happy tu bshvat

Does Tu Bshvat really celebrate the redemption of the Lebanese cedars, as they were cut down by King Solomons men and brought to Jerusalem? Or is there a deeper more significant tradition behind the celebration?

These and other similar questions were discussed over a traditional meal consisting of chili, dried apricot and wine. Fruit salad, the dessert, was a big hit though it contained such inedible items as strawberries, bananas, coconuts and other unmentionables. The highlight of the evening was quoting the Lorax and continuing the fight against apathy towards our environment. There was even the modern israeli vidui, confession.

The big question is how to really fight and get rid of disease such as a flu. The issue at hand is that I can get a flu and be over it in a couple hours while it takes my wife 3 weeks. I explained that you have to be very active in rooting the disease out. Figure out what its attacking and focus your energy on that part of the body. Doing this you might have the disease for a couple weeks but it doesn't really show the symptoms because you're winning the battle. I think part of it is blood flow. Increasing the blood flow in areas that are being infected helps bring white blood cells to the rescue. You want the white blood cells better then the red blood cells, because fighting disease has racist tendencies and everyone knows that you don't make an alliance with the indians.

Daf yomi has been difficult recently. I'm learning mesechet niddah, which goes through the rules and regulations of marital intimacy and sexual impurity. Some of it is interesting and some of it is just off the wall. Learning the gemara is similar to reading the discussions of the supreme court, irrespective of the final decision. The topics that are brought in as proof for one opinion or the other are often off topic and seemingly only slightly related, but if they can show precedent in interpretation of law in a specific manner that can bring the tide over to their side. Majority wins. Very similar to secular courts. Interesting.

So to tie it all together:

Eating the dried fruit of the truffala tree
looking at the world with so much of a plea
don't kill our world which god lovingly made
for in it there are times when we can get laid
diseases are rampant and a bond we must form
to destroy the little bugs use our bodies as a dorm
The nature is in and it is time to get out
roll up your sleeves and begin with a shout
Study the rules or you won't know what to do
Is it this blood or that blood that makes it so true
life is meshed together and it is all contained
Or you wouldn't have had what to do when it rained.