Life lessons from these famous TREES | Tu b'Shvat—New Year for Trees

So, this is not the first time that we've done a Hamish Assar B'Shvat New Year for Trees lecture here at Chabad of the Five Towns. So, I don't know is is anyone here have has anyone been here before seen me speaking on this date? No? So, I could have recycled the whole thing. Okay. I actually was scrambling to come up with new material. Thanks a lot. I didn't know that I didn't realize it was a new crowd. They say if you can't change your material, change your audience. But I I think I never heard that. I figured cuz I'm He gave me he gave me. Yeah. So, since I uh since we're still here in uh in Five Towns, so I figured you already heard my my drashas on uh on Tu B'Shvat. So, I was I was scrambling to come up with some new stuff. By the way, we have a we have that talk online. It's on uh soulwords.org or on uh youtube.com/soulwords or on Spotify or whatever all the different platforms you can find my stuff. Okay. What I wanted to try to do is um the theme of trees. So, this is the New Year for Trees. Uh what does it mean a New Year for Trees? All the trees go out and they uh have a party and they Happy New Year. New Year for Trees just I know maybe uh sometimes these things are taken for granted. We just say it so often, New Year for Trees, and we don't explain what it is. New Year for Trees is actually uh originally it's a fiscal year. It has to do with making calculations for the tithes. When uh you have to bring the gifts that you're supposed to donate from that year's crop. So, how do you calculate that year? So, this is this is the cutoff. And basically it has to do with when the very, very first, earliest signs of activity uh, begin in the tree. Not the blossoming and the blooming and the bearing fruit, but just the very subtle first signs of new life, which is when when the sap starts to flow in the trees. In fact, I remember as a kid, my mother, may she be well, she used to bring us to a forest preserves near our house. I grew up in Chicago. And I was actually just in Chicago this weekend and I was reminded of what a real Chicago February feels like. It's so real it feels different. You got that cold air coming off the lake. But anyway, I I remember as a kid every year, not maybe not every single year, but quite often, we would go to the forest preserves. And uh, we would see them tap the trees for maple syrup. Very good. And um, it was interesting because I remember as a kid asking the guy, like, why you doing this now at this time? He says, well, you know, there's a certain time of year. Usually around January, February, where the the sap starts to move in the tree. That's when you tap the tree for the for the syrup. So, of course, what did he mean? He was referring to Khamisha Khamisha also Bishvat, the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat, which is exactly what Torah tells us is the time when that activity begins in the tree. So, that's what's happening and therefore we celebrate the trees. Now, I spoke about in the past uh, the seven species that the land of Israel is uniquely blessed with and we went through all those species and um spoke about what they mean. And like I said, I was searching for new material cuz I figured everyone had already heard that that class. So, I decided, you know what? I'm going to look through the Torah and find seven other trees. Not necessarily species of trees, but specific trees, meaning famous trees. You know what I mean? Like a a famous tree. Like a specific tree that would have importance. Okay, so you got the first one. Very good. Very good. That was the first one. So, you said "Aitz Chaim Da'at", which means the tree of knowledge. So, that's exactly what I'm talking about. I said, "Let's look through the Torah and let's find trees that figure prominently in in the stories there." So, I didn't have to go far um at all. It's just right there in the in the beginning, no pun intended, in the beginning. In the beginning, yeah. Uh yeah, Bereshit. So, uh I don't know why that's so funny to me, but it is. Yeah. Okay. So, uh it says here Yeah, in Gan Eden, exactly. That there was a uh a tree called the tree of knowledge. And uh they were commanded not to eat from that tree. Yeah. So, uh Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where is it? Yeah. The timer of Isha Lana Hashia. The woman was speaking to the serpent. That was her first mistake. She shouldn't even talk to that guy. Nudnik. Yeah. Me pre ate her garden and hell. We're we're allowed to eat from the trees of the garden. We pre ate her Sheba say her garden. But, from the fruits of the tree that's in the middle of the garden, I'm going to look at him. God said, "Loy say clue me men. You shouldn't eat from it. Well, I see you by pen to moose on and don't even touch it lest you die." That was Adam's first mistake, by the way. He embellished it. He said, "Don't even touch it." And that's where everything went awry because then the serpent pushed her into it and she touched it and he said, "You see, nothing happens when you touch it. So, too, nothing will happen when you eat from it." At any rate, let's talk a little bit of a bit a bit about this famous tree, the tree of knowledge, which, um definitely has had an effect on all of us. Um you know, we live in a world. How you like that for a truism? And, um there are a lot of ways in which our thinking, unfortunately, has been affected by outside influences. And more pointedly, what I mean is there are a lot of Jewish concepts that are originally Jewish concepts. In fact, they still are Jewish concepts. But, because of the way that society at large or Western civilization represents these ideas, I think that a lot of times Jews operate under some of these influences and unfortunately we have unknowingly incorporated