Our Hidden Roots
Tonight we celebrate “Tu B’shvat”, the date on the Jewish calendar known as “The Birthday for Trees”
The Torah tells us: “For man is a tree of the field” (Deuteronomy 20:19). This verse teaches us that our lives are analogous to that of a tree. Let us focus on one aspect of the metaphor:
A tree's primary components are: 1) Its roots that anchor it to the ground and supply it with water and other nutrients; 2) Its trunk, branches and leaves which comprise its body; 3) Its fruit, which contains the seeds by which the tree reproduces itself.
Of the three, the roots are a tree’s least glamorous but the most crucial. Buried underground, virtually invisible, they possess neither the majesty of the tree's body, the colorfulness of its leaves nor the tastiness of its fruit. Yet without firmly grounded roots, the tree cannot survive.
Let us now look at the botanical analogue – the human being. We too, have the same three components or stages in our lives: 1) Our roots, the formative years during which we strive to develop a healthy foundation, amassing the nutrients - skills - that will take us through life; 2) Our body, the ‘adult life’ during which we build our own careers and attain personal fulfillment and achievement; 3) Our fruits, our ultimate ability to procreate both physically and spiritually - to influence, to affect change upon our surroundings, and to plant new ideas within other minds and hearts.
As in our botanical counterpart, our roots - while not always visible throughout our lives - are the most crucial and essential to our well-being.
How so? What anchors do the first years of our life provide?
Interestingly, studies that analyze the long-term effects of an early childhood education show little academic long-term effects. (After all, whether you started learning your ABC’s or numbers at age 3 versus age 5 will probably not have a dramatic effect upon your ability to read Chaucer or compute quadratic equations in high school.)
The roots we refer to, then, lie much deeper than mere academic information. They are values, morals, and a sense of right and wrong. How many times do we fall back upon, or find strength, solace and comfort within words told to us decades ago by a loving parent or wise teacher? Interestingly, the same studies that show little long-term academic results of an early childhood education indicate that the rate of violence and teen-pregnancy were greatly reduced by a wholesome preschool or early childhood education.
I write these words on the eve of Tu B’shvat in the middle of the winter, a season during which all of vegetation begins to take root and ready itself for growth and maturity in the spring. Could there be a better time to resolve and commit ourselves to refocus upon cultivating and developing proper values and morals within our families and children?
Tu B’shvat also happens to be my daughter, Malka Reina’s, birthday (she is turning 2 year old!). Thus, this message has personal relevance to me.
I want to close by inviting you to her birthday party which will include birthday cake (of course) and a special lecture titled: “Talking to your children about G‑d”
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Raleigh Resnick
