Friday, January 25, 2013

Pull From Above

by Ruchi

This week I did something amazing. I went to a class.

No, I didn't teach it. And I didn't arrange it. And I didn't recruit for it. I just attended it. It was about women and prayer, and it was 5 degrees outside, and there were only 11 people there. And I'm so glad I was one of them.

There were two speakers. One, Mrs. Shoshana Klahr, was my high school teacher. I loved her then and I love her still. She metioned so many important and inspiring things - but here's one that really stuck.

On Tu B'shvat, which is this Shabbat, we celebrate the "New Year" for the trees. Now, what does THAT mean? It means that the sap begins to rise in the trees in the land of Israel (sorry, cold Clevelanders). How does the sap rise? For that matter, how does the water get pumped up to the highest leaves? Science doesn't have a good answer to this question, but there are several theories. One is that there is a "pull from above" whereby water evaporates up on top, creates a vacuum, and that vacuum "pulls" the water below. Excuse my sloppy science - I'm operating on memory only.

On Tu B'shvat, there is a "pull from Above." At the very coldest point in the year, God ordains a new year. A new start. A new beginning. Sap rises, defying gravity. New life begins, defying the deep freeze of winter. Regeneration begins, despite the desolation.

This, then, is Tu B'shvat. This is what we celebrate. May we indeed merit our national and individual Pull from Above to get us through life's cold moments - and let us remember that one day, the sap will indeed rise.