Ask Haviv Anything, Episode 84

Title: Why soldiers wept when Ran came home, lessons from Tu Bishvat
Host: Haviv Rettig Gur
Date: January 29, 2026

Main Theme

This poignant episode intertwines the collective mourning over the fallen Israeli soldier Ran Gvili, whose body was returned home months after the October 7th Hamas attack, with the deeper lessons of Tu Bishvat—the Jewish New Year for Trees. Host Haviv Rettig Gur deftly uses Ran’s story and the upcoming holiday to explore foundational aspects of Jewish solidarity, ethics, mortality, human responsibility, and the nature of resilience in the face of grief and loss.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why the Return of a Fallen Soldier Resonates So Deeply

• Haviv reflects on why Israelis are so consumed with bringing every soldier, living or dead, home—even at great cost and risk. He details the communal solidarity and sense of responsibility that underpins this cultural obsession.
• Quote:

  "If you understand this, you don't need anyone to explain it to you. And if you don't understand it, you also don't need anyone to explain it to you. You're either...in the circle of solidarity, of responsibility, and then it's as clear as day, or you're not..." (03:40)

2. The Deeper Layers of Tu Bishvat

• Despite its modern status as a children’s festival or “Jewish Earth Day,” Tu Bishvat is rooted in ancient rituals and profound ideas about creation, ethics, and human dignity.

• Quote:

  "It's seen by many Jews as a minor and uninteresting kind of holiday, a day that really can only matter to kids...That's totally unfair." (06:38)

• Haviv introduces ideas from Rashi (11th c.), Rashi’s naturalistic explanations, and Hasidic/Kabbalistic lenses, particularly via the Sfat Emet (Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Leib Alter).

3. Inner Light vs. Outer Shell

• Tu Bishvat is used to explore the Hasidic and Kabbalistic notion that, like trees in winter, there is life and sanctity pulsing beneath the surface—even when all seems dark or lifeless (12:30).
• The Sfat Emet’s teaching: everything contains a divine spark hidden beneath the physical shell; humans are uniquely tasked to reveal and elevate it.
• Quote:

  "He [Sfat Emet] sees a gap between the inner light, the inner, truest version of things that is part of the divine, and then the outer shell, the outer husk that surrounds things." (14:20)

4. Nature, Bounty, & Gratitude

• Haviv recites the biblical seven species (Deuteronomy 8)—wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olives, and date honey—as recurring symbols of the land’s goodness.
• Tu Bishvat’s rituals and kabbalistic Seder (developed in Safed, 16th c.) use fruits' textures as metaphors for divine protection, the human soul, and unity (22:20).
• Quote:

  "Walnuts and almonds are hard shell on the outside and a soft, edible inside. That represents the protection of the divine...olives and dates have a soft outer shell that you eat and a hard inner pit that you can't eat. That hard inner pit is the divine spark hidden within all things." (27:10)

5. Ecological Ethics & "Do Not Destroy"

• Tu Bishvat underscores not only love for land but ethical stewardship—a principle rooted in the verse prohibiting destruction of fruit trees in wartime (Deuteronomy 20:19).
• The Talmud extends this “bal tashchit” (do not destroy) principle to all resources—animals, clothing, objects, and, in Haviv’s update, even phones (32:05).
• Quote:

  “You don't throw out a working iPhone to buy a newer iPhone. In Judaism, you don't need more things. What we need, all of us, is to see the worth and value of the things that are present here and now.” (33:45)

6. The Gorilla Metaphor & Modern Abundance

• Haviv draws a parallel between gorillas in a salad bowl—the rainforest—and the abundance of modern life, urging listeners not to lose appreciation for “the things of this world” and their intrinsic value.
• Quote:

  “We live a life of almost infinite abundance. So much so that we feel the emptiness of it all, everywhere.” (35:05)

7. Transmission, Legacy, and Responsibility

• Using the classic Tu Bishvat story of Choni HaMe’agel and the carob tree (Taanit 23), Haviv illustrates Jewish values of planting for future generations and the obligation to safeguard the world for others (37:20).

