The shiur tonight is on the subject of a special day that's coming up. Today actually is יו״ד שבט, special day, but that we spoke already plenty of times. The subject today is going to be on the next special day in the Yidishe calendar, and that is going to be this coming Shabbos. That is Chamishah Asar B'Shvat, ט״ו בשבט, the 15th day of the month of Shvat. 15th day of the month of Shvat is a Yom Tov. How do we see it's a Yom Tov? We don't say any Tachanun in davenen. There is a special prayer that we we say every day, but if there is a special holiday, we don't say Tachanun. And that means even if it's not a official holiday like Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot or not even the holiday like Purim and Chanukah, it's a minor holiday, but it still is a holiday and we don't say Tachanun and we're not allowed to fast on that day, and even a chatan the day of his wedding would not fast on Chamishah Asar B'Shvat. And so we will discuss Chamishah Asar B'Shvat. First we're going to discuss from the simple, the simple meaning and reason for this special day of Chamishah Asar B'Shvat, and then we'll go a little bit into the deeper meaning, as we always do, on Chamishah Asar B'Shvat. The reason why Chamishah Asar B'Shvat, the 15th day of the month of Shvat is a special day is because it's known as ראש השנה לאילנות, which means the new year of the trees. The source for this concept of being a new year for the trees is taken from the first Mishnah in the tractate, in the Gemara ראש השנה. There the Mishnah says, ארבעה ראשי שנים הם. There are four Rosh Hashanah's. There is the regular Rosh Hashanah that we celebrate, the first day of the month of Tishrei, and then there are other days of the year which are Rosh Hashanah only for specific things. So one of the four is ראש השנה לאילנות, the new year for the trees. And I will explain in a moment, what does it mean new year? Concerning what does it apply? But it's the new year for the trees. And the Gemara, the Mishnah says, when is this new year for the trees? So the Mishnah says, it's an argument between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel. Beit Shammai says it's the first day of the month of Shvat, of the Hebrew month of Shvat. Beit Shammai says the first day of the month of Shvat. Beit Hillel says it's the 15th day of the month of Shvat. The reason for this argument is because the day of Rosh Hashanah for the trees is the day that the trees start blossoming. It doesn't mean blossoming on the outside, but inside the juices of the trees start working. And that happens four months after the water of the new year starts coming in. And I'm not talking from the agricultural part of, point of view, but from the way it says in halachah and Torah. So four months after the new water starts coming in starts the blossoming of the juices of the trees. And the argument is four months from when? We know that on Sukkos, which is the 15th day of Tishrei, נדונים על המים, Hashem judges the water. On the other hand, we know that on Rosh Hashanah, which is the first day of the month of Tishrei, everything is judged. The whole world and everything in it is judged on Rosh Hashanah. Specifically in detail, the water has its own day of judgment, which is on Sukkos. So Beis Shammai says that being that already on Rosh Hashanah the water is judged, so when do the juices of the tree start coming? Four months after Rosh Hashanah, which is four months after the first day of the month of Tishrei. Four months after the first day of Tishrei is the first day of Shevat: the first day of Cheshvan, the first day of Kislev, the first day of Tevet, and the fourth month is the first day of Shevat. But Beis Hillel says that it comes four months not after Rosh Hashanah, four months after Sukkos. Because Sukkos is actually the day when specifically the water is being judged, and therefore it comes from then. And the reason for their argument, the ideas behind their argument is that we find many places in the Gemara that Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel, these two schools of thought, argue, and the basic idea of their argument is whether we follow the bakoach or bafoal, whether we follow the potential, that is more important, or the way it's in reality in actuality. I'll give an example, the simplest example. Comes Chanukah, we know Chanukah we light eight candles, but the way we do it, the first night is one, the second night two, three, four, Four, five, six, seven, eight. Beis Shammai says that's not the way to do it. Beis Shammai says you have to light the first day eight, the second day seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. And Beis Hillel says we start with one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, as we do it, because always the halachah, the law is like Beis Hillel. And the reason for their argument is because Beis Shammai holds that the first day of Chanukah, potentially you have eight days coming, so you light eight days, eight candles. The second day you only have potential of seven, so you light seven, then six, and five, etc. And Beis Hillel says we follow the reality. The first day in reality, in actuality, you only have one. Bafoal, you only have one, so you light one candle, second day two, etc., etc. And we find other places where Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel argue of what is more important, what do we follow, the bakoach, the potential, or the actuality, the way things that are actual. Just to use another example to show more, there's an argument at the end of the whole Shas. We know that honey coming out of a beehive is called liquid. Concerning many halachot of tumah, it's called liquid. And the Mishnah asks, from what point is it called liquid? Because till then, it's called food, and food and liquid have different halachot in certain things. So Beis Shammai says, from the moment you start, you think, or someone holds, from the moment you start working on taking the honey out of the beehive, that moment on, already it's considered liquid. And Beis Hillel says it's only when you break it open and you actually take it out. And