Next week, beginning on Sunday evening and going through Monday, we will celebrate the Jewish holiday of Tu Bishvat. This day, which marks the birthday of the trees, was always a holiday that I had a hard time understanding. Growing up in Minneapolis, I remember hearing from my religious school teachers and rabbi that the "trees were being reborn and coming back to life on this holiday." Then, I would look out the window and see FEET of snow still on the ground, and I thought, "yeah, right."
It wasn't until I spent a year living in Israel, during my first year of rabbinical school that I finally understood the importance of this day. All of the foods I remembered eating (dates, figs, grapes, oranges) were found throughout the market in Jerusalem, and the trees were really starting to bloom and come back.
Since we do not have class this week, and next week we will be taking time to discuss a different topic, I wanted to share with you some of these texts to look at, and then, at the end, give you an activity to do to celebrate this day.
In the Talmud, we read this section will tells us that there are actually four new years on the Hebrew calendar. Usually, we think of Rosh Hashanah as the "Jewish New Year," but there are three others as well.
1. Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the year when we count the year number (we are currently in 5782), however, this falls in the seventh month, the month of Tishrei.
2. The first of Nisan (which falls in the Spring and is two weeks before Passover), is the new year for kings and holidays. This means that when the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah used to have a king in the ancient world, the years that the king reigned would be counted on this day. Having a new year in the spring also makes sense because nature begins to renew itself.
3. The text tells us that the first of Elul is the new year for animal tithes. This means that the calculations people needed to make for taxing purposes on the animials they owned happened on this date. Today, the first of Elul, which begins one month prior to Rosh Hashanah, begins our process of cheshbon hanefesh, the accounting of our souls that will take us through the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We also start blowing the shofar, once per day, on this day.
4. Tu Bishvat is the fourth new year. There is a debate, as you can see above, of whether this new year for the trees should be counted on the first of Shevat or the 15th. Hillel, says it is on the 15th, and it is his decision that is followed.
The holiday is called Tu Bishvat which means "the 15th of Shevat."
In Hebrew, the word "Tu" is spelled טו.
ט (tet) has the numerical equivalent of 9 and ו (vav) has the numerical equivalent of 6, so טו is equal to 9+6=15.
The Torah tells us that we need to respect trees. In addition to the text above, it also forbids us from cutting down the trees of our enemies, even in battle. The text above tells us that we are not allowed to harvest the fruit of the trees during its first three years. This is (which follows sound scientific practice) to make sure that the trees are healthy enough to take their fruit. It is on Tu Bishvat that the years are counted, regardless of which day during the previous year that the tree was planted.
Many Jews celebrate Tu B’Shvat by donating money to the Jewish National Fund, an agency that plants trees in Israel. It is also popular to commemorate Tu B’Shvat by eating foods that can be found in Israel, such as olives, figs, grapes, honey, carob fruit and pomegranates. Some of these foods are mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:8, which describes Israel as “a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey.”
Some Jews make a special seder on Tu B’Shvat that is similar to the Passover seder. This tradition began with Jewish mystics but is becoming more prevalent among Jews who are interested in environmental initiatives.
MyJewishLearning.com, Tu B'shvat
The Kabbalists carried this relationship of Tu B'shvat and Rosh HaShanah a step further. For them, trees were a symbol of humans, as it says, "for man is like the tree of the field." (Deut. 20:19) In line with their general concern for Tikkun Olam---spiritually repairing the world---the Kabbalists regarded eating a variety of fruits on Tu B'Shvat as a way of improving our spiritual selves. More sepcifically, they believed that eating fruit was a way of expiating the first sin---eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge in the Garen of Eden. Similarly, trees were symbolic of THE tree--the Tree of Lfe, which carries divine goodness and blessing into the world. To encourage this flow and to effect Tikkun Olam, the Kabbalists of Sfat (16th century) created a Tu B'shvat seder loosely modeled after the Passover Seder.
- The Jewish Holidays, Rabbi Michael Strassfeld
The Tu Bishvat seder, which is modeled after the Passover seder, with its four cups of wine and different ritual fruits, is a ceremony that was developed by the Jewish mystics to provide a ritual for this holiday that can bring the family together and allow us to thank God for the blessings that trees give us.
Go to https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/tu-bishvat/have-tu-bishvat-seder for a list of materials and resources to have your own seder at home this coming Sunday night.
Finally, as you can see above, the planting of trees on Tu Bishvat has long been a tradition for our people. A newer tradition, however, and one which I hope you will all partake, is the planting of parsley. If planted on Tu Bishvat, watered and given enough sunlight (from a window in your kitchen should be fine), the parsley should continue to grow until you can use it at your Passover seder table later this spring.
Chag Tu Bishvat Sameach.