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The
Baal Shem Tov, or Besht — the founder of Chasidism —
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Blessing for the first Tu Bish'vat SederFrom P'ri Ets Hadar – "The Fruit of the Majestic Tree", the first published Tu Bish'vat seder, c. 17th centuryYou made all of them with wisdom, higher above and lower below, to join [together] the tent to become one (l'chaber et ha'ohel lihyot echad), And you made trees and grasses bloom from the ground in the shape and pattern of what is above, to make known to the children of Adam the wisdom and discernment in them, to reach what is hidden; And you will drop upon them the flow and power of your higher vessels (midotekha, meaning Sefirot) [as it says]: "And he made the harvest fruit" and "the fruit tree making fruit by its kind"; "and from the fruit of your works you will satisfy the land", "to eat from her fruits and to satisfy from her goodness"; "to give life through them to the soul of all life (l'hachayot bahem nefesh kol chai)"– [meaning] from the spiritual strength which is in them; And from your fruit will come the reward of the fruit of the belly [womb], to bring life and nourish the body: "and his fruit will be for eating and his leaves for healing"; And this moon [of Sh'vat] is the beginning of your works [from now until Shavuot], to ripen [the fruit] and make her new [so that]: "a person will bring his fruit" "making fruit by their kinds"; for thus the days of ripening for the higher tree will be fulfilled, "the tree of life in the midst of the garden," and he will make fruit above. May the will that comes from you, our God and God of our ancestors, be so: That by the power of the merit of eating the fruit which we now eat and bless, and our meditating upon the secret of their roots above upon which they hang (depend), you will make the flow of desire and blessing and free energy, shefa, flow over them, to return again to make them grow and bloom, from the beginning of the year until the end of the year, for good and for blessing, for good life and for peace. And may you sustain the word which you promised us by the hands of Malachi your seer: "And for you I will cast out the one who eats away, and the fruit of the earth will not be destroyed for you, and no vine in the field will be barren for you, said YHVH of hosts." "Look out from your holy habitation (ma'on), from the heavens" and bless for us this year for good and for blessing, "let them drink blessings forever, let them celebrate in joy your presence," "and [so] the earth will give her produce and the tree of the field his fruit"– may you bring upon them a blessing of goodness; May the might and majesty of the blessings for eating the fruits become lights in the wellspring of blessings, the Righteous One [the Cosmic Tree], life of the worlds, and may the whole [Tree] return now to his original strength, and may the strength of his bow return, "for you are the one who will bless the Righteous One, YHVH, desire will crown him like a rampart"; and may we see the bow, joyful and beautified with his colors; and from there may the flow of desire and mercy flow over us, for pardoning and forgiving our sins and errors; And may all the sparks scattered by our hands, or by the hands of our ancestors, or by the sin of the first human against the fruit of the tree, be returned [to be] included in the majestic might of the tree of life. "Then the trees of the forest will sing out" and the tree of the field will raise a branch and make fruit, day by day; "And [then] you will take from the first of all the fruits of the ground [on Shavuot] to bring the first-fruit offering (bikurim) before the altar of YHVH" with praise and thanks. |
How to use this blessing
Note: Material in brackets is added to make the prayer easier to read. Material in parentheses represents alternative readings or Hebrew transliteration. Abridged and translated by Rabbi David Seidenberg (c) 2006. Download a Word doc with the text of this blessing. See also Tu Bish'vat Wisdom and links to texts and resources.
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Design in progress © Rabbi David Mevorach Seidenberg 2006 |