Fish on the Table (which is made of wood and comes from trees)

Fish is prominent on the holiday table, especially on the New Year and Shavuot. In Jewish lore, it is a symbol of fertility, because Jacob gave his children a blessing that they should multiply like fish in the sea. It is also associated with the coming of the Messiah; according to a legend, the Messiah will come in the form of a great fish from the sea.

The custom of eating fish on the Sabbath is apparently an early one, as the rabbis of the Mishnah (oral law, codified approx. 200 CE) ruled that it was meritorious to eat fish with each of the Sabbath meals; references in the Talmud also indicate that it was customary among Jews to eat fish on Friday night.
In the Ashkenazi kitchen

East European Jews acquired a liking for freshwater fish from the hundreds of rivers which crossed the mainly landlocked areas they inhabited. In the shtetl, fish was brought live on Thursday. It was swimming in tubs at the market and was kept swimming in the bath till Friday, with several changes of water to get rid of the muddy taste; on Friday morning it was killed with a knife or a hammer blow.

Carp, pike, perch, sterlet and trout were all grand fish. Édouard de Pomiane, the French gastronome of Polish origin who wrote about the cooking of the Jews of Poland, remarked that "every observant Jew eats river fish. The wealthy buy carp and pike. The poor content themselves with a miserable roach or sometimes a piece of salt herring." (The poor also ate tench and chub.) Jewish traders on the silk route were involved in introducing carp from China to Central and Eastern Europe in the seventeenth century, and it was Jews who first farmed carp in Poland. They managed fish ponds and also bred fish from the Black, Azov, and Caspian Seas and from the river Don. It was the carp, which traveled easily live in tanks, that they adopted as their fish. Whereas carp became a symbol of the Sabbath, salt herring, which Jewish merchants also traded and which was a lot cheaper than fresh fish, was the symbol of the weekday and marked the contrast between the two.

Many of the old recipes for freshwater fish and herring are now used for saltwater fish like halibut, haddock, cod, plaice, sole, hake, flounder, and salmon. Salmon has become the great Jewish party dish, ever-present at weddings and bar mitzvahs. At my local fishmonger, Corney's, which specializes in salmon, both wild and farmed, there are always long queues of people waiting to have theirs filleted or cut into steaks for the Sabbath. For more of this essay and for some recipes go here.


Rebecca Shore manages to combine our two themes this week into one piece of art. The Tree of Life, symbolic of torah is filled with letters from God's name. They are embedded in the branches of the tree, embossed in gold. We also find the seven species- figs, olive, wheat, barley, grapes, pomegranates, and dates. Below fish swim, they as the sole survivors of "the flood" remain a talisman of good luck to the Jewish people.

Its not easy being green...

The Talmud itself says:
Whoever breaks vessels, or tears garments, or destroys a building, or clogs a well, or does away with food in a destructive manner violates the negative mitzvah of bal tashchit. (Kiddushin 32a).

Hundreds of years later, Maimonides applied the law to both trees and other objects, though he concedes that trees may be cut down as part of a thoughtful agricultural decision:

It is forbidden to cut down fruit-bearing trees outside a besieged city, nor may a water channel be deflected from them so that they wither. Whoever cuts down a fruit-bearing tree is flogged. This penalty is imposed not only for cutting it down during a siege; whenever a fruit-yielding tree is cut down with destructive intent, flogging is incurred. It may be cut down, however, if it causes damage to other trees or to a field belonging to another man or if its value for other purposes is greater. The law forbids only wanton destruction.... Not only one who cuts down trees, but also one who smashes household goods, tears clothes, demolishes a building, stops up a spring, or destroys articles of food with destructive intent transgresses the command "you must not destroy." (Mishna Torah, Laws of Kings and Wars 6:8,10)

Because the principle of bal taschit demands that we refrain from engaging in destructive or wasteful actions, many contemporary Jews have understood it to be part of an emerging Jewish environmental consciousness. For example, some contemporary writers have suggested that a commitment to bal taschit in its original context might lead Jews to greater activism to prevent the wasteful exploitation or destruction of wilderness areas. On a more everyday level, bal taschit might serve as a religious language for greater conservation and recycling efforts on the part of Jewish homes and institutions.
Read more of this drash here.

I have featured Shagra Landesman in the past. Here we see her olive branch mezuzah... this, like many of her other pieces is obviously inspired by nature.

Shof'tim:Deuteronomy 16:18 - 21:9

My family and I are are on our way back home. We spent a lovely several days with my family in NY... despite a nasty cold that bounced its way among us. I am currently writing you from Baltimore, MD. Last night we had a lovely evening with my husband's old roommate and his wife. I love having these attachments... continuing relationships like

THE HUMAN TREE
The tree's primary components are: the roots, which anchor it to the ground and supply it with water and other nutrients; the trunk, branches and leaves which comprise its body; and the fruit which contain the seeds by which the tree reproduces itself.

The spiritual life of man also includes roots, a body, and fruit. The roots represent faith, our source of nurture and perseverance. The trunk, branches and leaves are the body of our spiritual lives -- our intellectual, emotional and practical achievements. The fruit is our power of spiritual procreation -- the power to influence others, to plant a seed in a fellow human being and see it sprout, grow and bear fruit. Read more here.

Karin Foreman created this wonderful Tree of Life, Etz chaim. Apparently not an under achiever, Karin holds degrees in Business, Graphic Design, and Fine Arts. Karin has received awards for Design, Graphics, Printmaking, Environmental Science

Tu B'Shevat

I can recall as a child bringing home forms from Hebrew School. We were encouraged to buy trees to plant in Israel. Buying a tree to plant in someone else's backyard (Israel) is a very Jewish thing. We buy them for weddings, bar mitzvah's, funerals- everyone can always use a tree. Really.

Politics aside, I like to believe that the Israelis have built in Israel something that no other country, no other people could do. What was once a barren dessert now blooms with flowers. Israelis are known as farmers- flowers, trees, fruit, vegetables. I like to think that my little trees have contributed to that development.

On February 3rd- the fifteenth day of the month of Shevat- we will celebrate Tu B'shevat- essentially it is a Jewish Arbor Day. As part of my celebration, I would like to focus on trees in Jewish Art here in the Journal.




Today's beautiful works are from Jeanette Kuvin Oren . Jeanette creates in quilts and fabric but designs as well in mosaic and stained glass. The Hebrew in the piece below says Etz Chaim- tree of life.