How did Tu B’shvat Begin?

If you want to tell a wonderful ‘tree story’ to your children or students for Tu B’shvat (1/31/18) I offer you the following story my daughter Aviva (the organic farmer) told to her daughters and their classmates last year.

HOW DID TU B’SHVAT BEGIN? by Aviva Maller O’Neil

A little boy lived in a house next to a groove of old oak trees. He liked wanderings in the woods, climbing the trees, and looking at flowers. One spring he notices for the first time how many acorns each tree has. Hundreds, if not thousands. And there are tons of acorns on the ground, some sprouting little tender shoots that reach up into the air.

The boy thinks how if each one of those acorns grew to be an oak tree; it would be so crowded he would not be able to walk or even crawl through his beloved forest. He wonders what happens to all the acorns.

Then he happens upon a group of small animals all gathered together having a party. There are squirrels, chipmunks and mice. They have a table set with many wonderful looking foods.

They see him and say Shalom; and invite him to their Tu B’shvat dinner. It is acorn porridge, acorn pancakes and acorn pudding.

They are Jewish animals celebrating the holiday for the trees they call Tu B’shvat to give thanks to the great old oaks that provide them with so much food for the entire year; and help them make it through the winter.

The boy has fun at party and is glad to discover animals can be Jewish.

Over the next months he watches to see how many acorns will grow into trees. Under his favorite big old grandma oak tree, he only notices one one seedling. He can’t imagine how so many acorns could produce only one seedling he feels sad for grandma tree.

One day he falls asleep under the tree and dreams he can talk to the tree. He asks the tree if it is sad that after working hard all season to produce so many acorns; only one seedling has survived

The tree smiles and says: “This is the way of the natural world. I am only one part of the system. I produces hundreds of acorns every year and the acorns feed hundreds of animals, who in turn feed the coyotes and hawks.

Thank God, the squirrels are quite forgetful and often leave lots acorns buried in the ground to produce a nice planting of young seedlings. But this year the rain didn’t come early, and only one seedling survived.”

The grandma tree sighs and says that all she hopes for is that each year just one tree will survive and grew into an adult, and then she will feel fulfilled.

The boy wakes and is overjoyed by his dream. He feels happy for the grandma tree, the seedling and also for himself now that he understand the way of God’s natural world.

A few months later, he wakes to the sound of bulldozers. he dresses and goes out to see what the noise is about. He is dismayed to see bulldozers plowing down the woodlot next door.

Then he knows what to do. He grabs a shovel and a pot and runs to his favorite tree. He sees the bulldozers making their way towards him. He digs up the seedling oak with tears in his eyes, gives a prayer for the grandma tree; and all the trees and animals in his woodlot; and returns home to plant his tree.

He had saved one seedling, and the old grandma oak would now live through that seedling. But the boy has now realized how hard it is for a tree to grow in the wild, and how much trees provide for us and all of nature; and how with a little help from us it makes a big difference.

So now he plants a tree every year on Tu B’shvat. He knows that one day he will have replanted as many trees as once lived in the woodlot; and has given as much life as the old grandma tree would have liked to give.