• Quote:

  “I found a world full of carob trees. Just as my ancestors planted for me, I am planting for my descendants.” (38:00)

• He further quotes a Midrash where God warns Adam:

  “If you corrupt it, there is no one to fix it after you.” (39:25)

8. Theological and Philosophical Explorations of the 'Fall'

• Haviv presents a nuanced tour of rabbinic debates about the Genesis story and the knowledge of good and evil:
  • Maimonides’ rationalist view: The “fall” was a transition from absolute truth to flawed, subjective judgment.
  • Nachmanides’ mystical reading: The knowledge ushered in free will—a necessary change to allow for meaningful moral choice (41:05).
  • Malbim’s critique: Moral conflict is a result of confusion, not a virtue—the ideal is clarity and harmony.
  • Sfat Emet’s synthesis: The fall was intended—a descent enabling ascent. Only in brokenness and subjectivity can humans exercise true choice and thus surpass even the angels in spiritual achievement (48:55).
• Quote:

  "God wants that service of the heart...which can only happen when you have a choice to make...And by entering this world of confusion, we can give God that...gift from us, which is more profound than anything an angel can ever give." (51:40)

9. Mortality, Dignity, and Burial

• Jewish fixation on burial reflects core beliefs about mortality and human worth. Treatment of the dead is deeply tied to the recognition of human beings as creations in the divine image.
• Scriptural (Genesis 47, Jeremiah 31) and legal sources (Deuteronomy 21, Talmudic mitzvah of burial) are discussed to emphasize immediate, dignified burial for all—no matter status or sin (59:22).
• Quote:

  "The dignity of the dust that we are, that we come from and must return, overrides the highest demands of ritual purity." (1:02:30)

• The Chevra Kadisha (burial society) is highlighted as the community’s model of humility, honoring the dead when they cannot repay the favor.

10. Ran Gvili, Tu Bishvat, and the New Year of the Human

• The episode comes full circle—with Haviv expressing personal gratitude for Ran’s return and dignified burial as repayment of a national, communal debt.
• The rituals of Tu Bishvat—planting, harvesting, praising the land—emerge as symbols of the universal human condition: stewards of a broken world, tragic yet exalted, striving to repair and to choose light even in darkness (1:05:00).
• Quote:

  "Tu Bishvat, the new year of the trees, might as well be called the new year of the human. Happy Tu Bishvat—and Ran, welcome home. We were waiting for you." (1:09:30)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 03:40 | Haviv | "If you understand this, you don't need anyone to explain it to you..." | | 12:30 | Haviv | "The Sfatemet saw in Tu Bishvat the expression of this great idea, the deepest layer that is the source of all being is why the physical world and everything in it is precious and holy." | | 22:20 | Haviv | "It is therefore customary on Tu Bishvat to eat those fruits specifically praised in the Torah as evidence of the good land." | | 33:45 | Haviv | "You don't throw out a working iPhone to buy a newer iPhone. In Judaism, you don't need more things. What we need, all of us, is to see the worth and value of the things that are present here and now." | | 38:00 | Honi* (quoted) | "Just as my ancestors planted for me, I am planting for my descendants." | | 48:55 | Haviv | "Descent for the sake of ascent. Adam's fall was a necessary exile. If Adam had stayed in the garden, his holiness would have been a gift, not an achievement..." | | 1:02:30 | Haviv | "The dignity of the dust that we are, that we come from and must return, overrides the highest demands of ritual purity." | | 1:09:30 | Haviv | "Tu Bishvat, the new year of the trees, might as well be called the new year of the human. Happy Tu Bishvat—and Ran, welcome home. We were waiting for you." |

*Honi the Circle Maker, quoted by Haviv

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:04 – Opening, Ran Gvili’s burial and Israeli collective mourning
• 06:38 – Misconceptions and true significance of Tu Bishvat
• 12:30 – Hasidic and mystical interpretations of Tu Bishvat, Sfat Emet on inner light
• 22:20 – Biblical roots and symbolic foods of Tu Bishvat
• 27:10 – The Tu Bishvat Seder, Kabbalistic metaphors in fruit textures
• 32:05 – Ecological commandments: “Do not destroy”
• 37:20 – Choni the Circle Maker and planting for the future
• 41:05 – The Genesis narrative: knowledge, subjectivity, and free will
• 48:55 – Sfat Emet and the meaning of the Fall: descent for ascent
• 59:22 – The dignity of burial and Jewish law on mortuary practice
• 1:04:50 – Concluding thoughts: humans, trees, brokenness, and hope

Summary

This episode uses the personal and national trauma of the October 7th attacks and the spiritual teachings of Tu Bishvat to probe deeply into Jewish concepts of solidarity, dignity, environmental responsibility, mortality, moral struggle, and hope. Through accessible storytelling, Torah study, philosophy, and personal reflection, Haviv Rettig Gur crafts a meditation on why Israelis honor their dead so fiercely and how every act of care for the land, others, or even oneself can be an act of repairing a broken world.

Listeners will walk away with a richer understanding of Tu Bishvat—not just as a holiday of trees, but as a profound celebration of the human condition, choice, legacy, and the unbreakable bonds of community.