Winter connotes the chill of rapidly receding years and ultimate death.
Winter's snow covers the world with a white and aging head. In every language, winter symbolizes old age. Every language, that is, except one. In Hebrew, the word for winter, Choref, can also connote the hidden burgeoning of youth into maturity. On the 15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat, which this year falls out on the 22nd of January, a new year will begin.