Planting the seeds ... Rabbi Michele Medwin shows Jewish student Brianna N. how to plant the seeds for her own "bitter-herb," a necessity on a Passover Seder plate.
Jewish Students Celebrate Spring on Tu B’Shevat
By Nikki N.
January 29 celebrates Tu B’Shevat, a Jewish holiday representing the fruits of spring and what they signify. In honor of the holiday, Jewish Studies Director Rabbi Michele Medwin created a feast of dried and fresh fruits and nuts for all the Jewish students.
Tu B’Shevat has been celebrated, predominately in Israel, for hundreds of years during the beginning of spring. Products like almonds, figs, pears, and dates dot Israel’s countryside each and every spring.
Jewish people believe different types of natural products represent each person’s soul. Almonds have a hard shell with a soft center, while pears have soft outsides with a hard pit in the center, something most of us can relate to at one point of our lives.
Throughout the meal Medwin led the students in a prayer service, speaking about the significance of all the different foods. After each prayer the students were able to eat and experience the foods, which Medwin provided herself. Students shared about times in their lives when they weren’t exactly “soft” on the outside but eventually opened up. “When I used to get up at the table I was very hard and resistant to any help, but eventually I would open up and there would be a softer me,” said student Ben B.
The night came to an end when Medwin introduced the students to small cups with a hockey puck? shaped object in the bottom of it. She passed one to each student and poured water into every cup, which then made the object grow into a clump of soil.
With Passover on its way in a few months, Medwin thought that the students could grow their own parsley, the “bitter-herb” on the Seder plate. Each student was able to plant their own seeds in hopes that it would grow into a large and healthy herb. The hope of a blossoming spring was undeniably in the air.