some christological ideas into our understanding of these stories. So for instance, this tree of knowledge, you know, the original sin type of thing, which is a very basic christological idea. I want you to try to like banish that thought and and I would like to try to explain what it really is from, you know, this This is a Jewish text. And uh in spite of how others may have come and interpreted it later on, I'll I'll tell you how we understand this. The tree of knowledge is just that. It's a tree of knowledge. Knowledge of what? When you eat from it, do you become like you can edit all the Wikipedia articles? Cuz now you know a lot or you can win at Trivial Pursuit? What does that mean? It's a tree of knowledge. What kind of knowledge do you get? Well, it's apparent from the context that what happened right after they ate from the tree of knowledge, what was the first symptom that they'd eaten from the tree of knowledge? How did God know? I mean, God knew cuz God's omniscient, but uh how did God uh prove to them that it was indisputable that they'd eaten? They needed clothing. They needed clothing, right. Whereas previously they were comfortable with their nakedness, now they were self-conscious. So what kind of knowledge are we talking about? Self-knowledge, but I don't mean like insight. I mean more like crippling self-consciousness. Yeah. So, you know what the curse of eating from the tree of crippling self-consciousness is? Now you have crippling self-consciousness. That's That's the That's the curse. Okay? Origin Origin of anxiety. Mhm? Origin of anxiety. The origin of anxiety. Well, by the way, remember that three-week course we had on anxiety? So, part two, when we spoke about the spiritual canaries, uh I didn't say it then, but I'll say it now. Those are the people who took an extra helping from the tree of knowledge. Because Remember we're talking about that paradigm of the people uncomfortable in their own skin, the existential angst, and all that, like uncomfortable just being. That's what the tree of knowledge does. It makes you aware of your own existence. Um which is not fun. But on the other hand, um to make a positive uh argument, uh and and this was the way that the Kabbalists explain Eve's thinking was that it also allows you to take an active role in your own life. And and she thought that the way they were serving God was sort of automatic. It was on autopilot. And if she would have self-knowledge, that would enhance her free choice, and she'd be able to appreciate and enjoy serving God. And and she was right about that. She just didn't think about all the terrible side effects that it brings with it. Uh and also the fact God told her, "Don't do it." Which was Yeah, that was It was a It was a prohibition. At any rate, but she did it. Okay. Um there was another tree. What's the other tree? Life. Tree of life, very good. And they were real quick, they were barred from eating that tree. In fact, when they were kicked out, um it says that there was like a whole defense system set up. They shouldn't be able to get back in and eat from the tree of life. Um yeah. So, yeah. What was the deal with the tree of life? The tree of life makes you live forever. Well, here's the thing. They were originally created to live forever. Cuz they were told if you eat from the tree of knowledge on that day, you will surely die. Not mean doesn't mean you'll drop dead. It means on that day, as a result, you will become mortal. Whereas until that point, they were immortal. So, now what's the problem with becoming immortal again? It's just resetting the factory settings. Problem is that after they had eaten from the tree of knowledge, that potential for otherness, the potential for setting oneself apart from God, became embedded into the human condition. Wasn't just like uh something that you you take and you say, "Well, how long is this going to last for? How long will this When does it take for me to sober up from this?" No, it permanently changes your wiring. It never goes away. In fact, you bequeath it to your children for all generations. Humanity permanently became changed at that moment, where that sense of self or ego or sometimes around here we say ego is E G O, edging God out. So, that sense of otherness from God became embedded into the human condition. And from there becomes the potential for rebellion and and uh sin and therefore at that point God told him don't eat from the tree of life. You know why? Cuz now that this darkness became part of you if you live forever then it's going to live forever and I don't want the darkness to live forever. I want the darkness to come to an end. It's going to take some time. We're going to have to work out through a process of uh refining the world and refining ourselves, but eventually Messiah will come, the world will be perfected and the the evil will be gone. So, we don't want to make the evil immortal. So, that's why they were not allowed to eat from the tree of life and that's why we die. We die so that the evil can die with us when we die, we return to the dust. That nullifies us. And then when we get back up from the dust, when Messiah comes and there's the resurrection, which is one of the 13 principles of faith according to Maimonides, we'll get up fresh and ready to live in a pure world where there is no evil. We left the evil to disintegrate and we get up clean like the driven snow. So, that's uh those are two trees. We could talk about that all night, by the way. There's a lot of Kabbalah in there. Okay, want to talk about a different tree? Yeah, sure. Why not? Any good Jewish businessman, if you don't like what I'm showing you, I got more in the back. Okay. I don't know I don't know you like tree of knowledge, tree of life stuff. Like I said, I could go on and on talking about tree of