the argument is based on this thought: Beis Shammai holds we go with potential; the moment you start working on it, potentially it's already out, it's not out yet, potentially it's out, from that moment on, it's already called liquid. Beis Hillel says we follow the actuality, and actually it's not out yet, so it's not liquid yet, it's only later. The same thing here also. The argument is that Beit Shammai, who follows the potential, the potential judgment of the water is already on Rosh Hashanah, even though actually, as we said before, the real judgment is on Sukkot, which is 15 days later, but it's all already in the potential form in Rosh Hashanah, when Hashem judges everything, including the water as part of everything. So therefore, since they follow the potential, so four months later from the potential time of the water is the beginning of Shevat, Rosh Chodesh Shevat. But Beit Hillel, who follows the the actuality, in actuality, the judgment of the water specifically is on the 15th day of Tishrei, which is on Sukkot, so four months from the actual time of the water is the 15th day of Shevat, and that's why Beit Hillel holds that the Rosh Hashanah for the trees is on the 15th day of Shevat, and that's how we pasken, that the 15th day of Shevat is the Rosh Hashanah. Now, concerning which din is it that this is called Rosh Hashanah? Why we say this day is Rosh Hashanah, so big deal. Does it have any application to any halacha? Yes, it's concerning halacha. The crop that grows, we have to take off in the time of the בית המקדש certainly, and even now in Eretz Yisrael, you have to take off maaser. You have to take off a tenth. And first tenth goes to the Levi, that's how the halacha used to be, now we don't give it to anybody, but then used to be you give it to the Levi. The second tenth, that's called maaser sheni, you would have to take to Yerushalayim. You take off other things. The din is, the law is, that you can't mix the fruit from one year to another. You would have to take it off separately. Let's say you have some fruit left over from last year's crop and you have some from this year's crop, you can't mix it together and you say, well, I have 50 pounds, I will take off 10 pounds from all 50. If you have 20 from last year and 30 from this year, you have to take it off separately. So you have to take off two from the 20 and you have to take off, let's say, three if it's, three from the from the 30. Because you have to take them off separately. אין מעשרין מפרה שנה זו על פרה שנה זו, you can't mix. So we have to know what is considered old crop, what is considered new crop. That's where the Rosh Hashanah comes in. We have to know when is the beginning of the year. So we say the beginning of the year is חמשה עשר, the 15th day of Shevat. So anything that grew up to חמשה עשר בשבט is considered last year's crop, and that goes together with all the fruit of last year. Whatever grows after חמשה עשר בשבט is considered this year's. Another din, not every year do we take off the same type of maaser. As I said, we take off the first year of the cycle, we have a cycle of seven years. It's always like that. Year one, two, three, four, five, six, the seventh year is shemittah, the year when the field has to rest. Then after shemittah, we start over again. So we have a cycle of seven years. The first and second year of the cycle, we have to take off two maasrot. Maaser rishon, the first maaser goes to the Levi, we take off a tenth of the crop and we give it to the Levi. Then we take off maaser sheni, the second one doesn't go to anybody, you keep it yourself, but it's holy, and it must be taken to Yerushalayim to be eaten in Yerushalayim only, only while you are clean, you are tahor, you are spiritually pure, and if not, you have to go to the mikveh, etc., etc. That's the first year of the cycle, and the second year of the cycle, and the fourth year of the cycle, and the fifth year of the cycle. The third year of the cycle, and the sixth year of the cycle, we take off מעשר ראשון and מעשר עני. We take off the first מעשר as we do the other years, but we do not take off מעשר שני. We do not take off the second מעשר, which we keep for ourselves to take to Yerushalayim, we take off מעשר עני. We take off a tenth, and we give it to the aniyim, to the poor people. So when something grows, you have to know to which year does it belong. Does it belong to the year, let's say if it grew at the end of the second into the third, so is it the second or the third? Do you take off מעשר שני, do you take off מעשר עני? So the cutoff date, the Rosh Hashanah, which is the cutoff date, is on חמשה עשר בשבט. So that's what the technical part of being Rosh Hashanah for the trees. Now, even though this is Rosh Hashanah concerning the crop, to know when we take off, when not, concerning the fruit of the trees, nevertheless it's considered a Yom Tov. It's a Yom Tov for us also. It says in Shulchan Aruch that on this day, we can't make a fast. If there was a need, for some reason, for the בית דין to make a fast day for some problem that comes up, so certain days we cannot make a fast on that day, we cannot announce a fast for that day if it's a Yom Tov. We can't do it for Purim, we can't do it for Chanukah, certainly not for Shabbos, certainly not for Pesach and Shavuos. So it says in Shulchan Aruch we can't do it for חמשה עשר בשבט also. And it's interesting, the fact that חמשה עשר בשבט, ט״ו בשבט, is considered a Yom Tov, is not mentioned in the Gemara. All things are, their source is from the Gemara. This is not mentioned in the Gemara. The ראשונים, the earlier codifiers, explain that the reason, the source for this, is the fact that the Mishnah, in the Gemara the Mishnah puts all four ראשי שנים in one category. It starts off by saying there are four ראשי שנים, one of them is the Rosh Hashanah for the trees, and it's put in the same category as the regular Rosh Hashanah. So obviously, it means that it's a special day for us, too, because the regular Rosh Hashanah is a special holiday for us. That's the source that Rosh Hashanah for the trees is also a holiday for us. The first source quoted to