to understand this painting

Memories of Jewish life in Lüneburg

I was just on the way to the train station heading back to Berlin, after spending some time in a big park nearby, where a lonely youngster was chilling on his own in the grass enjoying listening to loud Nazi music. I had had an intensive day of travel across this city, that was kept unharmed by the WWII bombs. Lüneburg was after the war the headquarters of the Belsen Trial, against former officials and functionaries of the Third Reich, held by the British Military Tribunal and more recently this spring, of Oskar Groening, former guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp. But the picturesque streets and joyful retired people enjoying their coffee made you ignore these troubling historical episodes.
As usual during my trips in Germany, I was looking for traces of Jewish life but there was nothing left, except this memory engraved on this bloc of stone, tucked between heavy bushes. Often the case in Germany, these memories are everything what is left from the Jewish life.
The first traces of Jewish settlement in Lüneburg, a trade city with an important salt production a commodity as valuable as the gold and other precious materials, date back in the 13th century. After the 1350 Black Death, Jews were killed and their properties took by the locals. A couple of decades later, at the end of the 14th century, Jewish life was back in the city, the local documents mentioning the existence of a mikveh and of a synagogue. But as usual, life was not easy: during the 16th century, Jews were the victims of at least 6 expulsions. They remained there though, and from 1680 they received the "protection" status. As the people were getting wealthy, a bigger synagogue, in the North German Gothic style was built at the end of the 19th century, between 1892-1894. This large synagogue was constantly desecrated between 1927-1930. This situation pushed many Jews to exile, an exile that in fact gave them the chance to survive. On 1st of October 1936, there were only 36 Jews left. The final services of the synagogue took place in 1938, the 30th of October. Shortly after the building was destroyed. 11 Jews from Lüneburg were deported and lost their lives.
Ten years ago, local newspapers published advertising of Jewish tours taking place in the city. Learning about the past is always useful and there is a lot to learn about the risks of being resilient and stay in the wrong place against all odds. 

Brit mila in Germany

If this blog was silent for a long time, there is a motivation and it has to do with the mental and physical challenges before welcoming a new baby to the world. The baby b''H arrived, a bit later than expected, but shortly after Kol Nidre. After the happiness of becoming the new boy neshama to the world, second in line were the worries about preparing him for the challenges of being a Jew.

The first step: brit mila.When you are living in Israel or in big communities, finding a right mohel, being sure that there is a synagogue where to go, inviting people in due time etc. As brits do not have a high occurence here, due to the limited number of new Jewish children born, I considered that it is very important to find a mohel with the proper medical knowledge besides the religious background. Another challenge that needed a bit of research and a lot of phone calls (if interested to find a recommended mohel in Berlin area, do not hesitate to get in touch via the blog).

According to the halacha, the brit should be done the 8th day after birth, including on Shabbat or yom tov. The problem appears when the kid had a small infection and you need to overstay in hospital and thus, to miss the deadline. Normally, the brit can be done any time after and if it was delayed once, it does not matter when it is done. However, the sooner the better, so the search continued with high intensity after being out of hospital with the baby. 

As we tried to follow both the tradition and the medical requirements, asking doctors if the child is good enough to go through the brit was normal. Less normal was to agreee with the message read on the faces of the non-Jewish doctors when explained that we are questioning the medical condition of our son because we want to make the brit: from pity to disgust. This explains the support of some German medical representatives after the 2012 court decision Cologne according to which brit was considered "a serious and irreversible interference in the integrity of the human body", not justified by the freedom of religion and the rights of parents. One prestigious chief doctor in a very respectable hospital in Berlin outlined during a short discussion that the opinions against the brit are not necessarily a German trademark. Of course, as history showed it already on several occasions, forbiding the brit is a trademark of anti-Semitism across centuries. 

The less expected answer come from a hospital that we initially considered as a possible support during our search where we were told that the brit is done there only till the 18th day and that only after 3 years. The more we asked the more we realized how pitiful we are for being away from the place when you do not have to explain why your kid does not have yet a name and why it is so important to have the brit done. A place where being Jewish is enough.