The author of the Avnei Nezer, HaRav Avraham Bornstein zt’l (1838-1910) – the great posek, Rosh Yeshiva, and first Rebbe of the Sochatchover Chassidic dynasty – would quote the pasuk, כִּי הָאָדָם עֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה – for a man is like a tree in a field (Devarim 20:19). He interpreted this verse to mean that Man is likened to a tree, and his peiros – his fruits – are his chiddushei Torah. Just as on Tu B’Shvat the sap rises up inside the tree, enabling a new crop of fruit, so too, there is a renewal in the chiddushei Torah, in the peiros of each and every Jew.

On Tu B’Shvat, the Avnei Nezer felt that his chiddushei Torah were enhanced; they were on a loftier and higher level than they were during the remainder of the year. From Tu B’Shvat onward, he sensed enrichment and elevation in his own Torah novellae. It was as if, somehow, Tu B’Shvat was the Rosh Hashanah for original Torah thought.

HaRav Aryeh Tzvi Frumer zt’l Hy’d (1884-1943) was one of the Sochatchover’s most notable talmidim. Known as the Kozhiglover Gaon, Rav Frumer served as Rosh Yeshiva of the yeshiva in Sochatchov from 1910 to 1914 and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin from 1934 to 1939 following the petirah of HaRav Meir Shapiro zt’l. In his widely quoted sefer, She’eilos U’Teshuvos Eretz Tzvi, the Kozhiglover Gaon adds that since “tree” is a reference to a person, as in the pasuk cited above, the main renewal – the “ikkur Rosh Hashanah” – of Tu B’Shvat is, in fact, for chiddushei Torah and not for the fruit of actual trees.

Having established that Man is likened to a tree and that his Torah is considered his peiros, we can now identify the optimal date on the calendar on which to daven for bracha and hatzlacha in one’s Torah learning: it is, of course, Tu B’Shvat. The day on which we mark the Rosh Hashanah for the trees, the day of renewal for the עֵץ, is the most appropriate and opportune time to ask Hashem to grant us success in our studies.

Tu B’Shvat is the ideal time to ask Hashem to afford us the ability, mental capacity, and clarity of understanding to reach new heights in our Torah study and to be able to develop and elucidate original Torah thoughts and ideas. For us, the 15th of Shvat is the day on which we can aspire to reach new heights in learning Torah, achieve new levels in understanding the wisdom of Hashem, and embark on a new year of learning. We ask Hashem to provide us the necessary resources to produce beautiful new peiros of our own.

Open My Eyes is a sincere melody composed by R’ Joey (Yosef) Newcomb and appears on his 2020 album, How Aw Ya Reb Yid? This heartfelt tune also features a guest appearance by Rabbi Mordechai Yehuda Groner shlita, founder and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway, NY – a place R’ Joey can be found giving daily shiurim while building a strong, personal relationship with his talmidim.

גַּל עֵינַי וְאַבִּיטָה נִפְלָאוֹת מִתּוֹרָתֶךָ
Open my eyes, and let me see the wonders of Your Torah (Tehillim 119:18).

These special words are part of the tefillah found on the inside cover of every Gemara that many of us say before we begin learning each day. We ask Hashem for hatzlacha in our learning and to open our eyes to the beauty of His Torah. With our newfound appreciation for this auspicious day, I thought that today, Tu B’Shvat – a day on which the growth of our personal Torah is given new life – would be an ideal day to express this profound and earnest tefillah.

R’ Joey says:
This song is very dear to me. I wrote this niggun in Tzfas right outside the Arizal’s Mikvah, on a trip with the chevra from Yeshiva Ateres Shimon. As we were walking through the mystical city, we realized that the Tzaddikim that lived there saw things way beyond, and deeper than, the surface view. These words from Tehillim popped into my head, and the song was written. The Baal Shem Tov writes that the reading of this Pasuk should have a comma after the word “Nifla’os”, which would then mean, let me see the wonders of everything through your Torah. I daven that you the listener hear the depth and find chizuk within this song.

Wishing you a rejuvenating Tu B’Shvat!