knowledge, tree of life, but let let's talk about another tree. Okay. And I'm not even going to include plants cuz if I wanted to include plants, I would have included the flax that that Cain grew. You know, Cain You know who Cain was? He wasn't Abel. Abel was his brother. He was Cain. Not Cain from from Kung Fu. Thank you. Okay. It is devolved to a point where I don't even give Torah classes. I just say a bunch of stuff in between obscure references that will not get a reaction. And I've become actually I think addicted to that. So, sorry to use you all to indulge in my perverse thrill. Okay. Okay. By the way, Cain was a wanderer. Talk about Cain from the Bible. No, not David Carradine, from the Bible. I am, too. Cain was wanderer. Okay, guys. I feel so understood. Okay. Great. But, I didn't talk about the flax. I don't want to talk about the flax. Okay. Let's go a little bit Let's go a a little bit further here. Um yeah. So, 10 generations after Adam, come on in. We're talking about trees. Talking about trees. Yeah. Get in where you fit in. Talking about trees, you know, I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree. That's right. A tree that looks at God all day and lifts her leafy arms to pray. A tree that may in summer wear a nest of robins in her hair. Poems were made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree. You know who wrote that? A rest stop in New Jersey. Yeah, Joyce Kilmer rest stop. I think there was a guy named after that rest stop. Yeah. He was living in Mahwah, New Jersey. Is that Is that how you pronounce it? Mahwah, New Jersey? When he wrote that poem. He was inspired by looking at the trees and he wrote that poem. I think he was killed in World War I. Is that correct? You can Google it. Joyce Kilmer. Joyce Kilmer was a man. His name was Joyce. Well, she was a man. I do believe he died in World War I. I don't know, you got to look it up. Okay. Um Another tree. Famous tree. You might not think about this tree. After the flood. How did Noah know that it was safe, that there was dry land? From the olive, that's right. That's right, from the olive. And he sent out a dove. Or as my friends from Brooklyn say, a dove. What do you guys say here? Dove? Very good. It is a dove. Yeah. Crown Heights, they say dove. Just telling you. What? What do you say? You say dove. Right. Say dove, right. So, they're saying they say dove over here, too. I was just in Chicago this weekend, by the way. It was nice to hear normal accents. It was It's really good. Say Florida instead of Florida and all that stuff. Okay. Um the dove was sent on a mission. He's actually was sent three times. First time, he came back empty-handed. You know why? Cuz doves don't have hands. I made that up right here on the spot. I'm just working out my new material. He came back empty-beaked. That's actually true. He did. The second time he came back with a little olive branch in his beak. I think it was after It was on the 301st day of the flood. Little less than a year. Came back with a little little olive branch. And hmm? The third time he didn't come back. That is correct. Very good. Excellent biblical literacy. That is correct. Um Why an olive branch? You know, could have been any branch. And there are many different discussions why that particular species of tree. But um I'll tell you what Rashi says. He says that um Where is it here? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's sending the dove V'tave l'vaya'na. By the way, dove is ya'na. Is a dove. There's also a prophet named ya'na. And you know, tauba means dove. Also taib or taibel is a dove. And somebody told me once, he said, "Do you know that anyone with the last name Taub is a direct descendant ben acher ben from Noach? And that's why his name is dove cuz Noach, Noah sent the dove." And I was so excited. Wow, I have yichus and patrilineally directly descended from Noah. And then you know what I realized? You and everybody else. Me and everybody else. That's right. Every single human being on Earth is a direct descendant of of Noah. Yeah. Interesting family. Okay. Yeah. So, he sent the dove. Uh v'yochal od shivas yamim acherim. He waited another 7 days. V'yishalach es hayona v'lo yasaf lashuv elav od and it didn't come back anymore. Yeah. But, uh Rashi says the reason why he had an olive branch, you know, the olive branch came to symbolize peace, but that's not a Jewish symbol. I think it's a Greek myth where the olive branch symbolizes peace. It's interesting the olive symbolism here in the Torah is a little bit different. It says uh Why was it an olive? Because or an olive branch, an olive tree, because an olive is bitter. Yeah, you ever tried to eat a real olive before they pickle them and stuff? What are they Those little red things they stuff? Pimentos, yeah. Yeah, you ever tried to eat a regular olive? It's very bitter. It's disgusting, yeah. Yeah. So, uh the the the dove brought back an olive branch specifically had a had a homiletical meaning. Which uh that's why it says it brought it back uh snatched in its beak. And the word that it used there the word that it uses there um toraf tziha is also the same term you would use for like uh a morsel of food. So, the the symbolism is the idea of of sustenance. The olive branch in this in this case represents our relationship with obtaining our our our livelihood. And the olive is a bitter uh fruit. So, Rashi says that if the symbolism is that the dove was sort of saying, testifying, or symbolizing to the idea that it's better that one's sustenance be bitter but come directly from God than to be sweet and to make oneself dependent on human beings. Ultimately, sustenance only comes from God. So, whoever it is who uh signs your checks, they don't pay your salary, they just sign your checks. Or whatever business deal you're waiting on, the