To Be or not Tu B’

To be vegan or not to be vegan? A friend asked me the question this morning, on a day which, in the Hebrew calendar, is known as Tu B’Shevat, and celebrates the Birthday of Trees. Tu B’Shevat or not Tu B’Shevat: is that the question? Coinciding with the mid-point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, Tu B (“to be”) is a time to hug trees, to learn detachment from them, to appreciate and delight in their offerings. A time “to be,” literally! Amazing how Judaism, when understood, can also be felt as a religion of nature, a “GOD/dess” religion… And isn’t that the point: to be one with [my] nature, in other words, to be real, as in created male and female? Today, I celebrate that I am getting better at speaking an honest yes and an honest no. In that, I am like a tree: I say it like it is!

The two Hebrew letters — Teth Vav — read as Tu for “15.”
Tu B’Shevat is “the 15th in the month of Shevat,”
the BD of Trees.