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take the light of God and Torah and, transforming them deep within Another reason why Moses may have been commanded to speak
us, yield the fruit of inspiration and understanding. to the women first was in order to rectify the mistake that had been
made in the Garden of Eden. When God commanded Adam not to
The Hebrew word for date (tamar) has the numerical value of 640,
the same numerical value of the Hebrew word for sun (shemesh)!! eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, He depended
When we receive the light of God and Torah and are devoid of ego on Adam to inform Eve. Adam, taking his responsibility seriously,
and ulterior motives, we become transparent vessels that convert added a further precautionary measure, telling Eve that God had also
the light into the very blood that flows in our veins. Like a date commanded them not to touch the tree on pain of death. The snake
tree, which is a pure conduit for transforming the sun’s energy into managed to convince Eve that God had not issued any command
unadulterated sweetness, when we are pure we too can transform the related to the tree by pushing her against it. When she did not die,
light of God and Torah into inspiration and understanding. the snake assured her that she would not die from eating the fruit
either. Although Adam added this restriction to prevent Eve from
Another subtle connection between this portion and Tu B’Shvat coming anywhere near temptation, his plan completely backfired.
relates to the underlying spiritual essence of the holiday itself. Since from a Kabbalistic perspective much of what happens in this
According to tradition, the sap begins to once again ascend in the world is an attempt to rectify prior errors, we can conjecture that
trees on Tu B’Shvat. This sap is the life force that culminates in God’s command to Moses to speak to the women first was part of an
the spring and summer with buds, leaves, and fruit. Therefore, attempt to rectify that original mistake. (See “Noah’s Tragic Flaws”
on a symbolic level, Tu B’Shvat represents the time when new for his failed attempt at rectifying Adam and Eve’s sin.)
redemptive energy begins to well up from beneath the surface. This
understanding of the holiday, incidentally, provides an answer to Explaining that this instruction was intended to rectify a mistake
the perennial question of why we read the story of the ten plagues made in the Garden of Eden fits in well with the tradition that
and the exodus from Egypt in the winter and not in the spring at God’s giving the Torah to humanity was part of His plan to return
Pesach time: Tu B’Shvat actually symbolizes the flow of redemptive humanity to the lost utopia of the Garden of Eden. Indeed, the
energies instrumental in the Pesach story. Torah is compared to the Tree of Life – “It [the Torah] is a tree
of life for those who grasp it” (Proverbs 3:18) – which grew in the
This welling up of redemptive energy is reflected in the consecutive Garden of Eden. Furthermore, various Midrashim recount how the
cycle of three holidays that fall on the full moons’ of Shevat, Adar, people were returned to a utopian state reminiscent of the Garden
and Nisan. These holidays – Tu B’Shvat, Shushan Purim (the of Eden, and healed of all ailments and diseases before receiving the
additional day of Purim celebrated in walled cities), and the first day Torah (Midrash Tanchuma, Yitro 12). Furthermore, according to
of Pesach – symbolize both the transition of winter into spring and the Talmud, the original impurity of the primordial snake, which
the welling up of the forces of redemption. The Jewish people’s exodus had pervaded human consciousness since the primordial sin, was
from Egypt and transition from slavery to freedom is analogous to removed at that time as well (Shabbat 146a). Had the children of
nature’s transition from hibernation and inaction to rebirth and Israel not worshipped the Golden Calf, death would have been
rejuvenation. The sap rising in the trees on Tu B’Shvat represents swallowed up forever and they would have marched straight into
the beginning of the redemptive process that climaxed in the Jews’ the Land of Israel where Moses would have been anointed Mashiach
personal and national redemption from the narrow confines of Egypt and the Land would have been transformed into an earthly Garden
on Pesach. Therefore, from a deeper perspective, it is no surprise that of Eden. Although this plan never came to fruition because of the sin
this portion is always read around Tu B’Shvat, for in this portion of the Golden Calf, by speaking to the women first, Moses partially
Israel is redeemed from slavery and leaves Egypt. rectified the archetypal sin of the Garden of Eden.

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