Kabbalah/Chassidut

 
 

A Delightful Tu b'Shvat Custom for Families

The great Sephardic Torah authority and Kabbalist, Rabbi Haim Palachi (1788-1869) of Izmir, Turkey, records a custom that each member of the family should say the blessing over a specifically-designated fruit:

Father: should say "mezonot" over a grain product, related to his wish for success in earning a livelihood, which is represented by wheat, as in the verse, "He shall satisfy you with the fat of wheat." (Tehilim 147:14).

Mother/wife: should say the blessing of "ha'etz" over grapes, as the verse in Tehilim (128:3) compares the wife of a G-d fearing man to a "fruitful vine."

Sons: should eat olives in accordance to the above verse which too likens the sons of G-d fearing man to young olive trees.

Daughters: should eat pomegranates and walnuts which are covered by an outer shell or covering, symbolic of tzeniut -modesty- that is required of all Jewish girls.

Young children: should eat apples, in honor of the courageous women of Bnei Yisrael during the Egyptian bondage who secretly delivered their babies in the apple orchards.

(And perhaps adult singles looking to get married should eat dates on this night! --Ascent-of-Safed staff)

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From the e-book, ""TREE OF LIFE" (Sefer "Eitz Hayyim Hee") by Rachmiel-Hayyim Drizen -- available from our KabbalaOnline-shop site.

 


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