this, they say, is that Rabbeinu Gershom Meor Hagolah. Rabbeinu Gershom, who lived over a thousand years ago, known as Rabbeinu Gershom, the light of the exile, he is the first source that this is a Yom Tov. The Magen Avraham writes in Shulchan Aruch, for a chatan, when a chatan gets married, you have to fast. So he says there are certain days you don't fast, and he says you also don't fast on אסרו חג, which is the day after Yom Tov, the day after Pesach, the day after Shavuos, the day after Sukkos. And you don't fast חמשה עשר באב, ט״ו באב, the 15th day of the month of Av, and we also don't fast, he says, on חמשה עשר בשבט, the 15th day of Shevat, and the reason he gives is because they are all mentioned in the Gemara. Now, we just said before it's not mentioned. In the Gemara, it mentions אסרו חג is mentioned in the Gemara. חמשה עשר באב, the 15th day of Av, is mentioned in the Gemara very clear, we all know it's a famous Gemara: לא היו ימים טובים לישראל כחמשה עשר באב וכיום הכפורים. There were no greater holidays, the Gemara says, by the Yidden than חמשה עשר באב and Yom Kippur. It was a day of shidduchim. The Gemara says the girls used to dance, and the boys used to come and they used to watch, and they used to make shidduchim on that day, but the Gemara refers to it as a Yom Tov. But חמשה עשר בשבט is not mentioned as a Yom Tov. But the commentaries say that what the Magen Avraham means when he says that all three are mentioned in the Gemara, where is חמשה עשר בשבט mentioned in the Gemara? He means to say, because it's mentioned together with Rosh Hashanah. And therefore, it's as if it's mentioned in the Gemara as a special day. That's why we say that חמשה עשר בשבט is also a special day. Now, so far we say like this: the idea is that חמשה עשר בשבט is a day for the trees. Nevertheless, we're saying now, it's a holiday for us. And the halacha is we don't say tachanun on that day, because it's a holiday for us Yidden, for us people, for us human beings. Obviously, even though this is a special day for the trees, but we also have to relate to that special day and it has to mean something to us also. And this is all based on a famous pasuk. The pasuk says כי האדם עץ השדה, that the person is like the tree in the field. So, actually the pasuk compares a human being to a tree. So here, when we have the holiday of the trees, so it means something for us, too. And that's why we celebrate it. How do we celebrate it? By not saying tachanun, as we said before. The Magen Avraham also says that this is a day that the custom is to eat special fruit of the tree. It says it's a custom to make shehecheyanu, to get a new fruit that we didn't eat yet during that year and make shehecheyanu on a fruit of the tree. That's what he says the אשכנזים do. In truth, the ספרדים celebrate חמישה עשר בשבט much more than the אשכנזים. By the ספרדים they have a special seder, it's called seder for חמישה עשר בשבט. You look in some of the ספרדישע סידורים, it's a whole seder, like we have a Seder Pesach night, you have a seder with all kinds of things to say. There's a whole ספר called Pri Etz Hadar, that he brings all the sayings of the chachamim, of our sages in connection to the fruit of the trees, and he brings all kinds of kapitlach, part of Tehillim that are connected to different fruits, and there is a whole seder that you're supposed to do when it comes to חמישה עשר בשבט. The Bnei Yissaschar, one of the great חסידישע רביס, wrote, writes ספר Bnei Yissaschar, which is a ספר in Kabbalah, he writes that on חמישה עשר בשבט a person should daven that on Sukkos, the coming Sukkos, you should have a מהודרדיגע אתרוג. That's the day to do it. There are actually some people have a custom that they take the etrog and they make jelly out of it, and then on חמישה עשר בשבט they eat it, make shehecheyanu and they eat the etrog. And the things are connected because this is going to be the berachah that we're going to have for the next year's etrog.

But besides the technicalities, the simple minhagim that we have on חמישה עשר בשבט, there are spiritual lessons in the fact that we are compared to a tree, and therefore there are certain things that since this is the special day for the trees, it has to teach us a lesson that we have to take in the fact that we are compared to a tree and take a lesson from the trees. And there are many lessons in the Chazal that the chachamim tell us concerning trees that we have to take a lesson. Number one is the famous Mishnah in Pirkei Avot, everyone knows that, so that'll be the first. In Pirkei Avot it says that a tree, if it has strong roots, then the tree itself it'll never fall. You could have strong winds come and blow at it, it won't fall. If it doesn't have strong roots, then a little wind will come and blow it down. So, too, if we have Torah and we don't have proper mitzvot, the mitzvot are the roots, then the Torah that we have could be blown away by all the winds that blow on the outside, and we don't have to describe the winds, we know all kinds of foreign winds that blow that could destroy us. But if we have proper roots, strong roots, which means we keep the mitzvot, the maaseh, we keep them properly, then we are strong and nothing will blow us away. So, this is the first lesson that we take in the fact that we are compared to a tree. But there are many, many more lessons brought down in קבלה ספרים, in מוסר ספרים, in חסידות ספרים. One of them is that the nature of a tree is a tree constantly grows. So, too, we constantly have to grow. We can't stop where we are. It says tzadikim and תלמידי חכמים אין להם מנוחה, the Gemara says. Tzadikim, talmidei chachamim have no rest, and it says לא בעולם הזה ולא בעולם הבא, not in this world, not in the world to come, צדיקים have no rest because ילכו מחיל אל חיל, they go from strength to strength. You always have to grow in our serving Hashem. Another lesson we take is that trees give fruit, we're talking about fruit trees, trees give fruit. We have to give fruit. What does fruit mean? The Gemara says מאי פירות מצוות, fruit is mitzvot. So, we have to always give fruit. So, we always have to grow, we always have to give fruit.

