These are the days when we live up to the heroism of our warriors, the victorious generation of our Second War of Independence, who did not hesitate to throw their lives on the other side to eliminate the monstrous entity that arose on our southern border.
In their death, they commanded us to live, and asked us to continue the war to eradicate evil from the world.
In the week when we buried dozens of our soldiers, Tu Beshvat visited us to comfort us. There is power in the Jewish time to rescue us from the destruction here and now, and to look up at the truths of our lives, by virtue of which we became a people and sang with God and with people, and we were able to them.
At the beginning of the tractate of Rosh Hashanah it is said in the Mishnah: "The four heads of the year are: one in Nisan... one in Elul... one in Tishrei... one in the tribe of the New Year's Eve, according to the words of Beit Shammai. Beit Hillel a And they say, at fifteen it's him."
The date was given a halachic significance regarding donations and tithes, firstborns and the like.
In recent generations, when we returned home, the country woke up from its slumber and began to bloom.
The words of Ezekiel were fulfilled in us: "And you, the mountains of Israel, let your arms be bowed down and your branches be lifted up - for the people of Israel, for they are near to come."
The further we got away from the destruction and the land was conquered by foreigners, the more our people spread around the world.
The Land of Israel was for the district an abstract object, a dream that preserved a dim hope of returning to it one day.
The land fell from its greatness and a curse fell upon it: "And I have laid waste to the land, and your enemies who dwell in it shall lay waste upon it."
Our sages also read a blessing into the curse, as the Ramban wrote in the 13th century from personal testimony: "It is good news that heralds in all the revelations that our country does not accept our enemies, and this is also a great evidence and a promise to us, because you will not find in all the settlement a land that is good and wide and She used to blow like never before - and she was as bad as she was;
Because since we left it, it has not received a nation or a language, and everyone is trying to resettle and there is no God in their hands." History has shown a close connection between the people's existence in their land and their flourishing. With the national slumber, the land also fell asleep for hundreds of years, and refused to respond to foreigners. She waited for us as a mother to her sons, as a wife to love her heart .
After the expulsion from Spain, a community of sages was formed in Israel that dealt with Jewish secret teachings.
They strengthened the country's consciousness.
In order to bring the people's redemption closer, the 10th of Shebat was an appropriate date, both in learning and in eating fruits that our country was praised for. The fruits that came from afar were dried. Their taste contained longing for what was, and inspired the hope for the renewal of our days in the ancient homeland. The dried fruits are reminiscent of the dry bones that the prophet saw Ezekiel in the sixth century BC in Babylon, when he wanted to encourage the people after the first destruction.
The exiles lamented, "Our hope is lost," and he replied that it was not lost, and just as the dry bones joined together and rose again in a crowd - so the people will rise again on their land: "Behold, I am opening your graves, and I have raised you from your graves, my people, and I have brought you to the land of Israel".
In recent generations, when we returned home, the country woke up from its slumber and began to bloom.
The words of Ezekiel were fulfilled in us: "And ye mountains of Israel, let your hands be bowed down and your branches be lifted up - for the people of Israel, for they are near to come."
The aforementioned Rabbi Abba (beginning of the fourth century) saw this as a sign of the "end of the Magolah", for our good posterity.
Rashi from the depths of the exile in the 11th century interpreted: "When you give the Land of Israel fertile with a beautiful eye - then the end will come, and you have no end more than an exile."
On the Tu Beshvat table it is therefore important to bring back old loves. The dried fruits are a memory of discovery. Today, when our fields are blooming and fresh fruits flood our markets, it is important to give them the central place in Tu Beshvat.
This is a clear illustration of the vision of the dry bones, the hope that stands at the foundation of the national anthem.
These are not blind ideas.
Our warriors fell defending the land, the memory of which we preserved in the 12th century. Their bodies collapsed, but their souls were gathered into the bundle of life and the eternal memory of our people. Hundreds and thousands of years to come, after we are gone, they will remain forever in our people's memory. The dry bones were resurrected; with our eyes we saw how We rose from the ashes of the furnaces then, and in our eyes we will see how we will rise from the ashes of the kibbutzim to rebuild our lives. When we look at how Amir Ilan the mighty people of the people rise up, and we will not forget those who fell; they revive our roots here.
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