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.