One teacher once told me that there are four words which characterize our day and age: "I", "here", "now", and "everything". Therefore, Tu B'Shvat, which is today, is one of the most important days there is. It goes against these four words. The Holiday of Trees is not celebrated in the spring, but in winter; not at a time in which everything is already blossoming and ripe, but at a time in which we do not yet see the results. We do not get everything here and now, but rather, we wait. At the moment, we only have to plant, to irrigate, to invest, to believe, to hope.
Such an observation of nature reminds us that in life there are slow, hidden processes. Things develop below the surface; we do not see everything immediately, and therefore, we must continue investing of ourselves and have patience. It is true when it comes to child-rearing, to marriage, to school and to every meaningful area of our lives. In a generation in which we impatiently wait to see two blue check marks (that is, we're waiting to see that our message was read by the recipient on WhatsApp), once a year we get a reminder of the most important commodities: patience, continued labor, investment, devotion. All of these eventually bear fruit and positive results.
Happy Tu B'Shvat!
