Tu B’Shvat is the new year for trees. We have much to learn from the trees and the Talmud relates a great message about the past, the future and the relationship between them.
The Succah seems to be so flimsy and vulnerable, yet it is the archetypal example of protection. How can such a temporary structure provide such protection?
Rav Kook pointed out that there are three different of shofar. Each one of them represents a different type of redemption. This message is as relevant today as it ever was.
We have the custom to blow the shofar throughout the month of Elul as a preparation for Rosh HaShanah. The shofar comes to wake us up but also to gather us together in order that we can return to God together.
The Three Weeks between the 17th of Tamuz and the 9th of Av are a time of sadness and danger. Rav Kook shows that they are also a time during which we can rebuild the Temple if we learn the secret of Causeless Love.
The Mishnah teaches us that the tablets were broken on the 17th of Tamuz as a result of the building of the Golden Calf. Rav Kook explains that if we understand the essence of idolatry we can find a way to mend the broken tablets.
