Northwood & Pinner Liberal Synagogue members, including Rabbi Aaron Goldstein, braved bitter sleet and wicked thorns for a special Mitzvah Day project on Tu Bishvat.

The group helped support the Friends of Croxley Common Moor clearing scrub and tidying the common.

A very muddy Aaron said: “It is sometimes difficult to make the connection to first buds on the almond trees in the Land of Israel, as you’re meant to on Tu Bishvat, with such inclement weather.

“But making a difference to our local environment does, however, seem a fitting way to acknowledge that connection and also reinforce the Mitzvah Day message that we can be doing good 365 days of the year.”

Other Progressive communities taking part in Mitzvah Day projects on Tu Bishvat – tidying and clearing forestrs and commons – included synagogues in Oxford, Essex and London.

Mitzvah Day’s executive director Dan Rickman added: “In what has been a slightly tumultuous start to 2017, filled with darkness and fear, we have used Tu Bishvat as a great opportunity for our coordinators to revisit or find brand new opportunities to engage with the environment, as our first Mitzvah Day 365 project of the year.”