Almost two weeks ago, a bit before rosh chodesh Shevat, my brother in Jerusalem sent a photo of a tree abloom. Bracha time (for him)!

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱ’לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם שֶׁלֹּא חִסַּר בְּעוֹלָמוֹ דָבָר
וּבָרָא בוֹ בְּרִיוֹת טוֹבוֹת וְאִילָנוֹת טוֹבִים לְהַנוֹת בָּהֶם בְּנֵי אָדָם
baruch atta adonai eloheinu melech ha’olam shelo chisar b’olamo davar
u’vara vo briyot tovot v’ilanot tovim lehanot bahem b’nei adam

We praise You, Adonai our God, ruler of all existence, who left nothing out of the world God made, and created in it amazing creatures and magnificent trees for our benefit.

While the Babylonian Talmud (b’rachot 43b) specifies this bracha for the month of Nisan, other authorities tie the blessing to an individual’s first sighting of a tree in bloom no matter the month.

It is a curious bracha in that it doesn’t address the specific tree or its blossoms. And even though it references “creatures” we don’t recite the bracha at our first sighting of, say, a bee or rabbit in the yard.

Perhaps the phrase “for our benefit” is meant to encourage our recognition of trees as gifts of nature, sustenance and beauty: we get shade, fruits, various tree-derived materials, carbon balance, aesthetics.

And why say it only once? It seems like a bracha that should be said daily if you even look out a window. And what about the things we get from trees? There is a bracha for eating tree fruits, and another over derivatives of those fruits, yet we don’t have a bracha to say when we use things like paper, lumber, resins, cork.

Maybe a new bracha, or several, building on the one-time blessing would help us express gratitude for the myriad non-food benefits we get from nature. Think about ways to expand this bracha in order to expand our awareness.

And however you do it, appreciate and celebrate our trees —happy tu b’shevat!