The snow still covers the trees (at least where I live). Israel is about halfway through its rainy season, and the trees there are barely beginning to blossom. And yet, strangely enough, this week we will celebrate Tu B’Shevat, the New Year of the trees. We will eat fruits, particularly fruits with which Israel has been blessed, none of which are yet in season.

Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to celebrate this holiday when the trees are heavy with ripe fruit?

The Torah teaches that “man is [like] the tree of the field” (Deut. 20:19). To grow a tiny seed into a flourishing tree takes patience and effort. In life, too, we who often toil hard and long may despair of ever seeing the fruits of our labors.

On Tu B’Shevat, when the trees have barely begun to bud, we take a ripe fruit, make a blessing and then eat it. In the process, we remind ourselves that the sweetest fruits are all contained within the smallest seeds.

As difficult as it may sometimes be to envision, the seeds of our efforts will yet blossom into sweet, ripe fruit.

Rabbi Yehuda Shurpin,
Responder for Ask the Rabbi @ Chabad.org