Trees of Hope

This month contains within it the holy day of the New Year of the trees, Tu B'Shvat. While it is true that a large amount of our food comes from places other than trees, there is a special status attributed to the fruit which comes from the tree. In the creation story the trees were commanded to be "fruit trees". But, when they came out, they were instead, fruit-bearing trees. This is described by the commentators as the first sin that was committed; they did not fulfill the commandment of G-d to be "fruit trees". Let us take a closer look at this through an insight in this weeks Torah portion.
The Hebrew people have been miraculously saved from the grips of the evil Egyptians-ten great plagues, pillars of fire and cloud, and-the culmination of it all-the great journey of the people on the dry land through the sea. Then, what follows? Food! The Torah can't seem to get enough of it, the bitter water, meat and bread from heaven. It just goes on and on-how to take it, when to take it, when not take it, why don't we have it, etc. The manna in the desert was also a miraculous thing-miracle food to be sure. Why does the Torah spend so much time on food at this point, and why are the people complaining about it so much?
The answer is the following. (The main point of this paragraph was inspired and thought of by Rav Josh.) The Hebrew people were just in Egypt. Although things were hard in regards to slavery, one thing there which was for certain was food. The very nature of Egypt is that there is no requirement for rain to water the crops, there is natural irrigation from the Nile. Now the people are wandering through the desert, and although they have been promised food by Moses and G-d, the reality is they must wake-up everyday wondering where there food is coming from. They were not allowed to leave over any of their food until the morning. This is a scary prospect. Sustenance is no longer just given to them; rather it is going to come to them, completely without their control, and they must wait to see what will be from day to day. Their existence demands deep, continuous belief that Hashem will provide for them day to day.
The month of Shvat, other than being made famous for the New Year of the trees, is also connected to fixing the attributes related to eating (as related by the Sefer Yetzirah). Tu B'Shvat falls on a very auspicious day. There are four different "seasons" to the Jewish calendar. The one we are in currently began in the beginning of last month Tevet, follows through the month of Shvat, and culminates with the end of Adar, next month. Tu B'Shvat is the exact middle point of the three winter months. All these ideas about Tu B'Shvat and the month of Shvat in general may connect to the sin of the "fruit tree" and the fixation on food in this week's Torah portion.
When the trees in the garden 'decided' that they were going to be a fruit-bearing trees rather than fruit trees, their essence chose to be an essence of process. The tree, then, must go through gestation periods in order to bring forth its produce. Process is risky. When any process is undertaken, there is the chance that the outcome will not represent the initial thought of what was to be. This is what we see in regards to the Hebrew people upon their salvation from Egypt. In regards to their general sustenance (i.e., food), they are no longer provided without worry. This seems paradoxical to be sure, after all, they were being provided food by miracles from the sky. Yet on a day to day level they were never sure what was to be.
And now I will provide the part of this piece which is supposed to tie it all together and make it completely relevant to our lives. Let's see if the process worked.
Tu B' Shvat falls on the midday of winter because that is the day when we begin transforming and shifting from darkness to light. This process is a difficult one. We are far away from the promises we made on Yom Kippur, and we have a long time before we see where we come out of the passage of the seasons. When you go through a long tunnel you can hope there is going to be some light at the end. We have all tried our best to live up to our expectations of the High Holy Days, but when it comes down to it, the only thing really sustaining us at this point are the miracles from G-d. But that's a frightening thought. How can I be sure I'll make it to the end? Will there really be any freedom when Pesach comes around? The trees give us hope. If it were possible to just take from the tree itself as a fruit tree, then we might never learn the great appreciation of the process and the anticipation that comes from wondering whether the tree will bear fruit. Tu B'Shvat is the fulcrum of the axis teaching us that at this crucial juncture of the year, the shift from darkness to light rides upon our ability to place our full trust in G-d day to day. The time is long gone since we've made our plans of tshuva, the time has come to eat of the fruits of faith and trust that we will make it, that Hashem will indeed bring us to the full salvation and redemption, to the Holy Land.