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In his essay <font size=3><b>The Fifteenth
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>of
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Shevat </b>(Collected
Writings, Volume II) RSRH writes the following about Tu B'Shevat<br><br>
</font>For us the fifteenth of Shevat is only another calendar
injunction, and its only significance in our Galuth-life is that there
are some faint <s> </s>traces of festivity in its synagogue service, and
it may have some <s> </s>bearing on the reckoning of the
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>"Orlah" years.
<br><br>
</font>All the same we will dwell a little on this fixture because it
gives us the opportunity of looking somewhat more deeply into the spirit
of <s> </s>Judaism. And every such opportunity is welcome. For we suffer
from <s> </s>nothing so much as the lack of a correct and true knowledge
of our own Jewish faith. <br><br>
Hunted like wild animals, herded into ghettoes, driven into our humble
homes or into the four modest walls where we could devote ourselves to
religious contemplation, we seemed to the superficial observer to
be leading a joyless and unsociable life. We stepped into the public eye
and showed signs of activity only in the market place <s> </s>and in
business and industrial life. But people did not look among the <s>
</s>Jews for a fresh pulsating life drawing strength and joy from the
<br>
breasts of Nature. The truth was that the Jew had been forcibly driven
into this painful condition, and the Jewish spirit and the spirit of
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Judaism were blamed for
<x-tab> </x-tab> what was nothing but the
fictitious product of brutal repression. <br><br>
</font>How utterly different is the spirit of Judaism where
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>it
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>can unfold itself freely!
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>It
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>transports us into the open
country, where the brooks trickle and the meadows
<x-tab> </x-tab> bloom, where the seeds ripen and the
trees blossom and the herds pasture, where man exercises his powers in
close contact with nature and places his
<x-tab> </x-tab>
exertions immediately under the protection and blessing of God. Nature
meant us to be men of the fields and flocks. The Galuth has made us into
wandering <x-tab> </x-tab> traders. Oh, that we
could turn our backs on this occupation which has been artificially
imposed on us, that with our children we might flee away to the
<x-tab> </x-tab> simplicity of a
country life infused with the Divine Jewish spirit! Then would simplicity
and peace, temperance and love, humanity and joy, enthusiasm and
<x-tab> </x-tab> happiness dwell with us; David's
harp would sound again and Ruth would again find the ears of corn on the
field of Boaz. <br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>It
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>is wonderful how the Jew'sh
law continually invites us to the observation of the laws and ways of
Nature, and how it is ever leading us from Nature to the life
<x-tab> </x-tab> of man and there
teaching us to use the products of the soil for bringing to ripeness the
still nobler blossoms and fruits to a free human life permeated with the
<x-tab> </x-tab> idea of God. <br><br>
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