Growing Spiritually on Tu B'Shevat

From the Shiur Tu B'Shvat, Rooting for Growth by Rabbi Zev Leff on Aish MP3

Sorry this post is longer then usual but it is worth it.

Hashem created the world with Din in Tishrei and Rachamim in Nisan.  If you subtract 4o days from thses days you get Tu B'Av and Tu B'Shevat.  The gemorah says that 40 days before a person is created a Bas Kol anounces that birth.  These 2 days (Tu B'Av and Tu B'Shevat) Hashem began preparing the creation of the worlds of Din and Rachamim.

 Tu B'Av is the last day that wood could be cut for the mizbach.

The word Aitz, wood, is from the letters Ayin Tzaki, which can mean, look at the Tzakik (we learn that the letter Tzaki can represent Tzakik),  look at the tree and you will see a Tzakik.  What does this mean?  The Maharal says that people are like upside down trees, the root is the most important part and our head is our root.  Our root (our head) is in the heavens.  This is where our real connection is-in heaven with Hashem.  In Gan Eden everyone walks on their head.  Since we live in a materialistic world, we are rooted in the ground.  When we want to be spiritual we take off our shoes and cover our head.  Because in a tree the root is covered  and the limbs are exposed , we take off our shoes and cover our head.  Shoes are a symbol of the physical world.  By taking off our shoes and covering our head we are becoming less materialistic and more spiritual.  A Tzadik is like a tree,   a person rooted in the spiritual world and his limbs, the secondary part, are in the physical world. 

We prepare for Din (Tu B'Av) by throwing ourselves into a fire, to cleanse ourselves.

Tu B'Shevat is the Rosh Hashanah for Ilanot.  We are preparing for the time of bearing fruit.  Fruit is the result of years of work and patience, it is not something that happens instantly.  This is the way of Tzadikim, that they understand that they have to work and prepare for the future.

On Tu B'Shevat  we are focused on thinking of the fruits of our labors.  A time when we know that by developing ourselves we can bring out fruts, Chesed, Mitzvahs and more.  It is not a time of burning wood, but of bulding.