Concerning the inyan of Chamishah Asar b'Shevat, we explained in the previous shiur that this is a remez to the inyan of growth. It takes place on the 15th day of the month, which is the day that קיימא סיהרא באשלמותא, the day that the moon is full, which represents shleimut, completion. It represents the completion of the avodah of the Bnei Yisrael, because the Bnei Yisrael are compared to the moon and they count by the moon, and therefore when we're talking about the completion of the moon, the full moon, it refers to the completion of the Bnei Yisrael. But at the same time, what is the holiday, the Yom Tov of Chamishah Asar b'Shevat, when we celebrate the inyan of growth? And this shows that when a person is really complete, which means when he comes to a very high madregah, then he realizes that he still has to grow. So therefore, Chamishah Asar b'Shevat is even greater than the 15th day of Nisan and the 15th day of Tishrei. Because the 15th day of Nisan represents the inyan of shleimut, the 15th day of Tishrei represents shleimut, and therefore Yom Tov takes place on these two Chamishah Asar. But on Chamishah Asar b'Shevat we have an additional point that the shleimut is so great that you realize that you have to grow. This is connected davka to Chamishah Asar b'Shevat, and it's connected to the month of Shevat.

And as we see an interesting thing that the word אילן is בגימטריא שבט. If you write the word אילן במלואו, which means the word אילן really is written אלף יוד למד נון, but if you write it out differently, you write out every letter with its full מילוי: אלף למד יוד נון, the אלף itself is אלף למד פא, יוד is יוד ואו דלת, למד is למד מם דלת, נון is נון ואו נון. So אילן במלואו is בגימטריא שבט. So we see a special connection between ראש השנה לאילנות and Shevat. But what is the depth of the connection between ראש השנה לאילנות and Shevat? We know that every month has a special connection to a Shevat, because the 12 months of the year are connected to the 12 שבטים. As it says in Megaleh Amukot on the Torah in the beginning of פרשת שמות, and also in פרשת בא on the פסוק, קפיטל י״ב פסוק ב׳, and many other ספרים, in the Kehillat Yaakov, אות י׳, ערך י״ב חדשים י״ב שבטים. And even says in the Tur Orach Chaim, the end of סימן תכ״ז, that י״ב ראשי חדשי השנה שגם הם נקראים מועדים כנגד י״ב שבטים, that the 12 ראשי חדשים of the year are כנגד the 12 שבטים. So even though he mentions it concerning the 12 ראשי חדשים, but it's self-understood that since Rosh Chodesh is the beginning of the month, this refers to the whole month. So the 12 months are כנגד the 12 שבטים.

The month of Shevat is כנגד Yosef. According to one way that we count, it's כנגד Yosef. There's another way that it's כנגד Asher, which means if we count it according to their birth, then the 11th month of the year is the 11th child, which is Yosef. If we count it according to the way they brought the קרבנות, because we know when they dedicated the משכן, the 12 שבטים, the 12 נשיאים of the 12 שבטים brought their קרבנות for חנוכת המזבח, but that was a different order, not the order the way they were born. According to that order, the 11th one was Asher. If we're going to say that Shevat is connected to the Shevat of Yosef, we right away see a connection between what we explained before: that ראש השנה לאילנות expresses the ענין of growth, that you feel that you constantly have to grow higher and higher, is connected to Yosef. Because as we know the name of something represents and expresses what the thing is, so the name Yosef expresses what Yosef stands for. The פסוק says that why was he called Yosef? Because she said, his mother Rachel said, יוסף ה׳ לי בן אחר, ה׳ should add to me another son. And as the ספרים explain, what does that mean? That his עבודה was going to be, that he was going to change from a אחר to a בן. He was going to take אחר, other things, and change it and add it and make it become a בן. אחר, which is others, represents sitara achara, the other side, which