person who you're trying to do business with, they're not deciding whether or not you're going to make a profit. It's God who already decided it, who has it allotted for you. And if it doesn't if it doesn't come through this salary or for that from that business deal or from that investment, so it'll come from another place. We don't depend on people. And ultimately, that is that's how to be financially free, which was an important message to Noah right before he rebuilt the entire world. Okay. So, that's that's the olive branch. Um I'm going to jump ahead to another tree. How about? Let me go way ahead. So far, everything's been from the book of Genesis. I'm going to jump ahead to the book of Numbers. In fact, I'm going to go to to my Bar Mitzvah parsha. You guys know my Bar Mitzvah parsha? Nobody knows. My birthday is 11 7. My Bar Mitzvah was parsha Shlach. You guys know that little symbol of Israeli tourism? The guys carrying the grapes. The guys carrying the grapes, very good. Where's that image from? Meraglim. Meraglim, from the spies, the scouts. The Moses sent to scout out the land. That's correct. And what parsha is that from? Shlach. Shlach, very good. Okay. So, I'm going to tell you a little bit about a tree from Shlach. Um, you know, the spies came back with these giant fruits to freak everybody out. I'll make a long story short. They were afraid, they didn't want to go into the land. So, they saw giant fruits and they brought them back and they said, "Hey, look at these giant fruits. This is a sign that these people there are also monstrosities and we will never be able to defeat them." So, they used it to freak everybody out. Um, it's interesting because it says that they brought back all types of fruit. Um, pomegranates, figs, grapes. But, at the end of the first aliya, it says, "V'hayomim y'mei bikurei anavim." And those days were the days of the ripening of the grapes. Those days were the days. What days? The days when this is set. By the way, when was it? What time of year? Anyone knows what time of year this story happened? Tisha B'Av time. Tisha B'Av time, very good. Because when they came back and they freaked everybody out and said, "Let's not go into the land." And they were all They were all crying. So, God said, "Oh, you want to cry about not going into the land? All right. So, this day becomes established, Tisha B'Av, the ninth day of the month of Av, will become a day of crying about not being able to live in the land." And that's when the first and second temple were destroyed and we were exiled from our land and many other calamities. But, when did it become a calamity? Uh, Tisha B'Av. Very good. So, that's when they came back. That's when that happened. And how long were they scouting around? 40 days. 40 days, right? Because the 40 years was measure for measure a recompense for the 40 days. Very good. Okay. Um I've some excellent biblical literacy in this room. Okay. So, we're talking about the summertime. And they come back and they've got different fruits, but in this verse, when it establishes the season, it says, "This was the days of the days of the ripening of the grapes." It's grapes are in season. You know about three spies, not the 12 spies from the parashah, but the three spies from this made-up joke who were captured and they were put in front of a firing squad. Don't worry, it's just a joke. No one was really executed. I mean, people have been executed in real life, but not this story didn't No one got executed cuz none of them existed. And they There was a a French guy and a German guy and a Jewish guy. I'm not sure who they were spying for altogether, but maybe they were spying separately. They just They all got caught on the same day. At any rate, so the captain on the firing squad says, "Um we have um we give you a last request, a final meal before we kill you. So, what is your final meal?" So, the French guy said, "Oh, I would like a baguette and a glass of red wine." So, they said, "Guys, get it for him." And they gave him his baguette and his glass of red wine, and they killed the French guy. Shot him. Okay. Then they said to the German guy, "What's your last meal request?" He says, "I want some bratwurst and beer." They said, "Get it for him." They got bratwurst and beer. And he ate it. And then they killed him. And then they said to the Jewish guy, "What's your last meal?" He said, "I'll have a cup of strawberries." And they said, "Strawberries? Strawberries aren't in season." He says, "New, I'll wait. I'll wait." Strawberries were not in season. I'll wait. So, when this biblical story of the spies took place, what was in season? Grapes. The grapes. Planet of the grapes. What's up with the grapes? Ever seen a grape? Ever looked at it closely? Grapes have seeds. Unless they're seedless grapes. But, in nature, grapes have seeds. And what's interesting is that most fruits, you can't see their seeds, unless you cut it open. Like, if you take an apple, and you hold it up to a light, you think you could see through and see the seeds? Never. No, no way. Take a a watermelon. You hold it up to the light. Watermelon's got a lot of seeds. You think you'll be able to see through the watermelon and what's called a rind? No, never. You take a a grape, grape has translucent skin. And and the and the meat inside the grape is also kind of translucent. And by the way, if you ever do a haunted house at home, you peel the grapes, you put them in a bowl, and you tell somebody they're eyeballs. Ever done that? No? Yeah. Just giving you free tips. Okay. But, you have to you tell them to touch it first and then you tell them it's eyeballs. That's how you do a homemade haunted house. Okay. I have more um tips for how to do a homemade haunted house, but doesn't seem like this crowd really cares about the important things, so I'll