Tu B'Shvat Seder

ECOLOGY

People and Land:

"The land must not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is Mine; you are but sojourners resident with me" (Leviticus 25:23).

Two people were once fighting over a piece of land.
Each claimed ownership,
and each bolstered the claim with apparent proof.
After arguing for a long time,
they agreed to resolve their conflict by putting the case before a rabbi.
The rabbi sat as an arbitrator and listened carefully,
but despite years of legal training
the rabbi could not reach a decision.
Both parties seemed to be right.
Finally the rabbi said,
"Since I cannot decide to whom this land belongs, let's ask the land."
The rabbi put an ear to the ground, and after a moment stood up.
"My friends, the land says it belongs to neither of you but that you belong to it."
(Source unknown, cited by Rabbi David E. Stein in A Garden of Choice Fruits, Shomrei Adamah, 1991).

* * *

"No shrub of the field was yet on earth and no grasses of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there were no humans to till the soil" (Genesis 2:5).

A midrash:
The earth, the rain, and human beings are all equal in importance. Each word has three letters in Hebrew : earth (eretz), rain (matar), humans (adam).
Without the earth, there is no rain;
without the rain, the earth cannot endure;
and without both the earth and the rain, humans cannot live.
(Midrash Genesis Rabba 13, 3).

* * *

"The Lord God formed a man (adam) from the dust of the earth (adamah),
and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7).

* * *

In order to serve God, one needs access to the enjoyment of the beauties of nature - meadows full of flowers, majestic mountains, flowing rivers. For all these are essential to the spiritual development of even the holiest of people. (Rabbi Abraham ben Maimonides, cited by Rabbi David E. Stein in A Garden of Choice Fruits, Shomrei Adamah, 1991).

These readings for Tu B'Shvat Seder were compiled and contributed by Neot Kedumim - The Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel (POB 1007, Lod 71100, Israel. Tel. 08-923-3840, Fax 972-8-924-5881). Copyright 1996. Midrashim (rabbinic homilies) are paraphrased from the sources.