Tu Bishvat, the New Year for Trees, is a beautiful time to herald new life after a long and dormant winter. In the seventeenth century, a new custom arose to celebrate Tu Bishvat with a seder, a ceremonial meal inspired by Passover.
Bloom, Vine of David's new Tu Bishvat Haggadah, is inspired by the story of the early pioneers of the modern State of Israel. This seder reflects upon the dreams of a Jewish national homeland in the Promised Land throughout the centuries and its culmination with Zionism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Bloom is simple and not deeply mystical. It focuses the modern return of the Jewish people to their land as a part of the broader plan of world redemption.
In Jewish tradition the sukkah is beautified with a picture of clouds and the statement, “In remembrance of the clouds of glory.” This causes us to remember that the sukkah itself is a reminder of the cloud of the Shekinah that sheltered the children of Israel during their travels in the wilderness. To keep our eyes looking for the return of our Messiah, we have included on this photo the verse, “Behold, he is coming with the clouds” (Revelation 1:7).
