******DEVAR TORAH FOR MONDAY-TU BI’SHVAT*****
Chizuk in Tu B’Shvat that Hashem’s Geula happens in the blink of an eye:
The Connection Between Tu B’Shvat and Parshas B’Shalach:
Parshas B’Shalach / Shabbos Shirah always comes out near Tu B’Shvat. What is the shmechos between tu bi’Shvat-the “New Year of Trees,” and this week’s parsha?
The book Ziv HaMinhagim gives a beautiful explanation of this linkage. Tu B’Shvat is the Rosh HaShanah of trees. Look outside today and gaze at the trees. They appear deader than door nails! Is this the time to celebrate “The New Year for Trees?” There is not a leaf to be seen. It would seem more appropriate to celebrate “Tu B’Shvat” in the springtime when the trees are in full bloom.
The answer is that the trees LOOK dead. They LOOK like they will never see another green leaf in their existence. But right now the sap is beginning to run within them. If one travels up to Vermont-the Maple syrup capital of the world-he will find Vermonters dressed up in earmuffs boring holes in trees to extract the sap from the maple trees. This is the time of the year when the sap is flowing within the trees. The leaves and the beauty of the fruits that the trees will produce in the spring and summer are all being prepared right now, in the dead of winter.
The trees represent the idea that even when something looks terribly bleak and looks like it has no future, one should not give up on it. One should not give up on the trees when they look like that, and one should not give up on oneself when things look like that for him.
There are periods in a person’s life when the future looks bleak and things look miserable all around. “What will be?” But the salvation of the Hashem comes in the blink of an eye! Hashem is already “running the sap” so to speak so that salvation may come. For this reason Tu B’Shvat is celebrated in the dead of winter.
It states in Parshas B’Shalach “They came to Marah and they could not drink the water, for it was bitter.” Hashem then showed Moshe a tree and told him to throw it into the water. Why a tree? Why not a rock or a piece of dirt?
At that point, Hashem showed him a tree. The tree is the symbol that when all looks futile and bleak, desolate and destroyed, we see that the situation can turn around. Rebirth happens! There can be renaissance and renewal. Throwing the tree into the water was meant as a message to the people: “Don’t give up. Don’t worry about the desert. Things look bleak now but the salvation of the L-rd comes in the blink of an eye.”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!