Tu B'Shevat

January 18, 2003 (Hebrew year: 5763)
February 7, 2004 (Hebrew year 5764)
January 25, 2005 (Hebrew year 5765)

Introduction

Tu B' Shevat, sometimes called Jewish Arbor Day, is a minor holiday, but one that is filled with festivity and meaning. The name of the holiday comes from the day on which it occurs on the Hebrew calendar, the 15th of Shevat. The Hebrew letters that spell the number fifteen can be pronounced as "Tu."

Just as Rosh Hashanah is the birthday of the world, Tu B' Shevat is like a birthday for trees. In texts dating from the first centuries of the Common Era, we learn that Tu Bi-Shevat was the day that separated one agricultural year from the next. Today we celebrate Tu B'Shevat to thank God for the gifts of creation, especially foods that grow on trees and the beauties of nature we enjoy. The holiday also reminds us of our responsibility to care for the earth that God created in order to preserve it for future generations.

One of the ways Tu B'Shevat is celebrated is with a special ritual called a seder, which means "order." The Tu B'Shevat seder was developed in the 16th century by Jewish mystics called "Kabbalists," who used the Passover seder as their model.

At the Tu B'Shevat seder, along with the appropriate prayers, the Kabbalists would consume various types of food and drink, each of which would be given a symbolic meaning. Tu B'Shevat seders are still held today. Modern Tu B'Shevat seders are celebrated by eating special foods, with appropriate prayers, Biblical readings, stories, poetry, songs and discussions about nature and the environment. These celebrations have in fact become quite popular, especially in synagogues, religious schools, community centers, and homes for the aged.

In Israel, Tu B'Shevat signals the coming of spring, as flowers begin to appear and the earth reawakens. Throughout Israel's modern history, school children have celebrated the holiday with ceremonies for the planting of trees. Tu B'Shevat is also a day of national pride, when Israelis recall how the early pioneers worked the land and made the desert bloom.

This article was contributed by Rabbi Loraine Heller.

Copyright (c) 1999 by Rabbi Loraine Heller. All Rights Reserved. Excerpted from The Jewish Appleseed Foundation