means the קליפה, the evil. And his avodah was changing from that into kedushah, as we actually saw that that's what happened later on. He became the מלך of מצרים, and he definitely utilized everything that he did in מצרים to serve Hashem. So he changed from אחר to a בן. So he added. The name Yosef itself comes from the word הוספה, addition. When we say a person has to grow, that means he constantly has to add and add and add, ma'alin bakodesh, you have to go higher and higher, you have to be mosif veholech, you have to add, as the לשון is written concerning Chanukah candles, that you have to be mosif veholech, you have to add. This is the concept of tzemichah, the concept of growth. So we see here the connection between the ענין of חמשה עשר בשבט, which represents the concept of growth, to the month of שבט. So here we see all the ענינים. It's on the 15th day, which is שלימות, the real שלימות is that you know that you have to grow, And this is the 15th day of the month of שבט because שבט is כנגד יוסף, which is the ענין of Yosef, an ענין of growth. And since חמישה עשר בשבט is ראש השנה לאילנות, which means it's the beginning of the year, so just like the head is the beginning of the body, but not only the beginning, but it also controls the whole body, so too, this ענין that we said in חמישה עשר בשבט is not only נוגע to the month of שבט, which is the month of Yosef, but really from here we have to bring it into the whole year, into all other months. Even though all other months are connected to different שבטים, but from here we take this concept of tzemichah, of growing, and the concept of הוספה, of adding, to the whole year. Because we know even concerning the שבטים, there is an ענין of התכללות השבטים זה בזה, the combination of all שבטים, the mixture of all שבטים. Like we find by the berachah of Yaakov to the שבטים, so it says, after he benched them, it says, איש אשר כברכתו ברך אותם, פסוק in פרשת ויחי, קפיטל מ\"ט, פסוק כ\"ח. What means? And after he benched every שבט with its own berachah, which is connected to what that שבט stands for, which is איש אשר כברכתו, which is the berachah that belongs to each one separately, then it says ברך אותם, he blessed them. And as רש\"י says there, it means that כללן כולם בכל הברכות, he included them all in all the berachot, which means that this is the combination of all the שבטים. Which means that in addition to every שבט having its own inyan, then that inyan of each שבט is given to all the other שבטים because they're all combined, they're all נכלל, they're all together. And the same is לגבי the inyan that we just said, that even though Yosef is the one that represents the concept of hosafah, but from Yosef it has to be נמשך to all the שבטים, which means from the month of שבט it has to be נמשך to the whole year, and that's the meaning of it being Rosh Hashanah, it's the head of the year, that this inyan that ראש השנה לאילנות represents is to be brought to the whole year, that the whole year we have to feel that we constantly have to grow and grow. Especially concerning Yosef, we know that Yosef has a special connection to Klal Yisrael in addition to the fact that he is one of the שבטים and they're all combined. But Yosef in particular has a connection to Klal Yisrael, as it says in תהלים, קפיטל פ', פסוק ב', רועה ישראל, and then it says נוהג כצאן יוסף. And רש\"י says it means that כל ישראל נקראים על שם יוסף, all the Yidden are called by the name יוסף, לפי שפירנסם וכלכלם בימי הרעב, because he fed them at the time of the hunger. So we see that all Yisrael, all Yidden from all שבטים are called Yosef. So whatever Yosef represents applies to all the Yidden from all the שבטים, more than just because Yosef is one of the שבטים and they're all connected, but Yosef's ענין is שייכות to all the שבטים more. And therefore, the ענין of Shevet, which is connected to Yosef, which is brought out in the ענין of Chamishah Asar B'Shvat, is נוגע to all months of the year, and it's נוגע to גאנץ כלל ישראל.

