Sowing Seeds
Daniel Spiro
Director of Communications
Before I was a Jewish foundation professional, I was a farmer, and so it’s likely no surprise that one of my favorite holidays on the Jewish calendar (one of our four new years according to Mishnah Rosh Hashanah) is Tu B’shvat. On Tu B’shvat, a winter holiday for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, we crack our digging trowels into hard earth, plant myriad seeds, cover them with compost, soil, and water, and with patience, faith, and skillful cultivation, help them to become trees, givers of oxygen, sustenance, and shelter.
We might think about sowing seeds as having three distinct phases: preparing the ground, planting the seeds, and cultivating the ground as the sapling sprouts and grows. As I reflect on last month’s Prizmah Conference – my first – I am thinking about the parallels of these three phases to Jewish education.