go back to pretending to teach a class. Okay. So, grapes are translucent. You hold them up to the light and you could see the seed inside. Okay. Yeah, fine. I get it. What's the point? I'll tell you the point. Mystically speaking, the entire story of the spies really had to do with our relationship with the physical world. The spies who did not want to enter the land, did not want to enter land precisely because they were spiritually on a lofty level where they wanted to do nothing but study Torah as a set of holy ideas, spiritual ideas, and that they could continue doing in the wilderness. They were not concerned with going into the land where they would have to be involved in all types of mundane activities like city building and and that and and and and farming, agriculture. I mean, they didn't want that stuff. So, they basically came back and they said, "No, let's stay in Yeshiva our whole lives and uh let's not go out into the world. Uh we can't handle it." In fact, when they said the land will devour us, what they meant was that the the the earthliness will devour us devour us. If we get involved in mundane activities, we're not going to be able to maintain our our spiritual connection. So, better we don't enter the land. Well, they were dead wrong because the entire purpose of the Torah is to be implemented in the physical world. God gave us the 613 commandments, which are all physical acts. They They're They're things that you do with your body. Um that's why our souls were sent to the world into bodies. That's why the Torah was taken from heaven and given down here on Earth so that we could do all the mitzvahs in actual physical uh reality. So, that's what they misunderstood. And the idea there, those who come to my uh weekly Tanya share, they'll be they'll be familiar with this concept, is that, you know, there's a concept called the the avedas habirurim, the the the the work of refining the sparks. There are sparks of of godly energy in the world. And that um there's there's klipa. Klipa literally means a a shell or a husk. And then there's kedusha. There's there's holiness. So, we have this whole like job of refining the klipa, the the the the stuff that is not holy and trying to turn it into stuff that is kedusha, that is holy. Now, within klipa, there are two types. There is the what we call klipus or shellish klipus atumeus, the utterly irredeemable klipa. So, that's stuff that Torah forbids and says just leave it alone. Don't mess with it because it's going to drag you down. So, the pork sandwich, there's nothing you can do with it. Just walk on by and that's it. Okay. Um but the kosher corned beef sandwich, oh, that's called klipus noiga. That's called the intermediate klipa, which is neutral. So, it's not holy. It's not innately holy, but potentially you could make it holy. You eat, you know, it's kosher and you make a blessing on it and you eat it for the right intention. And then you take those calories and then you burn those calories to do some type of a mitzvah, so then you took the corned beef sandwich and you turned it into holiness. So, that's that's the idea of entering the land means that Jewish people have to have dealings with the physical world, and not to let it drag us down, but rather that we should we should lift it up. So, this idea of the shalus klipus atomeus and the klipus neiga, the irredeemable klippa and the neutral intermediate klippa, those have, like every concept in in mysticism, they have um physical embodiments or representations uh that we often refer to as metaphors. They're actually not metaphors, cuz they're not rhetorical devices, they're actually living metaphors. So, the idea of shalus klipus atomeus and klipus neiga, irredeemable klippa, and and and neutral mundane elevatable klippa, that exists also in in uh in our in our world, which is there are two types of klippa. I told you before, klippa means a a skin or a husk or a shell. There are two types of klippa. There is a klippa that's opaque, um and then there's a klippa that's translucent. So, a klippa that's opaque represents the idea of something physical, where you look at it in the form that it exists in this world, and all you see is the form in which it exists in this world. You cannot perceive, I don't mean physical sight, I mean conceptually, you cannot perceive, you're looking at this thing, and you cannot perceive how is there a godly spark in it that can be redeemed. You look at it, you're like, this is useless, this has no place in in life, I just have to leave it alone. And that's what's called shallows clippers of Timaeus, the irredeemable clipper. It's like an opaque shell that makes it impossible to access the godly spark that's in it. But then you have a fruit like a grape where there it has a skin it has a skin, but the skin is translucent. So, if you look closely and if you look up to the you put it up to the light and you look with the light, ah, there's the seed deep inside. And that's like the idea of things that if you take a quick glance at them, they appear you just see the clipper, you see the shell, meaning you see the the superficial way it presents itself in this world. You see a car, you see a house. You see you see money and it looks like it's not holy. But look a little bit more closely because it has a potential to be elevated. You use that car to drive and do mitzvahs, you use that house to to do mitzvahs, to to have guests. You use use that money to do mitzvahs, to give tzedakah and to to support good causes. So, all that mundane stuff, if you look at it too quickly, you'll just see the superficial appearance of it and it looks like it's mundane. But if you hold it up to the light, the light of the Torah, then you'll have insight and you'll be able to see, ah, there's the seed inside, meaning there's the