And the same is also according to the opinion that the month of Shevat is connected to the Shevat of Asher, it also brings out the concept of growth. Because we know the ענין of Asher is connected to pleasure. We know that fat comes from pleasure. A person becomes fat through pleasure. And the ענין of Shevet Asher was connected to pleasure, as Yaakov Avinu gave Asher the ברכה, as it says in פרשת ויחי, קפיטל מ\"ט, פסוק כ', מאשר שמנה לחמו, that from Asher, his bread will be fat, והוא יתן מעדני מלך, he will give the מעדני מלך, which is the pleasurable things. So he's connected to pleasure, and pleasure is connected to growth. Because the פסוק says, שמועה טובה תדשן עצם. Good news, which means pleasure, a person has pleasure through good news or any other pleasure, תדשן עצם, it'll make his bone fatter, it'll make his bone grow. As the Gemara in Gittin tells the story that the general, when he heard the good news that he became the king, couldn't put his shoe on because his foot actually grew. From pleasure you grow. Since Asher represents pleasure, so it also represents the concept of growing. So this also is connected to Chamishah Asar B'Shvat, which is the ענין of צמיחה, even if we're going to learn that the month of Shevat is connected to the Shevat of Asher.

But then we have to understand concerning this whole ענין that we said, that we have to take a lesson from חמישה עשר בשבט, as we explained. Lichorah, the ones that have to take a lesson from חמישה עשר בשבט are only the people who live in Eretz Yisrael because the whole דין of חמישה עשר בשבט is only נוגע to Eretz Yisrael. This that we say that חמישה עשר בשבט is ראש השנה for אילנות is נוגע only to דינים of Eretz Yisrael. It's נוגע לגבי the דין of מעשר. The דין is that when you have to take off מעשר, you are not allowed to mix the fruit from one year לגבי the fruit of the other year. And the דין is, when is the year up, or when does the year start? חמישה עשר בשבט. And therefore, the Rambam says in Halachot Terumot, פרק ה', הלכה י\"א, that you cannot mix לגבי the דין of מעשר between the fruit that were חנטו, that blossomed before Shevat, with the fruit that blossomed after Shevat. This is a דין only in Eretz Yisrael, because there is no דין of מעשר in chutz la'aretz. So this whole דין of חמשה עשר בשבט is only in Eretz Yisrael. It's נוגע לגבי another דין also. It's נוגע לגבי the way we count the מעשר שני or מעשר עני. The דין is that in the cycle of seven years, the seven years of the שמיטה, the first two years, and also the fourth and the fifth year, you must take off מעשר ראשון and מעשר שני. The third and the sixth year, instead of Maaser Sheni, you take off Maaser Ani. Now we count the years לגבי the cycle of Shemitah from Rosh Hashanah, which means from the first day of Tishrei. Nevertheless, all the fruit that grew from Rosh Hashanah of the third year till חמשה עשר בשבט, they are still connected to the second year. And from them you would have to take off Maaser Sheni, not Maaser Ani like you do in the third year. So that's another din where this inyan of חמשה עשר בשבט being ראש השנה לאילנות applies. But this also is noge'a only to Eretz Yisrael, because this din of Maaser Sheni, Maaser Ani, etc., etc. only applies to Eretz Yisrael. So lichora, if we're going to take a lesson from this din of חמשה עשר בשבט being ראש השנה לאילנות, it should only apply to the people who live in Eretz Yisrael. In ruchniyut, if we take this and apply it in ruchniyut to the spiritual עבודת השם, it would mean as follows. Eretz Yisrael represents those people who want to do תורה ומצוות, because the word ארץ comes from the word רצה, whether it means wanting or running. The word ישראל is made up of ראשי תיבות יש ששים ריבוא אותיות לתורה, as it says in Megaleh Amukot, which means there are 600,000 letters to the Torah. At any event, it represents Torah. So Eretz Yisrael means the will of Torah, or the running to Torah. So this represents a person who is close to Torah, who keeps Torah. When we say that the dinim of חמשה עשר בשבט apply to Eretz Yisrael, it would seem that the lessons we're supposed to take from חמשה עשר בשבט are only for those people who are close to Torah. But those people who are in חוץ לארץ, outside of Eretz Yisrael, which means in ruchniyut that they are not from those who want Torah, to them חמשה עשר בשבט has no connection. But likorah, if the lesson we're