World Jewish News

New Year of the Trees celebrated by the community of Kazakhstan.

In Diaspora, any Jewish traditional holiday is the time for all the community to come together, to unit with the native land culture and traditions. Having obtained the possibility of speaking aloud about their nationality belonging, the Jews of the CIS have started to openly celebrate the Shabbat, Pesakh, Sukkoth, Hanukah. Deep roots of the community in Kazakhstan have borne young strong long-life shoots. This tree similarity is probably the reason we like Tu-bi-Shvat.
Unfortunatelly, this year's Tu-bi-Shvat coincided with the wave of flu striking Almaty. To protect the clients and the employees, the "Polina" Hased direction decided to celebrate the New Year of Trees in small groups.
The first to put a date pit in soil was a group from the Almaty Hased. Our big and close family gathered around the holiday table. Tatiana Rizmann, the Head of the Day Centre, told about the "soul" and the history of the Tu-bi-Shvat. From her narration, we learnt that, having returned the land of the ancestors, the Jews found the country with almost no trees. Our brothers started changing Motherland in all aspects. Nowadays, Israel is buried in verdure.
Since the celebration of the Tu-bi-Shvat is accompanied by consuming the fruit typical of Israel, especially the seven fruit and cereals mentioned in the Book of Darim, our table was garnished with dates. Sima Baranovich, the head of the "Polina" Hased's medical program, told about the bread tree, which fruit she had had a chance to taste for the first time during her visit to Motherland. It is remarkable that the festive dinner was held in a room buried in verdure. And it does not mater if it is snowing and -20C outside. Tu-bi-Shvat is here; our community is blossoming with every new year!

Источник: mitsva.kz