potential, the godly core within it that I can access by using this thing for the sake of heaven. So, Moses is telling the spies, go into the land and let us know if you think we can take it. It's not just something that happened when the Jews came out of Egypt. It's something happening right now. It's happening right now on a daily basis. We're looking at the land, we're scouting out the land, we're saying, do we think we can take it? Do do you think we can get up in the morning and and and learn some siddhis and meditate and daven and then manage to leave shul and go into the mundane world and not get sucked down into it? You think that we could we could manage that or you think that we're going to lose our spirituality the second we get to work or the second we get into our car and we start to commute to work? Right? We How's How are we going to maintain our spirituality when dealing with the mundane? So, here's what you have to know. That this endeavor is taking place in what setting? These were the days of the days of the ripening of the grapes. That the whole world is a grape. Metaphorically. That most of the clipa that you'll encounter is translucent clipa. That's what clipa snowiga means. Literally, noiga means glowing. Why is it glowing? Why is the clipa glowing? Because the godly spark inside is able to put out its light past that shell. If the shell is opaque, then the godly spark is not discernable within. But because the shell is translucent, so to speak, the godly spark is discernable. You can see its glow. Not the full light, but the the glow of it. So, you should realize that the world is basically full of grapes. That what whatever you'll encounter in your day-to-day life, whether it's eating or drinking or making money or spending money or DIY projects around the house, whatever these things are, these are also potentially spiritual activities. You just have to be able to look for that potential. But they're not uh they're not coconuts, they're grapes. You got to know the difference between the coconuts and the grapes. There are some coconuts in life. That's the stuff you look at and you're like, "I'm never going to be able to use this in my spiritual path." And the answer is, "You're right." So, leave it alone and then, you know, when Messiah comes, God will take care of all that stuff. But uh most most of things in our lives are are grapes. Okay, great. So anyways, what's my bad match for parsha? Thank you. That was all really I wanted you to remember. And that affects timing for birthday presents and making sure that I don't want anyone to be in a situation where you have to pay for expedited shipping is all I'm saying. Okay. Great. Um Now, I'll tell you about Let me Let me go out of the humash, the five books of Moses, and I'm going to open up my my trusty to hillum over here. My Psalms. Um Yeah. And uh this isn't an actual tree. Well, it is an actual tree, but it's not like an actual specific tree in a story. It's a metaphorical tree. It's actually two metaphorical trees. I'm confusing you. These are real trees. They even exist today. But what I'm saying is till now all the trees that I was mentioning to you are actual trees that existed. Um historically. The trees that I want to talk about now, they're not specific trees that existed. They're being used symbolically. Okay. So, I'm going to open up my trusty to hillum to capital tzadik base, which is chapter 92. So, it says over here, tzadik katamar yifrach. A tzadik, a righteous person, will blossom like a date palm. K'erez balavoning, like a Lebanese cedar, yisgeh, he will grow tall. Okay. Tzaddik katamar yifrach, k'erez balavoning yisgeh. The tzaddik, the righteous one, will flourish or or blossom like a date palm. He'll grow tall like a cedar in Lebanon. All right. So, which one is it? I know it's just a metaphor, but is it a date palm? Or is it a cedar? Yeah, it's both. That's right. But the way the Baal Shem Tov interprets it, it's actually a choice. Yeah. You know, I think it was Barbara Walters, alav ha-shalom, who was famous for the question, "If you were a tree, is that right? What tree would you be?" Yeah. She asked Katherine Hepburn. She said, "I think I'd be an oak." You can Google it. I think that's what happened. Yes. At any rate. Someday I'll find my audience. Really, that's what I'm really hoping. Someday. Uh just putting this stuff up on YouTube, hoping eventually find some people that understand these references. I held back, by the way, several other references tonight. Okay. Um if you were a tree, what kind of a tree would you be? There's two choices in this particular context. There's two choices. Would you be a date palm or would you be a cedar? Well, I don't know. Tell me more about them. Okay, I will. Um a date palm is famous for giving fruits. You know what kind of fruits grow from a date palm? Dates. Very Well, it's not a trick question. Yes, and dates are known as very tasty and very yummy. By the way, you know why the Satmar loves family is title bomb? Title bomb is a title bomb. It's a date palm. Yeah, because of this tzaddik ketamar yifrach. So, a tamar, a date palm, gives fruits. Specifically, it gives dates. And those dates are very yummy and sweet. So, that's what it's got going for it. Then you have the Lebanese cedar. Not just any old cedar, but a Lebanese cedar. You know what is special about about uh Lebanese cedars? What? Yeah, they're straight and they're very tall. When King Solomon was building the temple, he imported his cedars from Lebanon, cuz that's where the best, tallest cedars for building materials, that's where they come from. So, you get the best. I'm telling you, building tip, best cedars are from Lebanon. So, that's why it says Tzaddik Katamar Yifrach the righteous person will flourish. Flourish means to give flowers. Um you know