Tu B'Shevat
a) "חלות דבש" ("Honeycombs")11: from when do they become susceptible to impurity on account of being a liquid? Beis Shammai say: from when one smokes out the bees (משיחרחר) — potential and concealment; and Beis Hillel say: from when one breaks the comb (משיסקס) — actuality and revelation.
b) Chanukah lights: Beis Shammai say12, "On the first day one lights eight; from then on one gradually decreases"; and Beis Hillel say, "On the first day one lights one; from then on one gradually increases." The reason of Beis Shammai is that it corresponds to the incoming days (those that are yet to come) — potential and concealment. And the reason of Beis Hillel is that it corresponds to the outgoing days (those that have already passed) — actuality and revelation.
Beis Shammai always go according to the thing as it can be, according to its hidden powers; and Beis Hillel — according to the thing as it is, in the open.
(The root of the matter is this: Beis Shammai are rooted in the level of Gevuros, and their service is by way of ascent — the level of concealment. And Beis Hillel are rooted in the level of Chassadim, and their service is by way of drawing down — the level of revelation. The name "Hillel" derives from the expression "בהלו נרו" ("When His lamp shone"), meaning revelation13.)
17. The concept of Rosh Hashanah for trees is that the trees stop drawing their vitality from the waters of the past year, and a new nourishment begins for them14.
The time when the waters of the new year begin to provide nourishment is four months after they are judged. On the festival (of Sukkos) — the 16th of Tishrei — "נידונין על המים" ("they are judged regarding water")15, and some four months later — on the 15th of Shevat — the waters begin to provide nourishment to the trees.
The fact that the waters are judged on the festival refers to the judgment in actuality and in revelation. But in potential and in concealment, this takes place on the first of Tishrei, for on Rosh Hashanah — the first of Tishrei — the entire world is judged16, and this includes water as well. It is only that in actuality this comes out on the 15th of Tishrei.
Since the trees' revealed nourishment from the new waters comes four months after the revealed judgment of the waters, it follows that the new nourishment in a concealed manner is on the first of Shevat — four months after the concealed judgment of the waters.
Therefore Beis Shammai, who follow the potential in its concealed state, hold that the first of Shevat is Rosh Hashanah for trees; while Beis Hillel, "דאזלי בתר פועל" ("who follow the actual"), hold that the fifteenth of Shevat is Rosh Hashanah for trees.
Accordingly, it emerges that even Beis Shammai concede that Rosh Hashanah for trees in actuality is on the fifteenth of Shevat.
18. The concept of Rosh Hashanah for trees also exists within a person, as it is written, "כי האדם עץ השדה" ("For man is a tree of the field")17.
The concept of a tree is that it produces fruit — it gives fruits — from which, afterwards, still more fruit-bearing trees grow.
So too, every Jew must be a source of influence on his surroundings — in shul, in yeshivah, and in general: upon all the Jews whom he encounters he must exert an influence, so that more Jews will be added.
The blessing given to him is that his plantings be "like him" — as he himself is — like his inner self. This is the best blessing for a tree, as our Sages say: "אילן אילן במה אברכך, שיהיו נטיעותיך כמותך" ("Tree, tree, with what shall I bless you? May your plantings be like you")18.
And when "your plantings will be like you" is fulfilled, then it is as the Gemara concludes in Tractate Sanhedrin19: after enumerating a number of signs of the End of Days, it says that when it will be "ענפיכם תתנו ופריכם תשאו" ("You shall give forth your branches and bear your fruit")20, "אין לך קץ מגולה מזה" ("there is no more revealed sign of the End than this"). This is the true sign that Moshiach is coming.
Notes
11) Uktzin, ch. 3, Mishnah 11.
12) Shabbos 21b.
13) Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 48c.
14) Jerusalem Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 1:2.
15) Rosh Hashanah 16a.
16) Ibid.
17) Devarim 20:19.
18) [OCR unclear — the text of this note is missing from the source.]
19) [OCR unclear — the text of this note is missing from the source.]
20) [OCR unclear — the text of this note is missing from the source.]
Key Lesson
Beis Shammai look at what a thing holds in potential, while Beis Hillel look at what is actually revealed, and the halachah follows the revealed fruit. Like a fruit tree, every Jew is meant to influence everyone around him so that his "plantings" become like him, and when that happens it is the clearest sign of Moshiach's coming.