Tu B'Shevat, the New Year for trees, is a time of great festivity. We may wonder, though, why this should be so. We do not find such celebration on the New Year for vegetables or crops. What is so special about fruit?

A distinction between fruit and crops is found at the beginning of the Torah. In the utopia of Gan Eden, Adam was instructed that his diet would consist of fruit:

"And Hashem, God, commanded man, saying: You shall eat from any tree in the garden." (Bereishis 2:16)

When Adam sinned and fell from his lofty spiritual stature, his diet was also reduced to a lower status:

"And to Adam He said: ...The land is cursed because of you; you shall eat in suffering all your life. It shall sprout thorns and thistles for you, and you shall eat the grasses of the field." (Bereishis 3:17-18)

No longer would the fruits of the trees sustain man. Now he was to to live off the grasses of the field - wheat, barley and other grains and vegetables. Upon hearing this, Adam became greatly distressed:

"When Hashem said to Adam, 'It shall sprout thorns and thistles for you...,' his eyes streamed with tears; he said, 'Master of the Universe! I and my donkey shall eat from a single trough!' " (Pesachim 118a)

In the transition from a diet of fruit to one of crops, Adam perceived that he had fallen to a status approaching that of an animal. If we contrast the natures of fruit with crops and vegetables, we shall see the same essential difference.

When grains and vegetables are grown, the entire plant is cut and consumed. What you see is what you get. Once it is consumed, there is nothing left. There is never any further possibility of produce from this plant.

A fruit tree is different. What you see is only a tiny fraction of what you get. For even when all the fruit have been consumed, there remains vast potential in the tree. It has the ability to produce more fruit, and more, for many generations.

Adam was originally on the level of eating fruit. He was a vast reserve of potential, just waiting to be actualized. He is named after the adamah - the fruitful earth, a vast reservoir of hidden potential. But when he sinned, he dropped to little more than the level of an animal. An animal is called a behemah, which is formed of the words bah mah - "what is it? What's in it" - or, as we might say, what you see is what you get. An animal has nothing more to it than meets the eye. It does not possess great potential that can be used for creative spiritual expression. Adam therefore notes that his donkey subsists on a diet of crops and vegetables, which likewise have no potential for further development. In the same way, Adam's capacity for spiritual development was greatly reduced.

The donkey, featured in Adam HaRishon's cry of despair, is called chamor, which is based on the word chomer, "material." The donkey is the most "materialistic" creature. A simple-minded beast, it is drawn solely after its physical desires. Adam realized that his altered diet demonstrated a fall to such a level.

But it is not only memories of a time long gone that we can ponder. There are great times yet to come, times in which we shall return to the level of Adam's original spiritual heights:

"In the future...trees will bear fruit every month, and man will eat of them and be healed..." (Shemos Rabbah 15:21)

We yearn for the final redemption, through which we will regain the spiritual level of Adam in Gan Eden. Tu B'Shevat is the day of rejoicing over fruit, the more spiritual of foods, and a day of hope for man's ultimate restoration to his true greatness.