This is the reason why this special day is on the 15th day of the month of Shevat. And I'll go into both details, why it's on the 15th day of the month, and why is it specifically on the month of Shevat. The 15th day of the month represents the strength of Yidden. We know that the 15th day of the month is when the moon is at its fullest. We know that the Yidden are compared to the moon, we count our calendar, a lunar calendar by the moon. We are compared, it says, to the moon, not like the goyim who are compared to the sun, and goyim follow the solar calendar. So, we are compared to the moon. On the 15th day of the month, קיימא סיהרא באשלמותא, it means that the moon is at its fullest, it is שלמות, it's at completion, it's complete. So, we that represents our strength. So, this idea that we have to know that we always have to grow That day, the day that this is the strongest, that from that day we could draw a lesson in this concept, is on the 15th day, because that's the day we are strong. Actually, we see that most other yomim tovim are also on the 15th day of the month. It's interesting. Pesach is on the 15th day of month of Nisan, Sukkot is on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei, Purim is on the 14th and 15th, פורים משולש, Purim of the month of אדר, חמשה עשר באב is on the 15th day of the of אב, Shavuot is not on the 15th day of the month, but it says Shavuot is like a continuation of Pesach, and Pesach started on the 15th day. What is the reason that all the holidays start on the 15th day of the month? So, it says for this reason, because the 15th day of the month represents the strength of Yidden, and every Yom Tov represents a different idea in Yiddishkeit and a different connection that the Yidden have to Hashem. So, it's made on the 15th, Hashem put it on the 15th day of the month, because that's the strongest day for us to be able to get the the strength to draw the strength and the nourishment for this idea, for whatever Yom Tov it is, on the 15th day of the month. And the same thing with חמשה עשר בשבט, to get to draw the nourishment of what the tree stands for for us, which is the fact that it shows that we constantly have to grow, is on the 15th day of the month of Shevat. Now, in truth, the 15th day of the month of Shevat shows even stronger than other 15th day of the months of other yomim tovim. But, you always hear me say this, anytime, any subject that we talk about, we always say, \"Well, this is stronger than any other one,\" because in everyone has its aspect in which is stronger, yes. Every other 15th day of the month, which is a holiday, Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, they are all strong, because the 15th day, we said, is the strong day, in a certain aspect, in a certain inyan, in a certain thing that it represents. When we're talking here about the 15th day of the month of Shevat, that represents the strength of our growth, that is not in a specific thing, but it's in the concept of growth, and the concept of growth represents infinity. See, on the 15th day of the month, we said, now, I'll explain it, the 15th day of the month, the moon is complete. This seems to be a contradiction to what I was saying. I'm saying that we're getting taking the lesson that you have to grow. Growing means that you're not complete. If you'd be complete, there is nothing to grow. And the peshat is not like that. There are two types of completion. There is a completion that you're finished, you're complete and you're finished. Then there is completion that you come to a complete point, and when you come to that point, you realize that you have to grow further. In godliness, godliness is bli gevul, is infinite. And when you come to a point where you feel you're complete, if you're really complete, what you really realize is that you have to go further. תכלית הידיעה שלא נדע, it says. The Rambam writes the tachlit, the goal of knowledge, when you come to a point when you really know a lot, then you realize that you really don't know anything, and then you go further till you come to a point where you realize, \"Finally, I reached a point,\" when you reach that point, you will realize that you have to go further. The famous story with Reb Mendel Haradaker, that Alter Rebbe was there once by him for Simchat Torah, and they were waiting for him to come out to say אתה הראת, and an hour passed and two hours, he didn't come out. So, the Alter Rebbe knocked on his door and said, \"Rebbe, what's the problem?\" So, he says, \"I'm looking into אתה הראת and I see a hundred levels in this idea of אתה הראת לדעת that you say before hakafot, and I feel I can't reach it. So, how could I go out to say אתה הראת when I'm not really living the level that I see in אתה הראת?\" So, the Alter Rebbe said, \"You're right. But, you know what would happen, let's say you would reach it? The moment you'd reach the 100th level, you'd realize that there are 100 more levels. So, there it's never-ending, so you might as well come out.\" So, he said, \"Fine,\" and he came out. That's what Yiddishkeit really is, that the real completion is when you realize that after you're finished, you have to continue to grow. That's why a talmid chacham is called a talmid chacham. Talmid means a student. He should be called a chacham. Sometimes, we find the expression a chacham, but usually we say a talmid chacham. Why a talmid chacham? Because a real chacham realizes that he is still a talmid, that he still has to learn. If you start thinking that you're a chacham already, that you don't have to learn, then it shows that you don't really know much. People who don't know much think they know a lot. People who know a lot know they know nothing. So, Chamishah Asar b'Shevat is the real shleimut, the real completion. It's on the 15th day of the month which represents the completion of the levanah, of the moon, which shows the completion of the eid. But in which level? A completion that tells them that you're complete, so now you know that you have to grow, which is different than the 15th day of the month of other holidays. The other holidays are on the 15th day of the month, and it's the completion of whatever level that represents. Every holiday represents a different level, so it's the completion of that level. But whatever the level is, it comes to an end, that limitations. But Chamishah Asar b'Shevat is the completion of the concept of growth, which means it's constantly growing without an end. So whenever you come to a complete point, you know that you have to grow further, and when you come to that point, you go further. It's never-ending. It represents the bli gevul, the infinity of Yiddishkeit, the infinity of godliness, the infinity of a Yid, which is hinted in the fact that trees grow and we are compared to trees, and that's what the specialty of the 15th day of the month, and that's why it's on the 15th day of the month.

