Meet the new year for the trees

The Meaning of Tu B’Shevat

art by April Stewart Klausner

  Laws and customs from Chabad

The 15th day of the Jewish month of Shevat is the official “birthday” for trees in Israel. Calculating the years of a tree is necessary for several mitzvot of the Torah: maaserot—tithing [of each year’s fruit]; orlah—forbidden fruit of a tree’s first three years; reva’i—[redemption of] the fruit of a tree’s fourth year; and shemittah—the Sabbatical year. Tu B’Shevat is considered the beginning of the year for trees because it is the midpoint of winter: the strength of the cold becomes less, the majority of the year’s rains (in Israel) have fallen, and the sap of the trees starts to rise. As a result, fruit begins to form. (Fruit that was already ripe is known to have been nurtured by the previous year’s rain.)

The Tu B’Shevat Celebration

The Code of Jewish Law states that on Tu B’Shevat fasting and eulogies are forbidden, and all penitential prayers are omitted. One of the most important authorities, the Magen Avraham, adds (131:16): “It is the custom to eat many different kinds of fruit.” The almond tree is always the first to bloom . . .

The Kabbalistic celebration of Tu B’Shevat that originated in Safed involves eating particular fruits in a specific order [or seder, in Hebrew] and reading mystical passages appropriate to each of them. It was first recorded in Pri Etz Hadar, a 50-page pamphlet arranged by an anonymous student of Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the Ari (1534–1572), the greatest Kabbalist of Safed. Set out below are the first 12 fruits recommended for the Seder, corresponding to the 12 possible permutations of G‑d’s four-letter name, along with related verses and themes to focus on while eating, which we have substituted for the lengthy Zohar passages of the original.

read more for Guidelines and Seder

Mitzvah and tradition: when's the last time you wished a tree Happy New Year?

 The 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat is a great opportunity.

It's known as Tu b'Shevat, the New Year for Trees.

Why do trees celebrate their New Year so much later than ours? It has to do with the rainy season in Israel, which commences with the festival of Sukkot. It takes four months for the rains to saturate the soil, nurture the trees and coax them into producing fruit. This is important to know if you are planning to give your tithes of fruits, as we did in Temple times, because the required tithes varied from year to year. It's also important if you are a tree and looking for something to celebrate.

We humans can also celebrate along with the treesWe humans can also celebrate along with the trees. After all, the Torah says, "Man is a tree of the field." We are nurtured by deep roots, as far back as Abraham and Sarah; we reach upwards to the heavens while standing firmly on the ground; and when we do all this right, we produce fruits that benefit the world—namely our good deeds.

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/615205/jewish/Tu-bShevat.htm

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Free translation from Hebrew