that when a when a tree gives flowers, the flowers is the beginning of the growth of the fruit, right? So, any tree that gives flowers also gives fruit. Sometimes it's tiny fruits, so you don't really associate it with with being a fruit tree, but that's part of giving fruits is first that it blossoms, it gives flowers. That's why you see like the apple blossoms or the orange blossoms or the right? That's That's how it works. K'erez Be'Livanon Yisgeh, or alternatively, you could grow tall like the tallest type of tree, which is the Lebanese cedar. Not just a cedar, but a Lebanese cedar. You got to choose. What's the choice? Well, why is the date palm not growing as tall as the cedar? Precisely because it's giving fruit. All of the energy of a cedar, it puts into its own growth. That's why it grows so tall. It doesn't give fruit. A date palm uses up its energy, some of its energy. I mean, date palm's not short. It's not like a not like a shrub, but um it's not as tall as a Lebanese cedar. So, a lot of that height goes into its fruits. So, what do you want to be? You want to be a date palm, you want to be a cedar. So, here here's what it means. You can take all of your energy and put it into your personal growth. And by personal growth, I'm talking about important things. Your your spiritual connection and your your Torah study and and and doing mitzvahs. It's all good stuff. All good stuff. And you can become that kind of a tzaddik. The tzaddik who focuses on personal development and is very successful and grows very very tall spiritually speaking. Tall like a Lebanese cedar. Beautiful. Or you could be a tzaddik that flourishes like a date palm. Which means you don't grow quite as tall. Why? Because instead of putting all your energy into your growth, you allocate energy for fruits. Fruits are for others. Animals eat the fruits. People eat the fruits. You're taking some of your sweetness. Some of the sweetness is sugar. Sugar is energy. And you know how hard it is to photosynthesize? Not easy. I tried. I couldn't I couldn't I thought I I had all the ingredients for it. I couldn't make any sugar. There was some lady in Australia, some scammer, said she was able to photosynthesize. She was like charging people money to teach them how to photosynthesize. So finally they said, "You got to prove that you can photosynthesize." She said, "No problem." They locked her in a hotel room for a week. Within 24 hours she's banging on the door, she wants to be let out. So like, "You said you could photosynthesize." Oh, cuz what they did is they switched the room on her like right before. Cuz she probably had like Mike and Ike's hidden in the air vents or something. That's I'm just projecting cuz if I was locked for 24 hours to pretend that I could photosynthesize, I have a buddy put some stash some Mike and Ike's in the air vent. That's just how it where in brain goes. But anyway, so they switched rooms on her and then she was like, "Oh, no." Like she didn't have her stash. So, she banged on the door to let get let This is a real thing. I forget her name. But anyways, she she called herself a lightarian. She eats light. So, then they let her out and they're like they're like, "Well, why didn't it work?" She was like, "Well, cuz the air was too impure over here. So, it city air didn't didn't allow me to photosynthesize." Yeah. Anyway, so photosynthesis, it's no joke. Now, think about that. You're photosynthesizing and you're creating this energy and you could allocate that energy to like grow a little bit more, little taller, or you could take some of that energy and send it into some fruits that you don't even benefit from. Others are going to benefit from it. What are you going to do? Ah. So, that's why I'm saying to Fiber Walter's question, which kind of tree do you want to be? Do you want to be a cedar or do you want to be a date palm? And that's that's the choice that all of us can make. I'll tell you something interesting. The wife of the Rebbe Rashab The Rebbe Rashab was the fifth Rebbe of Chabad. And he was the last Chabad Rebbe to actually lead from the town of Lyubavichi. And then World War I came and he had to leave Lyubavichi and they went to Rostov. And that's where he passed away. And his son, the sixth Rebbe, succeeded him. And he relocated several times and eventually came to New York. Um The sixth Rebbe's mother, meaning the Rebbe Rashab's wife, Rebbetzin Shterna Sarah, she went with her son on every leg of that journey. She was with him the whole time. And in fact, the last 2 years of her life, she lived in 770. A lot of people don't realize that the last Rebbetzin of Chabad to lead in the town of Lubavitch ended up in New York, in Brooklyn, and lived on the second floor of 770 for 2 years. She arrived in 1940, and she passed away in 1942. So, just short of of 2 years. She arrived at Tes Adar uh Tav Shin, and she passed away Yud Gimel Shvat Tav Shin Beis. Now, by the way, if you go to the Ohel, you'll see her Matzeiva, her her monument right outside of the Ohel. In fact, she's right next to Rebbetzin Chaya Mushka, the the Rebbe's wife. And in fact, she was the first Lubavitcher buried at Old Montefiore Cemetery. The old before the the old Lubavitcher place was in Staten Island. And the Rebbe, who had already the meaning the the sixth Rebbe's son-in-law, who had already come to America in 1941, there was no way he was going to allow his stepfather to need to travel from Brooklyn to Staten Island. This is before the Verrazano, so you could you could only get there by by boat. So, there there was no way that the the Rebbe was going the future Rebbe was going to allow his father-in-law, who was then then the current Rebbe, to have to get on a boat every time he wanted to go to his mother's grave. So, the Rebbe had Rebbe Kazarnovsky open up a new Chelka