Which month? The month of Shevat. Why Shevat? Well, we learn in Kabbalah that every month, the 12 months of the year, every month represents a different Shevat. There are 12 shevatim, Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehudah, the 12 shevatim. Each month is parallel, coincides with a certain Shevat. Which Shevat is the Shevat of Shevat? There is an argument, there are two opinions, just like we have two opinions in the Talmud, in the Gemara, we have two opinions. So there are two opinions. The main opinion is the Shevat of Yosef, and the second opinion is the Shevat of Asher. The main opinion is Yosef, and here we see the connection right away. Why is this in the 15th day of Shevat? Because Shevat is connected to Yosef. The word Yosef itself, we all know if you just translate the word, Yosef means to add, hosafah. We're saying חמישה עשר בשבט represents the growth, the fact that we constantly have to add. Actually, it says when Rachel gave birth to Yosef, she said, \"I'm calling him Yosef.\" Why? Because יוסף ה׳ לי בן אחר, ה׳ should add to me another son. And the Tzemach Tzedek explains that the level of Yosef, the Shevet of Yosef represents the fact that you have the power of taking an אחר, אחר means someone else who is not considered a son to Hashem, and changing him and making him into a son. יוסף לי ה׳ בן, ה׳ should add a son, אחר, from somebody else, meaning a person who doesn't behave properly like a Yid is supposed to, doesn't keep the mitzvot. So in the month of Shevat, the level of Yosef represents the fact that you're able to turn him around and add him to the community, add him to become a son of Hashem. That's what Yosef represents, so Shevat, who is connected to Yosef, represents that level. This is why חמישה עשר בשבט, which is the Yom Tov that we celebrate in the fact that we're able to grow, is connected is in Shevat, connected to Yosef. We see that in Kabbalah we find that the word אילן, we're talking about the ראש השנה for the tree, the word אילן, which is made up of the four letters אלף, יוד, למד, נון, is בגימטריא שבט, is a numerical value of שבט. If you stop and think for a second, it's not! The word אילן במילוי, the word אילן, when you take every letter and you write it fully, you write the אלף out, which is אלף, למד, פא, the יוד, יוד, ואו, דלת, למד is למד, מם, דלת, נון is נון, ואו, נון. So if you write out the four word letters in the full way you write the letters, it'll add up to the same גימטריא as Shevat, which is 300 and 11. Because the אילן and Shevat have a connection, and as we said before, because the growth of the tree is connected to the growth of what Shevat represents, because Shevet is connected to Yosef. And as we said before, the growth the growth that we're talking about Chamisha Asar B'Shevat is an infinite growth. It's the growth not of coming to a point and stopping, but constantly growing, which is infinity, בלי גבול. Now, the real בלי גבול is connected to Hashem, Hashem's name, so therefore the main two names of Hashem that are used, which is Adonai and Havayah, if you add up Adonai and Havayah together, is בגימטריא אילן. אילן is the tree is how much? אלף is one, יוד is 10, that's 11, למד is 30, that's 41, and the נון is 50, that's 91. And Adonai and Havayah, if you add Havayah is 26, Adonai is אלף, דלת is five, נון is 50 is 55, is is 65. 65 and 26 adds up together to what אילן is. Why? Because Adonai and Havayah represent the בלי גבול, the אור אין סוף, the infinite light of Hashem, and therefore Shevat is connected to Adonai and Havayah. And this is all to show that the connection why this Yom Tov of the trees, which, as far as we're concerned, teaches us the fact that we have to grow, is on the 15th day of the month and the 15th day of the month of Yosef. And connected, as we said, to Yosef. But then there's the other opinion that the Shevat of the month of Shevet is Asher. But it's connected to Asher, too. Asher, it says, the שבט אשר, is connected to pleasure. The Pasuk says מאשר שמנה לחמו, that Asher was blessed, his share in Eretz Yisrael was blessed with a lot of oil. Ve-shamanah, oil, fat, brings, it says in a a person becomes fat, I must say this, through pleasure. People think you become fat from eating food. It's not true. You become fat from pleasure, it says. It says that שמועה טובה תדשן עצם, if you have pleasure, it could even make your bone grow. The famous story in the Gemara that when Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai met the emperor and he got the news from Rome that he's actually was appointed as emperor, he wanted to take off his shoe, he couldn't take off his shoe. He asked Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai: What is going on here? So he said: You just got good news, you had such enjoyment that actually your foot grew. Because the Pasuk says ושמועה טובה תדשן עצם, good news makes your bone become fat. And it says in Sefarim, and I don't know how it fits medically, that when you eat food with geshmak, that makes you makes you fat. The geshmak, the taste, the the enjoyment, is what makes you fat. And Asher represents enjoyment, so that represents growth. So it fits to what we were saying before: that Shevet is the time when we celebrate or when we're supposed to strengthen our growth, the concept that we constantly constantly supposed to grow, so it's connected also to the שבט אשר. Besides being connected to the שבט יוסף, it's also connected to the שבט אשר. Then we see another connection between Asher, which is pleasure, and and Chamisha Asar B'Shvat. Chamisha Asar B'Shvat, as we said before, is the Rosh Hashanah for the trees, for the