Every year, as discussed above, the weekly Torah portion of Beshalach is read in close proximity to the holiday of Tu B’Shvat. There are in fact many beautiful and deep allusions to Tu B’Shvat in this specific portion. Some of these relate to the healing power of trees and, on a symbolic level, to the Torah itself; and some relate to the process of rejuvenation that trees undergo, in general, and in this season, in particular.
After experiencing the miraculous salvation at the Reed Sea, the Jewish people traveled for three days without water. However, once they did finally find water, it was too bitter to drink. God then showed Moses a tree, which he threw into the water, causing it to be “sweetened.” Subsequently, God then tells the people that if they would listen to His voice, none of the diseases of Egypt would befall them, “for I am God that heals you” (Exodus 15:26).
On a literal level, this tree appears to have had healing properties sufficient to sweeten the bitter waters. On a deeper level, however, the use of the tree in this episode juxtaposed next to God’s blessing for healing, has led many commentators to conclude that the “tree” which Moses threw into the water is symbolically none other than the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, which in turn alludes to the Torah itself. Indeed, as the verse in Proverbs teaches: “It [the Torah] is a Tree of Life for those who grasp it” (Proverbs 3:18).
In fact, the curative powers of both the tree thrown into the water and the Torah are made explicit by God’s promise to heal the people if they follow the Torah. The healing powers of the Torah are further stressed in the Oral tradition with this Talmudic teaching, “I have created the evil inclination and Torah as an antidote” (Kiddushin 30b). Just as the Torah sweetens reality and has spiritual, psychological and emotionally healing qualities, trees also provide us with physical and psychological succor: offering us healing properties in their barks, roots, leaves, shade, beauty and sweet, nourishing fruits.
Based on the grammar of the verse describing the bitter waters, the Ba’al Shem Tov explains that the water was not actually bitter, it only tasted that way because the people themselves were bitter. After experiencing the miraculous redemption at the Reed Sea, they were shocked to find themselves without fresh water to drink. Perhaps they expected that the miracles they experienced in Egypt and at the Reed Sea would never end; that this was not so was a bitter pill for them to swallow. This is a classic case of self-centered expectations leading to humbling disappointment.
Our Sages, who in the Talmud (Bava Kamma 17a) presume that any reference to water alludes to the Torah, explain that the people were still so involved in thinking about the physical booty washed up on the shores of the Reed Sea, that they were distracted from immersing themselves in Torah and more spiritual matters. This then led to their having to go without water on the metaphorical and physical levels for three whole days, ultimately leading to the bitter state of mind diagnosed by the Ba’al Shem Tov. By throwing a tree into these bitter waters, Moses symbolically reminded them that by immersing themselves in the wellsprings of Torah, they could regain the necessary balance between the physical and the spiritual dimensions in their lives.
Immediately following this episode, the children of Israel traveled and camped in a desert oasis named Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms (Exodus 15:27). Rashi, drawing on a homiletical explanation from the Mechilta, associates the twelve springs with the twelve tribes and the seventy date palms with the seventy elders. After learning the lesson of the bitter waters, the people were given the chance to experience the joys of Torah, which provided a virtual oasis in the desert that life can become when devoid of truth and spirituality.
The seventy date palm trees further symbolize the seventy “faces” or aspects of Torah that are revealed to those who eat of its fruit. As mentioned, seventy is also the numerical value of the word sod (secret), the inner Kabbalistic dimension of Torah. Furthermore, the date palm symbolizes the tzaddik, the righteous person, of whom it is said, “The righteous will flourish like the date palm” (Psalms 92:13). Deep inside their very beings, every Jew has a spark of the tzaddik, a righteous one, as the prophet states, “Your people are all righteous, they shall inherit the land forever” (Isaiah 60:21).
Parenthetically, it is interesting to note that dates are among the very highest fruits on the glycemic scale, which measures natural sugar content. Dates only grow in hot climates with abundant sunlight. The process of photosynthesis, by which a plant takes the light of the sun and converts it into energy and eventually fruit, teaches us how we can take the light of God and Torah and, digesting them deep within us, yield the fruit of inspiration and understanding.
Furthermore, the Hebrew word for date (tamar) has the numerical value of 640, the same numerical value of the Hebrew word for sun (shemesh)!! When we receive the light of God and Torah, devoid of ego and ulterior motives, we become transparent vessels able to convert that light into the very blood that flows in our veins. Like a date tree, which is a pure conduit for transforming the sun’s energy into unadulterated sweetness, when we are properly aligned we too can transform the light of God and Torah into inspiration and understanding.
Rabbi Leibel Eiger, in his commentary Torat Emet, reveals another deep connection between Tu B’Shvat and the redemption that occurs in the month of Nisan, the month of Pesach. He notes that Tu B’Shvat is forty-five days before the new moon of Nisan, that is to say forty-five days before the world was actually created (see the section on the month of Nisan for an in-depth discussion of when the Sages believe the world was created). He explains that the Hebrew word for “thought” (machshavah) can be permuted to read “thinks of what” (choshav-mah); significantly, the word “what” has the numerical value of forty-five. Thus, according to Rabbi Leibel Eiger, on Tu B’Shvat, forty-five days before the new moon of Nisan, God, as it were, begins to focus His thought on creation. This archetypal Divine act of creative thought parallels the sap rising in the trees in the lower world.
“Who is the wise one? He who sees the nolad” (Tamid 32a). The holiday of Tu B’Shvat connects us to not only the most primal forces rising in the earth and within the consciousness of man, it also connects us to the primordial forces of creation welling up once again in preparation for new growth and redemptive energy. The wise one is he or she who can metaphorically see the approaching birth of the new moon within the dark womb of an empty night sky.
