Haveil Havalim 254: Tu B’Shevat Edition

Founded by Soccer Dad, Haveil Havalim is a carnival of Jewish blogs — a weekly collection of Jewish & Israeli blog highlights, tidbits and points of interest collected from blogs all around the world. It’s hosted by different bloggers each week and coordinated by Jack. The term ‘Haveil Havalim,’ which means “Vanity of Vanities,” is from Qoheleth, (Ecclesiastes) which was written by King Solomon. King Solomon built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and later on got all bogged down in materialism and other ‘excesses’ and realized that it was nothing but ‘hevel,’ or in English, ‘vanity.’

This week, we had the joy of celebrating what my religious school students casually refer to as “Earth Day for Jews.” Tradition asks us to eat from the fruit of the trees, particularly those from the land of Israel. We begin to anticipate spring’s promise and look forward to continued personal, professional, and emotional growth.

This “New Year for the Trees” is especially new for me, as this is my first time hosting Haveil Havalim. I enjoy my renewed connection with this blog and the opportunity to read such fine works from individuals all over the world who are a part of this community. With that, let us indulge in morsels of insight from these radiant trees of knowledge:

As always, we’ll begin with some shameless self-promotion. Eric has very interesting pieces about Hamas’ role in Gaza blackouts and Dershowitz. Anthony makes a particularly good argument about Haiti and brings us hard truths about Israel’s economics. I got excited about the Human Rights Council’s inclusion and recognition of Israel.

Personal

Rahel lets us peek into the life and struggles of a stranger at a bus stop.

Benji Lovitt makes us laugh when we read about retarded, Afro-American midgets and cripples.

Robert J. Avrech reviews Procession.

rickismom regales us with An Umbrella Tale.

Batya presents This Month’s The 50th Kosher Cooking Carnival.

neil fleischmann shares with us a series of incredibly personal stories about the grieving process.

Micah Streiffer wants to take action this Tu B’Shevat.

Harry brings us two baby naming stories and a comedic Barack Obama musical.

Jacob Richman brings us a wealth of resources for Holocaust remembrance and education.

Leah asks us if we value children and brings us some practical advice for the Tu B’Shevat seder.

Phyllis shares her experience making Mandelbrot for the first time.

Mottel presents Picture of the Week 93 – Murder Inc. Edition.

Yossi tells us what to do When The Dog Bites.

Judaism

Binyamin miller asks us about the role of questioning in Judaism.

Lady-Light gives us a series of posts about Shabbaton in the mountains; I have helped lead services in such an environment and hope it was as meaningful as my experience was.

Joshua Waxman expounds on Dybbuks and Egyptians.

Chaviva does some biblical analysis for us.

Yisrael Medad argues in Foxy Foxman – Fooey and discusses liberalism at the JPost.

Mordechai Torczyner gives us insight into tensions between congregants and rabbis.

Yechezkel gives us a lesson in Emunah.

Heshy Fried may offend you with what non-Jews may think of some Jewish rituals, a topic my 6th grade students debated last week.

M gives us a look into the Lubavitch movement.

Can you find the prayers in Peanuts? Batya can .

Ben-Yehudah presents Shlomo Riskin To Speak On Jewish-Christian Dialogue.

Israel

Batya praises Israel’s small step toward the middle.

Joel Katz lets us listen to Religion and State in Israel – January 25, 2010 (Section 1) and (Section 2).

Rahel brings us a particularly personal and moving account of gender inequalities during burial ceremonies in Israel.

Mrs. S. gives us another reason for making aliyah.

Joel Haber tells Israel’s story.

We get some choice words from westbankmama about Israeli security.

Bar Kochba curses the exile of the Jews from the land of Israel.

SnoopyTheGoon presents Shin Bet: Hamas operatives cause flooding in Haifa and Tammy Obeidallah, the Intifadagirl.

That’s it for this week! Thanks to all who submitted. I really enjoyed becoming acquainted with such a variety of good, interesting, and Jewish writing. Next week, you will find HH at Simply Jews, and you can submit your posts to that edition here.