fruits of the trees. Now, we know that there are two things mainly: there are things that grow like grain that we need for food, and then there are fruits. The difference is the grain is necessity, the grain is used for bread, things that we that's necessity. Fruit is not necessity, fruit usually is referred to as pleasure. When you give dessert, you give a fruit. A fruit is pleasure, that's extra. Actually, the Tur writes, and the Alter Rebbe brings it down in Shulchan Aruch, that in the bracha of בורא נפשות that we make after certain things that we eat after שהכל, the after-bracha, we say two expressions there: we say וחסרונן, we thank השם for giving us what we're missing, and then it says להחיות בהם נפש כל חי, to give chayut, to give life. Now, that means extra life. חסרונן means that השם supplies what you need, what you'd be missing if you wouldn't have it, that means necessities. And להחיות בהם נפש כל חי, to give chayut, to give extra life, that's extra. So he says that להחיות בהם refers to the grain, and להחיות בהם נפש כל חי refers to the fruit, because the fruit is pleasure. So we see that Chamisha Asar B'Shvat, which is the Yom Tov of the trees that give fruit, it's a Yom Tov connected to pleasure, it's connected to the fruit that is here for pleasure rather than for necessity. And that's connected to the שבט אשר. But what does it mean to us, that this is a Yom Tov connected to fruit of pleasure? Let me explain. We mentioned before that mitzvot are called fruit, מאי פירות מצוות. And fruit in Gemara express expression of Gemara, we find the word peirot refers to grain also, and it refers to vegetables, it's called פרי האדמה, בורא פרי האדמה we make, and apples and oranges, a fruit is called fruit. They're both fruit, so they're all included in mitzvot. The difference is there are the necessity part of mitzvot and then there is the pleasure part of mitzvot. What are the two parts? The necessity part of mitzvot is the fact that we have to keep the mitzvot. Hashem said to do the mitzvah, we have to do it. When we do a מצוה בהידור, when we do a mitzvah extra, when we do it lifnim mishurat hadin, beyond the call of duty, beyond the the the dry halachah as we call it, that is a pleasure. That's not a necessity. That's compared to the fruit. And in both ways: number one, that shows that the person who does the mitzvah has pleasure in doing the mitzvah. When a person does mitzvot just the minimum that he's supposed to, he does everything as much as he's supposed to, but not more, doesn't show that he enjoys it. It's possible that it's a burden on him. He just knows that you have to do it, as we say in Yiddish, nebach, he has no choice. He's a Yid, believes in the Torah, knows that you're supposed to do it, so he does it. But doesn't mean that he enjoys it. When do you see that a person enjoys the mitzvot? If you do lifnim mishurat hadin, if you do every מצוה בהידור, if you do it extra careful, you do it with beauty, you beautify the mitzvah. That shows that you enjoy it. So, hidur mitzvah is connected to enjoyment. That's from our side. The same is Hashem. What does Hashem enjoy more? Well, certainly when you do mitzvot, that's the most important part, Hashem enjoys it. Hashem says, \"נחת רוח לפני שאמרתי ונעשה רצוני,\" \"I have pleasure that you do the mitzvot.\" But when we start thinking about it, the real pleasure we give to Hashem is when we are more extra careful in our mitzvot. Imagine a child and a father, a child and a mother, and when the child behaves, it gives the parents pleasure, no question about it. But when the parents see that a child is not doesn't only do what he is supposed to or she is supposed to, but you see the child goes out of his way or out of her way to make the mother and father happy, that gives the parents even more pleasure than the actual behavior in the proper way. The same thing with Hashem: the hidur mitzvah, the extra part of the being extra careful in doing the mitzvah, beautifying the mitzvot, that's the pleasure that Hashem gets. So, when we come to Chamishah Asar B'Shvat, when we celebrate the Rosh Hashanah not of the grain, the Rosh Hashanah of the fruit, that means that this is the represents the hidur mitzvah. That's the Rosh Hashanah that we are able to take strength to strengthen our hidur mitzvah, the pleasure that we show to Hashem in our mitzvot and the pleasure that we give Him. And it's from this day that we draw it for the whole year. That's why it's called Rosh Hashanah, it's interesting. Really it should be called תחילת השנה, the beginning of the year. Why is it called ראש, which means it's the head of the year? Same question on our regular Rosh Hashanah. And Chassidus answers: תחילת השנה, if it would say the beginning of the year, it means this is the first day of the year. The head is not just the beginning of the body, the head controls every part of the body. The life that the body gets in every part, in every limb, comes from the head. Every day of the year draws its chayut, its life, from the head of the year, from Rosh Hashanah. It's not just the first day of the year. So, the same way we apply it to the regular Rosh Hashanah, we say it here too. That in these things that we were talking about, that this is a day that strengthens our growth, the fact that we know that we have to grow in Yiddishkeit, the fact that we know we have to grow bichlal, we grow and make fruit, and the fact now we're saying that this is represent the fact that we have to be מהדר במצוות, we have to be extra careful in mitzvot, this is the day that we draw, every day of the year draws from this day the energy and the strength.

