The minor Jewish holiday of Tu b’Shvat, which falls today, has been reinvented in recent decades as a celebration of nature and even of environmentalism. Arguing that this is a misinterpretation of the day’s meaning, Meir Soloveichik explains its original significance for the tithing of fruit and how 16th- and 17th-century rabbis transformed it into a celebration of the fruit of the Land of Israel. To Soloveichik, the reimagination of Tu b’Shvat as a “Jewish earth day” speaks to the crisis of identity that haunts modern man. (Video, 34 minutes.)
Read more on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBJHJz0QIfI