Changes in Autumn
In stories from cold lands, life in nature always begins in spring. In summer, everything is refreshed and flourishing. In autumn, fruit ripens and the world is sunk in sadness and heavy rain, and in winter, everything is silent or dead – until the time comes to reawaken again in spring.
In the Land of Israel, the order is the exact reverse. Our spring in very short, when the flowering peak; most plants stop their activity ahead of summer, except for the ripening of fruit, and precisely at the end of Elul and early Tishrei does our vista change.
Almost in an instant you feel it, because the day is getting shorter. Around Rosh Hashana, the equinox occurs. Nights not only get longer, but colder. Towards evening, we see clouds floating and colorful sunsets – the most beautiful sunsets of the year.
As the terrible heat abates, the trees, bushes, and other autumn-budding plants wake up. Here is the place to discover the “secret”: except for the flowing spring season, known to us all, we also have flowering in Tishrei, and it is no less important for the other plants – summer causes the trees to stop growing, and were it not for the autumn blossoming, the halt would be so long that the tree could not survive. In arid and desert areas, there is not Tishrei blossoming, which is why there are few species of trees there.
Onions and bulb plants also feel the change. Some of them (squill and lily) flower, even though it is still dry outside. Other begin preparing in the depths of the ground, develop buds within the onion, pushing out first roots, and preparing to break out after the rain.