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Yesterday was the last day in the Hebrew month of Shvat, in which the holiday of Tu B’Shvat – the Jewish new year for trees – is celebrated. So today, host Marcela Sulak reads an excerpt from Ruth Almog’s story, “After Arbor Day,” which is set during Tu B’Shvat.

“I saw boys and girls all over the mountainside with spades in their hands, planting saplings in basins of loose soil. When I planted my own little sapling and tightened the soil around it, black earth stuck to my fingers. “Will my sapling live?” I asked myself. An inexplicable dread suddenly took hold of me.“

Ruth Almog was born in 1936 in Petah Tikva, Mandate Palestine, to parents who immigrated from Hamburg in 1933. She has been deputy editor of the literary section of the daily Haaretz, and writer-in-residence at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is married to the poet Aaron Almog, who will be featured on next week’s podcast.

Texts:
Ruth Almog, “After Arbor Day,” translated by Dalya Bilu. 50 Stories from Israel: An Anthology. Ed. Zisi Stavi.

Music:
Chava Alberstein – Etz HaKochavim
Shir HaIlan – Music by Mordechai Ze’ira, lyrics by Raphael Saporta
HaAchayot Shemer – BeGani Neta’aticha

Producer: Laragh Widdess
Technical producer: Alex Benish