in Old Montefiore in Cambria Heights, Queens, and that's where Rebbetzin Chana Soda was buried um in 1942. And because she was buried there, then eventually her son, the sixth Rebbe, who passed away 8 years later on on Yud Shvat Tav Shin Yud, then he was laid to rest there. And then eventually, 1994, with the passing of our Rebbe, he was laid to rest there as well, next to his father-in-law. So, if you think about it, so many people, tens of thousands of people from all over the world, come to this this random neighborhood in Queens. They come to Cambria Heights and you know, it's like really you think about the amount of people come there to daven and and and connect like why in such a place? Like how did it even become that place? Because of Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson. Cuz she was laid to rest there and then that became where her son and then eventually um her son's son-in-law, our Rebbe, was laid to rest and that's how it It all started It all It all started from her. So, why am I telling you about this? Because today was her day of burial. Chamisha Asar B'Shvat the New Year for Trees is the day of her burial. Now, I mentioned earlier, if you were listening she passed away what date? Did anyone catch that? Very good. I'm so impressed. Yes, Yud Gimel, which is the 13th. So, usually in Jewish custom we make burial right away. So, why wasn't it the 13th? Okay, so she she passed away on Shabbos, Shabbos Shira, Parshas Beshalach, Yud Gimel Shvat. So, she passed when Shabbos. Okay, but that only explains one day, not two. When she passed away her son, the previous Rebbe was in Chicago. And he got the news right after Shabbos and he wanted to head back. And you want to know what these nudniks from Chicago did? They wouldn't put him on the train. They wouldn't let him leave. They said, "Oh, we scheduled personal meetings. After you give us all of our personal meetings, then we'll let you go." And it's incredible to even wrap your mind around such a concept that he is in raw grief, his mother had passed away. He didn't think I mean, obviously, he wouldn't have left town if he thought his mother was going to pass away. And these people say "We want you to give us our personal meetings. We want you know, we we've got problems. We want to talk about our problems." I don't even know how they thought he had the presence of mind to hear their problems, but at any rate, the the Friediker Rebbe said, "Since the day that I accepted the position of Rebbe, I have I have got a net came there of zich. I have no opinion about myself. So, whatever the city should have a bottom of going to pass again, whatever the rabbis are going to say, is what I'll do." So, they said, "You should stay and you should take people for personal audience." Okay. So, he did that and he did that much of Shabbos and excited night and Sunday, and then he got a late train out on Sunday, and he made it back on Monday, and then the burial was on Monday. So, she passed away on the 13th, but her burial was actually the 15th, which is today, the New Year for Trees. Okay. Again, why am I telling you all this? She grew up in Cherkasy, where her father was a Rebbe from the Chernobyl dynasty. And then later in Ovruch, where her father I'm sorry. In Cherkasy, where her grandfather, where her mother's father, of Yankev Yisrael, was a Rebbe. Yankev Yisrael Twersky, which is the name of the the Chernobyl dynasty. So, she grew up there and then later, after her um her father, Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak, became a Rebbe, so then they moved to Ovruch, where he was a Rebbe. And she got married and she moved to Lubavitch, where her husband, the Rebbe Rashab, was born and raised. Okay. When she came to Lubavitch, she felt bad because all the other girls were taller than her. I guess where she lived before, it wasn't it wasn't uh she wasn't the the shortest. Or if she was, it wasn't so discernable. And she came to Lubavitch, I don't know what was in the water over there, but the girls were much taller than her and it she was struck by that right away. And she actually felt bad about it. So, she told her father-in-law, the Rebbe Maharash, and he told her, "Don't worry. Short trees give the best fruit." Short trees give the best fruit. So, it's interesting. Her day of burial, not her day of passing, but because of these the mysteries of how things work, her burial ended up being on this Yom Tov of uh the new year of of trees, and she was compared to a tree. And specifically, what kind of a tree? The short tree that gives good fruits. What's the short tree that gives good fruits? Not the Lebanese cedar, which grows tall but gives no fruits. The date palm, which is the relatively shorter, but it gives good fruits. And that's the way that really we all want to be. It is we want to take from the energy that we could allocate for our further growth and to become taller and greater and wiser. You know, I could go study things that are on my level. Why do I have to go teach other people and repeat stuff that I already know? Or I could go work on my I could I could daven a little bit longer. Why do I have to go do chesed, do something uh do a favor for somebody? Let me let me focus on my on my growth. I'm not talking about being selfish like I want to go sit in a jacuzzi and and sip piña colada. I don't mean that. I mean, I want to go work on my spiritual growth. So we say, "You know what? That's nice and that you could do that and you would be still called a tsaddiq because tsaddiq also applies to the Lebanese cedar. But you know, there's a better way to be and that is take some of your energy and make fruit, meaning create something that other people can benefit from as well. Okay. So, those are some trees. Happy tree New Year. And may may you all give good fruits. Amen.