This week marks the beginning of the month of Shevat, and the approach of Tu B’Shvat, the “new year for the trees.” The Mishna in Rosh Hashana (1:1) lists four new years: for kings and festivals (Nisan), for tithing animals (Elul), for the fruits of the tree (Shevat), and for the count of years, especially with regard to the shemittah cycle but also for planting vegetables (Tishrei). This raises many interesting questions and could be, indeed has been, the topic for volumes of commentary.
Of these four new years, only Tu B’Shvat does not occur on the first day of the month. (This is according to Hillel, but Shamai indicated it should be observed on the first of Shevat.) Although the various new years have clear practical implications, which are described by the text of the Mishna and summarized above, it is also tempting to associate them with aspects of our own persona and relationship to the universe. Characteristically, the Arizal interprets these occasions in that light, with various spiritual practices associated with each, consistent with his efforts to leverage the annual cycles to “rectify” Creation.
In an anonymous publication from 5762 entitled Seder Sulam Rafael l’Tu B’Shvat, the author (the book was distributed by R’ Daniel Stavsky, who was likely the author or a key contributor) follows the tradition of the Arizal in associating each of the new years with one of the four categories of created entities and of the four “worlds” of emanation detailed in the teachings of the Arizal. According to this review, the holidays align thus with the four categories: Nisan (kings) – intelligent/verbal; Elul (animals) – animate; Shevat (trees) -vegetable; Tishrei (years) – inanimate. The correspondence with the “worlds” from top to bottom follows the same pattern (curiously out of chronological order): Nisan – emanation, Elul – creation, Shevat– formation, and Tishrei – action.
Without delving any deeper into this topic, it’s interesting to also note that the order of the Tu b’Shvat Seder attributed to the Arizal also doesn’t go in a direct line from top to bottom (or bottom to top). G-d-willing we will examine the Seder of Tu b’Shvat more closely next week.
The second Mishna of Rosh Hashana also also divides the year into four segments, which seem to roughly correlate to the categories defined in the first Mishna, but they don’t line up with the aforementioned new years, raising even more questions. According to the Mishna, the world is judged on four occasions every year, for different things that are essential for the survival of life: on Pesach for the crops, on Shavuot for the fruit, on Rosh Hashana (i.e., in Tishrei) for the accountability of all living beings, and on Sukkot for water/rain. This Mishna is ostensibly the basis for our core holiday liturgy including the prayers for dew and rain and the Rosh Hashana prayers for forgiveness and blessing. (On Shavuot, the first fruit, the bikkurim, were principally brought to the Beit HaMikdash, although tragically we have little to remind us of this in our time.)
In the fascinating and unjustifiably obscure text Semichat Chachamim by R’ Naftali Katz HaCohen, the question is asked why Rosh Hashana in Tishrei and the one in Nissan, the new year for kings and for festivals, seem to be reversed. Why do we give primacy to the second of these, which as noted is really the lowest in progression from the Divine source to the world of human affairs? He also asks why the text in the Mishna identifies our Rosh Hashana as for years and not for months, as above all it clearly must be.
R’ Katz explains that in our world all things must reach their conclusion in the experiences of mortal humans in order for the Divine Light to return upward to its source. Thus, the focal point of our universe is always the lowest level, which paradoxically demonstrates the power of Hashem to redeem and to restore even the most debased and corrupted forms to their ideal state. The light of emanation must encounter a limitation in the physical world in order for it to finally become the light of return. Thus, we prioritize in our ritual the lowest forms of action – the performance of physical acts with our bodies as we serve Hashem.
For this reason, it is fitting that Rosh Hashana of the judgment of Adam, of the “inanimate” substrate of Creation, be emphasized as the Rosh Hashana for our purposes. From our point of view, the “higher” sanctity of Nisan can only be achieved once we have passed through the trials of Tishrei and begun a process of spiritual return. This is also why Rosh Hashana is associated with years rather than months. While it’s true that the point of reflection that is the beginning of Tishrei is also the inflection point of the months of the year – and that this is the perspective of the written Torah, which also numbers the months from Nissan – for the Sages of the Talmud it was deemed appropriate to begin the count from Tishrei. Our practical and spiritual understanding is inferior to the Divine frame of reference upon which the Torah is predicated, so our observance of Rosh Hashana measures years from the beginning of time until its inexorable conclusion in the Final Redemption when our consciousness will begin to merge with the Divine.
