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TORAT MIZRACHI MIZRACHI SCHOLARS³IN³RESIDENCE

Sivan R ahav Meir and Y edidya Meir
Sivan Rahav Meir and Yedidya Meir

Four Fruitful oughts

An Israeli teacher once told us that in persistence, hard work, investment and of communication with Him is through
her opinion there are four words that dedication. brachot.”
1characterize this period in history: Rabbi Jonathan Sacks was once asked
me, here, now, everything. Therefore, what Judaism has to say about mind-
Tu BiShvat carries added significance, In previous generations, people fulness. He answered that if we say a
as its messages strike a strong contrast would be overjoyed to receive an
to these four words. 2orange from Eretz Yisrael. Today, bracha slowly, aloud and with concen-
we enjoy an abundance of fruits and tration, we experience a moment of
We don’t celebrate the Holiday of the vegetables in the renewed country attention, of focus, of mindfulness.
Trees in the spring but in the winter. of Israel. Specifically, in a generation
Not at a time when everything is already returning to its Land, we can attribute Stop for a moment and think how won-
flowering and ripe, but at a time when even greater significance to this day, derful this sentence is: “Blessed are You,
we can’t see results yet. We don’t receive to the privilege of eating fruits in Eretz Hashem, our G-d, King of the Universe,
everything here and now, at the click Yisrael. who creates the fruit of the tree.”
of a mouse. Tu BiShvat is also the anniversary
The kabbalists tell us that this day has of the death of Chaim Guri, one of
We wait.
the capability to rectify the sin of Adam 3the poets of the 1948 generation,
Right now we need to just plant, water, HaRishon, who sinned with the fruit of a member of the Palmach. Outwardly,
invest, believe, pray and hope. the tree. How do we do this? By making he represented secular Zionism. But in
This flow of nature reminds us that brachot with kavanah. many interviews in his later years, he
there are slow, gradual and hidden As it says in the Sefer HaToda’a: “When spoke of his fear that the revolution had
processes in life. Things develop under- Jews eat from the fruits of the Land and been too great. He regretted the detach-
neath the surface, so we don’t see every- enjoy their goodness, they say a bracha ment from our spiritual treasures:
thing immediately. Hence we need to before and after eating them to He Who “HaKadosh Baruch Hu raises Moshe
continue to cultivate and be patient. bestowed upon them this cherished Rabbeinu, the first prophet, the leader
This is of course true not only in grow- Land.” of the nation, to Har Nevo on the oppo-
ing plants but in educating children, site side of the Jordan and tells him:
in relationships, in studies and in any The Ben Ish Chai writes that “through ‘You may view the land from a distance
significant field. [saying] a bracha, one causes abun-
dance to descend from Above.” (miNeged), but you shall not enter it’
In a generation that cannot even wait to (Devarim 32:52). The poet Rachel
see the two blue checks on WhatsApp, And Rav Shimshon Pinkus says: “We uses this story in writing
Tu BiShvat reminds us once a year of the want to live with HaKadosh her poem ‘MiNeged.’
most important applications: patience, Baruch Hu, and the means She is a lonely and

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