supposed to take from חמשה עשר בשבט is that we're supposed to constantly grow, the lesson should be specifically for them. For them even more, because they have to grow more than others. Those people who learn Torah and do mitzvot, they also have to grow. But those who are far from it certainly have to grow. So the lesson should be to them, too. So how does that fit to the fact that the din of חמשה עשר בשבט mainly is for those who are in Eretz Yisrael? But the answer to this is that be'emet, essentially, every yid is considered a בן ארץ ישראל. Every yid is be'emet considered a person who wants Torah u'mitzvot. As the Rambam says in Hilchot Gerushin the end of the second פרק, that every yid mitzad his neshamah wants to do all the mitzvot and wants to stay away from aveirot. And if a person claims he doesn't want, it's only because the yetzer hara forced him to go against his own true will. And therefore the Rambam says that if a yid is forced to do a mitzvah, it is not considered forced, it is considered that he is doing it out of his free will. Because be'emet he wants to do it, his yetzer hara forced him against his own will. All you do is you force off the force of the yetzer hara, and what comes out is his true, essential will that he really wants. So be'emet every yid is considered a בן ארץ ישראל, a person from Eretz Yisrael. In ruchniyut that means every yid is a person who is ארץ ישראל, who has the ratzon to Yisrael, the ratzon to Torah, the will to Torah, or the running to Torah. And the truth is that Rashi explains that in Tehillim, in קאפיטל פ״ז. There the פסוק says: ולציון יאמר איש ואיש יולד בה. And to Tzion it will be said that a man and a man was born there. And as Rashi explains there, it means that whether a person was born in Yerushalayim, in Tzion, or was not born in Tzion, it will be said that he is born there, which means essentially every Yid is born in Tzion, which means in Yerushalayim. Now Yerushalayim represents the same thing as ארץ ישראל בכלל, because Yerushalayim is made up of the two words יראה שלם, so it represents שלמות of יראת שמים, completion, full יראת שמים. So the פסוק says, according to Rashis פשט, that every single Yid is considered that he is born in Yerushalayim, he is born in Tzion. Now Tzion, the word Tzion also represents the same thing, because the word Tzion means a סימן, a sign. Why are Yidn called Tzion? Because they are a סימן to Hashem. And that's what the פסוק says: Every Yid is born in Tzion. Every Yid is considered a person who is a sign to Hashem, because essentially every Yid wants to do תורה ומצוות. So every Yid is really a בן ארץ ישראל, a person of ארץ ישראל. So this lesson that we're supposed to take from Chamishah Asar b'Shvat applies to every single Yid. Even to those Yidn who are far from being people of ארץ ישראל ברוחניות, still they are also people of ארץ ישראל because essentially they also want to do תורה ומצוות. So therefore, this lesson applies to everybody. And lessons are, as we said before, first of all, the lesson is that every Yid has to grow. Even though it's on the 15th day of the month, which shows שלימות, but as complete as you are, you always have to grow. That's the ענין of Chamisha Asar B'Shvat, the Rosh Hashanah of the trees. It's time when we celebrate the growth. And the second lesson is, as we said before, the growing in inyan of lifnim mishurat hadin, of doing more than the requirement of the halachah, because we celebrate the Yom Tov in concerning the fruit, and as the Torah says, fruit is לתענוג. חיטה ושעורה, grain, is what we need, we must have. A person must live, so in order to live he must eat bread. So that gives a person his existence, so that's a must. Fruit is לתענוג, is for pleasure. In ruchniyut that means, when we do a mitzvah that we have to do, so that is like bread. That's something that we must have. Lifnim mishurat hadin, that's already extra. That's like fruit which is לתענוג. And this is a lesson that we take from Chamisha Asar B'Shvat, that a Yid has to make a החלטה, a resolution, to grow and to add in inyan of lifnim mishurat hadin, doing more than the requirement of the halachah. Since you know that this is what Hashem would like, so you do it even if you're not mechuyav to do it. And if you do it on Chamisha Asar B'Shvat, so then this gives you a koach that you will be able to do it throughout the whole year.