A Dream – Tu B’Shavt – And the lesson the Rebbe taught based on the Ar”i

I once had a dream. In the dream, I was sitting in a café in Jerusalem. There was a crane overhead, and attached to the crane was a bucket. The bucket tipped over, and pixie dust spread out over the area. It was like a rooftop café, and there was a smell.

What struck me was that it was very rare—it was a dream with a smell. Chazal say that when Moshiach comes, there will be a fragrance, and this smell was fruity. I kept trying to place it.

Later, when I was in Israel, I realized something fascinating. The first tree to blossom—right around now—is the almond tree. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll go out and make a blessing on the blossoming almond trees. And then it hit me: the smell in the dream was exactly the smell of almond blossoms. It was a striking and meaningful connection.

In any event, on Tu B’Shvat we eat new fruits—especially the fruits of Eretz Yisrael—and we try to have a new fruit in order to say Shehecheyanu. The verse says:

> “Eretz chita u’se’ora,
v’gefen u’te’enah v’rimon;
eretz zeyt shemen u’devash.”



“A land of wheat (chita) and barley (se’ora), grapes (gefen), figs (te’enah), pomegranates (rimon), olive oil (zeyt shemen), and honey (of dates – devash).”

These seven species represent the entire journey of life.

The soul comes into this world with a mission. The first word is eretz—earth. In order for a person to grow, the earth must be tilled. We often think difficulties are obstacles, but they are really the plowing of the field. A person is born with an ego—Hashem gives us a sense of self—but the more we are trapped in “me,” the less we can grow beyond ourselves. Tilling the soil is humility. It breaks the hardness so growth is possible. This corresponds to galus—exile—preparing the ground.

Then comes growth.

The first stage is the nefesh Elokit, the godly soul, which naturally loves Hashem. Loving G-d is actually the easiest step.

The next stage is harder—the nefesh habehamit, the animal soul, which loves physical pleasure. But it can be elevated when it realizes that closeness to Hashem is the greatest pleasure, the greatest truth, and the greatest gift.

The next level is serving Hashem with joy. This is represented by grapes and wine. Not “I have to do a mitzvah,” but “I want to do a mitzvah.” Joy transforms obligation into desire.

Then comes the fig tree. Fig leaves were used to make garments for Adam and Chava. This represents machshavah, dibbur, and ma’aseh—thought, speech, and action. Not only doing mitzvot, but refining our thoughts, our words, and our actions so they are positive and holy.

After that is the pomegranate. Chazal say that even the “empty ones” are filled with mitzvot like a pomegranate is filled with seeds. Each mitzvah is its own entity. This represents deep engagement with the physical world—our money, our possessions, our interactions—transforming everything into service of Hashem.

Then we go even deeper, into the depths of exile, which leads to oil—olive oil. Oil represents the inner secrets of Torah, Pnimiyut HaTorah, Chassidus. This level prepares the world for Moshiach.

And finally, we reach honey—date honey. The date palm is unique: it bears fruit only after many decades. After all the labor, struggle, and exile, everything turns to sweetness. The bitterness itself becomes honey.

This is the world we are about to enter—very, very soon—with the coming of Moshiach: a world of completion, sweetness, and revealed goodness.