Tu BiShvat in the Jerusalem kehilla

At the end of the daily mass on the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, the six priests, led by Father Piotr Zelasko, responsible for the Jerusalem kehilla, together with a small group of faithful, exited to the courtyard of the Vicariate residence and blessed a tree in honor of Tu BiShvat (15th of the Hebrew month of Shvat), the Jewish New Year of the Trees. As in past years, a woman member of the community sponsored the tree, this year it was the turn of Christina, our cellist.

The verses from the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 8, verses 6-10, are appropriate to this feast: “Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.”