Spiritual leadership
Message from Rabbi Nathan Alfred... (Jan. 2012)
Tu B’shevat is a festival with many faces. Nowadays it is mostly associated with environmentalism and Eco-Judaism. That’s a far cry from its origins as a cut-off point for the agricultural tax year! The Lurianic Kabbalists in Safed were responsible for adding many of the mystical elements, and it was they who introduced the Seder that we now celebrate at the IJC. Tu B’shevat is also a time for planting trees, and particularly trees in Israel.
There are several Jewish "new years" - and four are mentioned already in the Mishnah: Rosh Hashanah we celebrate as the literal "head of the year", but the Torah tells us it is the first day of the seventh month (Tishre). Thus the first month is Nisan - and this is the new year "for kings and festivals". The first of Elul designates the new year for animals. But Tu B'shevat is the new year for trees! What does that mean? Well, it marks the cut-off point for the tax year - and the tithes. In the Torah (Leviticus 19:23-5) it is written that the fruit may not be eaten from a tree in its first three years, and that the fruit from the fourth year be brought to the priests. Only from the fifth year onwards can we enjoy it ourselves. The age of the fruit-tree is calculated according to Tu B'shevat.
The sixteenth century kabbalist, Isaac Lurie - the Ari - and his followers are responsible for many innovations in Judaism that we still enjoy today. For example, they created the "Kabbalat Shabbat" service - of songs, Psalms and Lecha Dodi - with which we welcome the Sabbath each week. They also gave us the seven Hakafot of Simchat Torah. And they developed the meaning and the liturgy of Tu B'shevat, creating a seder akin to that of Pesach. There are four cups of wine - but not just red wine - rather we begin with white wine and redden over the cups, representing the blush of spring and the seasons. They also added fruity readings from Jewish literature, and employed the image of a cosmic tree to represent God's relationship with the world.
This seder spread throughout the Sephardi world, but only reached Ashkenazi Judaism at a later stage. It is rare to find Ashkenazi Jews today who celebrated this festival growing up. If they acknowledged Tu B'shevat at all, it was by sending money to Israel to plant trees. The Jewish National Fund, for example, since its establishment in 1901, have planted more than 240 million trees. Early Zionism made use of the festival as a symbol of the Jewish attachment to the physical land of Israel.
Today all these earlier emphases of Tu B'shevat still resonate, but now in these environmentally-conscious times, Tu B'shevat comes to symbolise the greener aspects of Judaism too. We remind ourselves that our traditions have always displayed concern for the environment - for example the prohibition against chopping down your enemies' fruit-trees during warfare and siege (Deuteronomy 20:19, "Are the trees your enemies, that you should attack them?") and the general rule against wasteful destruction (ba'al tashchit).
In conclusion, Tu B'Shevat is a very versatile festival and able to adapt with the times. Come and celebrate it with us at the IJC. Last year our Headteacher Alex Licht ran a very successful seder for the Sunday School – and I am sure that it will be even better this year! .
Rabbi Nathan Alfred
Introducing Rabbi Nathan Alfred...
Nathan Alfred, 27, a King's College, Cambridge graduate and chess champion, joined the IJC as a student rabbi in October, 2008. He was ordained by Leo Baeck College in London in June, 2008 and continues as our community Rabbi."
In an interview, Nathan explained his path to the rabbinate and his hopes for his Brussels assignment:
Q: How did you become interested in the rabbinate?
A: Since my bar mitzvah, my rabbi encouraged me. She taught me Hebrew in private and always ensured that I was working on something Jewish. My mother was an administrator at the synagogue so I was always surrounded by Judaism. When you grow up in a Jewish community, it feels like one big family. If you grow up like that, you work in that environment. You want to work in that community. I was looking for a profession where I could make a difference.
Q: Tell us a little about your background?
A: I was born in Coventry. My father is from Russian Polish family, came to England about a 100 years ago. They were in London to begin with and moved to begin a tailor’s business in Coventry. My own father went to university, and worked in accounts department, moving the family when I was four months old to London. My mother converted to Judaism, 35 years ago before my parents got married. Her family is from Wales.
My father was orthodox. Together, my parents found a balance at a reform synagogue. My parents were regular shulgoers at the Bromley Reform Synagogue. That is in southeast London, in Kent, wrong side of the river. We always kept Shabbat at home. We lit candles and held Shabbat dinners. We didn’t do our homework on Shabbat. We always had Kashrut at home. There were five sets of plates, one even for the cat.
I have one older sister. She studied philosophy and theology. She was a teacher of religious education, works for refugee charities in London, and is also doing a PHD in Refugee, She is 32.
Q: How did chess become your passion?
A: I was a child full of energy. At an early age, my parents sat me in front of a chess board to calm me down. I started going to tournaments at age seven. When I was 15 or 16, I won the British Junior Championships two years in a row. I liked the way the game makes you think. It makes you think deeply. It is logic. It is a game that a gnat can bathe in and an elephant can drink. After university, I thought I might play chess for a profession. I spent a year studying the game with a grand master and playing in Hungary. I was playing in tournaments, but in the end I decided that I didn’t want to spend all my time playing a game.
Q: What about your studies?
A: I did King’s College in Cambridge, I read classics and graduated in 2001. I worked six months to get some money and was in Hungary for 14 months, and started at Leo Baeck College (to become a rabbi) in 2003. I am now a fifth year student there, writing my thesis. My thesis is on how to interpret the destruction of the temple, theologically and what it meant to the Jewish community. I am examining how the rabbis responded, their hopes and fears. This was a cataclysmic event - I guess at little like the Shoah – and I want to know how Jews at that time came to terms with the tragedy.
Q: You have started a group called Eurojews? What’s that?
A: When I was living in Budapest, liberal Jews were isolated from the rest of the Jewish community. They were questioning whether they were Jewish.
So I hatched a plan. In 2003, I invited other liberal Jews to celebrate the festival with us, so they could see that liberal Judaism was a viable thing, they had support. We had about 25 people come from all over Europe.
Everyone had a good time, so now we meet about three times a year. We last got together in Brussels.
Q: What appealed to you about Brussels?
A: The internationalism of the community. The members are high powered. They work in the European Union, they are journalists, lawyers, economists. It is exciting to work with them and their children.
Q: What are your goals?
A: I am looking to create a community. Many people in Brussels are away from their homes and families. The IJC creates a substitute. I want to get more and more people involved, to enlarge the sense of Jewish family.
I enjoy teaching and learning. I enjoy creating Jewish things. I want to help the community create new programs.
- Interview by Bill Echikson