Besides that, we find different lessons that we find in sefarim concerning the connection between a tree and a human being. And let's go through a few more of the lessons. One of the other lessons is, it's interesting, the Rebbe brings it out in detail: a tree is always connected to its source. Unlike a human being, which is not connected to source, unlike an animal, an animal and a human being are not connected to their source. Meaning we know everything, \"הכל היה מן העפר,\" it says everything came from the ground. We're not connected to the ground. We're not even connected to our personal source: you're born from your mother, and then they cut the cord, and you're on your own, you're not constantly connected. A tree is always connected. So, the lesson to us is that we always have to feel connected to our source, never to cut the cord, never to cut ourselves off from our source, which is Hashem, always. \"ואתם הדבקים בה' אלקיכם,\" we always have to be connected. Now we find another thing which is always connected to its source, but differently: fish. Fish live in the water. They are called ברואים שבים, they're creatures of the water, and they're always in the water. But the tree shows even deeper than that. See, the fish are always in water, so they're only in the water. Trees are outside of this ground. They're separate, they're a separate entity, and nevertheless they're connected. You see, if you have to be constantly in there is one thing, what we have to see is that even though we are a separate entity, we feel like a separate entity, we still have to be connected. And we see that by tzomeach, by things that grow, we see that they only grow if they're connected to the ground. But by trees, we see it even more than we see by other plants. Number one, A tree grows very high, which means it goes far away from its source and still connected, unlike grass or other plants that they're connected because they're always close, but to go far away and to be connected, that's a tree. And that's the lesson to us, that we could be far away, and we still have to be connected. And besides that, the tree lasts and lasts and lasts for years and years, could be hundreds of years, while other plants, they're there for when they grow and then you cut them off and they're finished. If not, they would rot. But the trees are connected always. This is the lesson to us that we always have to be connected to our source, no matter how far away we go. We grow into our own being as we are, and we should. Hashem wants every person to grow in what he is able and capable to do, but at the same time, we have to learn from the trees because אדם עץ השדה, we're like trees, and today is the Rosh Hashanah, not today, the day of Chamishah Asar b'Shvat is the Rosh Hashanah of the trees, that we always have to remain connected as far as we are away, even though we might be far away, and we stay that way for a long, long time like the trees, unlike the plants. And then there is another point, and with that I'll finish, in the connection between a human being and the tree. The Gemara says like this. The Gemara quotes the pasuk that I've been I mentioned a few times, האדם עץ השדה, a person is like the tree of the field. And the Talmud, the Gemara asks, וכי האדם עץ השדה? Is a human being like a tree? What do you mean a human being is like a tree? How is a human being like a tree? And the Gemara answers: Just like a tree, if it gives fruit, then it's fine, if it doesn't give fruit, what do you have from it? The same thing a human being, if you teach Torah, you learn Torah, it's fine, and if not, then there is no use. Something like that, I'm paraphrasing, it's not exactly what the Gemara says. But the question comes to our mind is, the question of the Gemara was, how is why is a human being considered a tree? So we found one comparison between a human being and a tree. Is that a good enough reason to consider a human being a tree, because we found one comparison? There must be something more to it, there must be something essential in the human being that he is like a tree. And it's hinted at what the Gemara says, and I'll explain it in short. We know that the human being is called עולם קטן, a small world. Whatever we have in the world at large, we have in the human being. Now, the world at large is divided into four categories: דומם, צומח, חי, מדבר, inanimate objects, the living, the the the plants, the living animals, and the human being. So we have these four categories. The same four we have in the human being, this they have in the world, I mean, we have in the human being, too. The human being has these four within him. Now, the the tzomeach, the plant life that's within the human being, it says in Chassidus, refers to the middot. Middot are the the emotions. Why? Because middot grow. A person, you always say there is a feeling you have to somebody, you grow in that feeling. You have a feeling of love, and when you continue, you grow with that feeling, it grows with you. God forbid, a feeling of hate, things go on, as time passes, it grows, and middot grow. Seichel doesn't grow. Sechel grows with with age, you become smarter, but it doesn't really grow. You could work on your mind, but usually you have your sechel, that's what it is. Middos, the nature of middos is constantly to grow. So the צומח, the plant, the plant which represents growth, see, a human being has the sechel, an animal is alive, has, is חי, but growth, as we said before, is in צומח, in plants, that level within the human being are the middos. And that's what the Gemara asks, וכי האדם עץ השדה? Is the human being, the most important part of the human being the middos? We all know that the most important part of a person is the sechel. The difference between a human being and and an animal, what's so special about a human being is the the sechel. Even though we refer to the human being in when we talk about these four categories as the מדבר, the talker, the one that's able to talk, so obviously we're trying to stress the fact what's our specialty over the animals that we're