By Dr. Shahar Sadeh, Founding Director of Adamah NY
Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees, arrives each winter as a quiet but powerful reminder of our deepest values. At a time when the ground is still frozen, and the days begin to lengthen, we celebrate the resilience of trees – their ability to endure, to regenerate, and to offer life even in moments of dormancy. The holiday invites us to look closely at the natural world with gratitude, humility, and hope.
Jewish tradition offers rich imagery about our relationship to the earth. The Torah teaches that “Ki ha’adam etz hasadeh”- a person is like a tree of the field. Like trees, we are shaped by our roots: the communities that anchor us, the traditions that nourish us, and the land that sustains us. We also carry the responsibility articulated early in Genesis: “L’ovdah u’l’shomrah”- to tend and to protect the natural world. Tu B’Shvat calls us to recommit to these values – not as abstract ideas, but as an ethic that must guide our actions here and now. Some mark the holiday with a Seder (an “order”, in Hebrew) – which provides a structure to move us in between four kabbalistic worlds of action (Asiyah), formation (Yetzirah), understanding (Beriah), and spirit (Atzilut).
But how does this spiritual framework speak to the current moment? A moment shaped by overlapping crises, collapse-aware folks, climate disruption, and uncertainty about the future? I believe trees, and actions on their behalf, offer part of the answer.
Here in New York, the stakes are real. While coined a “concrete jungle,” NYC is also a city of parks, street trees, wetlands, rivers, and resilient ecosystems that quietly support millions of lives. Our urban forest is tightly connected to climate mitigation and adaptation: it reduces heat, filters pollution, absorbs stormwater, and provides refuge-not only for humans but for countless species. As in many other climate issues, tree canopy coverage is deeply unequal, mirroring patterns of racial and economic injustice. Lack of trees and green spaces in certain neighborhoods further cycles of inequality contributing to health issues and social isolation.
Tu B’Shvat’s ancient wisdom is relevant to New York and New Yorkers today, urging us to honor our trees and care for ecosystems while grounding climate action in both social justice and Jewish life. At Adamah NY, this notion guides our daily work. As a Jewish environmental organization, we cultivate vibrant Jewish life in deep connection with the world around us – through Jewish environmental education, community engagement, climate action, and youth empowerment. Our approach is rooted in the belief that Jewish tradition does more than encourage environmental stewardship – it demands it. Our “think global, act local” approach is grounded in the simple truth that New York is our home. Last fall, during the High Holidays, with support from the UJA Federation of NY we led and partnered with over 75 organizations and parks for ROOTED, a large volunteer effort that brought over a thousand New Yorkers into nature to restore trails, steward forests, plant trees, uproot invasive species, clean beaches and learn about the ecosystems that sustain New York.
This Tu B’Shvat season feels like a tipping point for our Adamah NY team. Across the region, 107 Jewish institutions – synagogues, day schools, JCCs, Hillels, camps, and others – joined Adamah’s Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition.
These communities have committed to learning and acting, each in a way that reflects their own character and capacity. Together, they form a growing network of Jewish climate leaders across the region. Some will call it a movement. Members are hosting climate teach-ins, reducing waste, investing in building decarbonization, and introducing environmental justice curricula for youth. And yes, they are also bringing Tu B’Shvat values to life by caring for local trees, advocating for equitable canopy expansion, and partnering with parks and nature-based organizations in their neighborhoods.
And as a new expression of our commitment to protecting New York’s trees and green spaces, Adamah NY has proudly joined the Forest for All Coalition, a citywide alliance dedicated to ensuring a healthier, more resilient, and more equitable urban forest. Trees are not luxuries; they are life-saving infrastructure. They cool our city, clean our air, and protect our neighborhoods during climate-intensified storms. Supporting forest equity is a form of climate action; public health action, and justice work all at once.
This year, as we gather for Tu B’Shvat seders, plant herbs on windowsills, or simply pause to notice the bare branches outside our windows, may we remember that the holiday is more than a celebration – it is a call to responsibility.
Trees ask us to look beyond the urgency of today and invest in a future we may not yet see. They remind us that growth is possible even in winter, and that collective action can create lasting change.
May this Tu B’Shvat inspire us to deepen our roots, widen our canopy, and nurture the world we all share.
Dr. Shahar Sadeh
Director, Adamah NY
Dr. Shahar Sadeh is a scholar practitioner with an extensive experience in strategic planning, program management and community engagement and a diverse background in environment, Jewish communal affairs, academic activism and peacebuilding.
shahar.sadeh@adamah.org