Dear Friends,
Tomorrow is known as Tu B’Shevat, the New Year for Trees. We humans can also celebrate along with the trees.
“Man is a tree of the field,” the Torah says, We are nurtured by deep roots, as far back as Abraham and Sarah; we reach upwards to the heavens while standing firmly on the ground; and when we do all this right, we produce fruits that benefit the world-namely, our good deeds.
And like a tree, we are here not only for ourselves, but to provide shade, fruit and respite to the many around us.
In the Torah reading this week, the Jewish people finally leave Egypt. After witnessing miraculous things, they climb out of the other side of the sea and then start to complain: "What are we going to eat? What are we going to drink?" They had just personally experienced incredible miracles but it didn’t seem to be enough and they couldn't find happiness.
We cannot condemn the Jews of that generation for how they felt, but it says they were bitter and disgruntled.
Have you ever heard of the Missing Tile Syndrome? That’s a condition that exists when you always feel something is missing from your life, regardless of how well everything is going. You look at a ceiling where one single tile is missing, and that’s where you concentrate. You may have all kinds of wonderful things happening to you, but you can't look at life without finding something bitter: the missing tile syndrome. Or as someone said you can look at everything as a miracle or nothing as a miracle.
On the other hand, when you are joyous it's contagious and that’s how one good deed gives birth to another good deed.
With less woe and more positivity, especially now more than ever, don’t ask “What will be?” say “What can I do to be kinder and appreciate how blessed we are with what we have."
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Fishel & Ettie Zaklos