able to talk, but really it means the sechel, because why are we able to talk? Because we have a sechel that could make us talk. So the maalah, the specialty of a human being is the fact that he has sechel. So the Gemara's question is, וכי האדם עץ השדה? Can you say that a human being is the tree, the the צומח, the plant life of the human being, which means the middos of the human being, that's the main thing of the human being. And the Gemara answers, well, it's true that it's not the main part of the person. But when can we give the person credit for being a human being because of his sechel, if it affects his middos? Now, middos is not what the main thing of the human being is, but that's the way to test it. When a person has sechel and uses his sechel, uses his intellect, how do we know that this person used his intellect properly? If the intellect affect affected his emotions. The pasuk says, וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך, you should know today and bring it down to your heart. If a person has knowledge in something, it automatically must awaken his feeling. If you know something is good and you really know it's good, automatically it must make it that you should like it. If you know something is bad, it automatically makes it that you have a feeling of hatred to it. It has to be. If a person knows something is good and he doesn't like it yet, that means that he still doesn't know it's good. He doesn't really know it properly, because if he really knows it, it's impossible. It's a reaction, it's an automatic reaction. It's a סיבה ומסובב, it's a cause and effect. The middos are affected by the brain, by the intellect automatically. It works both ways. You can't have your emotions if you don't have the intellect. You can't love something if you don't know it's good. Same you can't hate something if you don't know it's bad. You can't be afraid of something if you don't know it how great it is to be afraid of. Impossible. And if you do know it, it's impossible that it shouldn't have an effect. I always quote the famous vort of the Rabbi Maharash that he said there are three things that must have an effect. He said if you drink mashkeh, you must get drunk. If you have a lot of money, you must go crazy. And if you learn a lot of Chassidus, you must become a better person, your middos, your ahavah and yirah, your love and fear of Hashem must come out. Then he asked a question, but how come we see people drink mashkeh and don't get drunk? The answer, he didn't have enough yet. The same person, maybe he could take more. If he'll take enough for him, he'll get drunk. We see people that have a lot of money and are not crazy, because he doesn't have enough. He'll get more, he'll go crazy, that's what he says. We see people who learn Chassidus a lot, learn all about Hashem, and they still don't have this ahavah, this middos, because he didn't learn enough, he still doesn't understand enough. But it's impossible if he really learns enough and really, really understands it, it must have an influence on the middos. And this is what the Gemara answers. The middot of the person, which are compared to the tree that grows and the middot grow, is not the most important part of the person, it's the intellect. Nevertheless, the pasuk says כי האדם עץ השדה, the person is the tree. Why? Because the intellect is is comes to its completion only if it affects the middot and the middot are done. So this is all what חמשה עשר בשבט is all about. These are the lessons that we are supposed to take חמשה עשר בשבט, which is the Rosh Hashanah for the trees, and from this day we draw all these kochot, these the energy and the power and the strength to be able to accomplish all these things that we spoke about before comes from חמשה עשר בשבט. But that's only if we prepare ourselves. Everything needs a hachana, preparation. If we come to חמשה עשר בשבט with the knowledge of what it means, then we are able to draw it. If we don't have that knowledge, then the day comes and the day passes, it came and went, and we don't gain anything. Spiritually, for sure, the special light of Hashem comes into the world and it's there, but doesn't affect us, we don't feel it. But if we know what to wait for, what to expect, it has an effect on us. And when we do it properly, then it has the proper effect and then we do all the right things and then it's only one thing we could say, if we do all the right things and we take we grow in our thing, we have perot and all the right things, then this is the best thing and the next thing it'll do, it'll bring משיח כן במהרה בימינו. Amen. words for man and how that relates to the growth of the middot Okay, there are four names a person has: adam four th- four titles that the Torah gives to a human being: adam, ish, gever, and enosh. Adam represents the sechel, so it says. Ish represents the middot. Gever enosh represents the and a a gever represents the levushim machshava and dibbur, the thought and speech, and enosh represents the maaseh, the action. And actually, if we want to go a little bit deeper for one moment, when the Gemara asks the question, וכי אדם עץ השדה, is an אדם the tree, and I said it means is the main thing of the person the middot, the question is deeper. וכי אדם From עץ השדה, אדם represents the sechel. So why would the pasuk say אדם עץ השדה, that אדם which is the sechel, the name אדם, that is the middot, when we know אדם is sechel? And the answer is yes, אדם is sechel. But when is the Adam an Adam, when is the sechel a proper sechel? Only if עץ השדה, if it had an effect on the middot, that it bring comes down to the middot, and certainly from the middot it comes down to maaseh, into action. Yes. And maaseh, what did you say, another? Maaseh is action. No, no, no, you said Adam is feelings? אנוש. Right, and how does it you say מדבר, חי, צומח, דומם? דומם, צומח, חי, מדבר. Yes, but you say that is it's all in the same person. Yeah. Which part? Oh, that's already the different in the middot itself, it's the intellect, and the מעשה, מלכות, it's too complicated. Okay. Please, I now again