Essential moments that begin with little fanfare

Faith Mendy Lent

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TOMORROW evening, Jewish communities mark Tu Bishvat, the “New Year for Trees” — the beginning of the agricultural year, crucial for calculating many biblical laws connected to the age of fruit trees.

Today, it is commonly observed as a celebration of nature, with a selection of fruits and nuts traditionally served. Yet the festival feels almost wilfully strange. We mark it in the depths of winter, when branches are bare, fields are muddy and life seems dormant.

If there were ever a time not to celebrate trees, surely this would be it.

Wouldn't spring – with its blossoms and colour – make far more sense? Yet that very strangeness is the point.