It seems ironic that Tu b’Shvat, the Jewish holiday celebrating
trees and nature, falls in the dead of winter. A cynic might
explain the timing as appropriate in light of Judaism’s “cold”
embrace of environmental issues which don’t always rank too high
on our communal agenda. We can even justify our scorn of all
things green by pointing to the seemingly anti-environmentalist
teaching in Pirkei Avot (3:9): Rabbi Shimon would say: One who
walks along a road and studies, but interrupts his studying to
say, "How beautiful is this tree! How beautiful is this plowed
field!" – Scripture considers it as if he had forfeited his
life. There is a perception that Judaism has a conflict between
His word vs. His world. A deeper look at our sources, however,
reveals an inspiring intersection of Torah and Teva (nature):
The Book of Genesis describes God proudly looking upon His
creation and declaring it “very good.” Man is created and
immediately charged with caring for creation: “And God placed
man in the Garden of Eden to