(א) ארבעה ראשי שנים הם.באחד בניסן ראש השנה למלכים ולרגלים.באחד באלול ראש השנה למעשר בהמה.רבי אלעזר ורבי שמעון אומרים, באחד בתשרי .באחד בתשרי ראש השנה לשנים ולשמטין וליובלות, לנטיעה ולירקות.באחד בשבט , ראש השנה לאילן, כדברי בית שמאי.בית הלל אומרים, בחמשה עשר בו.
(1) The four new years are: On the first of Nisan, the new year for the kings and for the festivals; On the first of Elul, the new year for the tithing of animals; Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Shimon say, in the first of Tishrei. On the first of Tishrei, the new year for years, for the Sabbatical years and for the Jubilee years and for the planting and for the vegetables. On the first of Shevat, the new year for the trees, these are the words of the House of Shammai; The House of Hillel says, on the fifteenth thereof.
(23) And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as forbidden; three years shall it be as forbidden unto you; it shall not be eaten. (24) And in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy, for giving praise unto the LORD.
ON THE FIRST OF SHEVAT IS NEW YEAR FOR TREES. What is the reason? — R. Eleazar said in the name of R. Oshaia: Because [by then] the greater part of the year's rain has fallen and the greater part of the cycle is still to come. What is the sense of this? What it means is this: ‘Although the greater part of the cycle is still to come, yet since the greater part of the year's rain has fallen, [therefore etc.]’.
The first ever published seder for Tu biShvat — Pri Etz Hadar (The Fruit of the Majestic Tree) — can be found in a kabbalistic text, first published as a pamphlet in Venice in 1728...
In his article appearing in Trees, Earth, and Torah (JPS, 1999), Rabbi Miles Krassen explains the structure of the text:
Formally, Peri Eitz Hadar contains four basic sections. After an introduction that explains the basis for the Tu biShvat seder, there is a prayer to be said before the actual seder begins. This is followed by a description of the order of the fruit to be eaten and the way wine should be blended in each of the four cups. However, the bulk of the seder consists of selections from the Bible, early rabbinic texts, and the Zoharic literature. In fact, the greatest portion of this material is taken from the Zohar.
פרי עץ הדר
יום ט״ו בשבט אף כי הוא מימי השובבים אין בו תענית כי הוא ראש השנה לפירו׳ האילן ובתקון המעשה אשר יעסה היום על הפירות בו נעשה תקון צדיק חי העולמים בסוד הנזכר בזוהר בראשית ביומא תליתאה עבד׳ ארעא איבין מחילא דהאי צדיק דכתיב ויאמר אלהים תדשא הארץ וגו׳ עץ פרי דאזעץ הדעת טוב ורע דאיהו עביד איבין ופרין עושה פרי דא צדיק יסוד דעלמא וכו׳.
ומנהג טוב להולכים בתמים להרבות בפירות בעצם היום הזה ולומר דבדי שירות ותשבחות עליהן כאשר הנהגתי לכל החברי׳ אשר עמדי.
Pri Etz Hadar (excerpts)
Although the 15th of Shevat occurs during the “days of the Shovavim,” it is not a fast day, since it is the New Year’s Day for the fruit of the tree. Through the tikkun that is performed on this day with fruit, the sefirah,”Tzaddik, Life of the Worlds,” is aroused. This mystery is mentioned in the Zohar, Bereshit, “on the third day, the earth made fruit from the potency of that [supernal] Tzaddik. As it is written, ‘And God said, let the earth bring forth… fruit trees that produce fruit…‘ ‘Fruit trees‘ refers to ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil‘ that bears fruit. ‘That produce fruit‘ alludes to Tzaddik, the foundation of the world….”
It is a good custom for the faithful to eat many fruits on this day and to celebrate them with words of praise, just as I have instructed my companions.
May all the holy sparks that were scattered by us or by our forefathers, or by Adam who sinned with the fruit of The Tree, now be collected into the glorious power of the Tree of Life. May all evil be removed from them from the power of Your Great Name which emerges from the verse, "He has swallowed riches and shall vomit them up again. " (Job 20:15)May everything return to its original strength and not be rejected, for only You G-d gather the outcasts of Israel.(Psalms 147:2). Therefore, quickly cause to grow the shoot ofDavid, Your servant, and raise up its might through Your salvation. The hand of G-d is over the whole world.
Tu bshevat generated a piyyut for the amidah – found in the Cairo Genizah and is mentioned already by the Maharil in the 15th century. But by the end of the 17thcentury, in grand baroque age, the holiday generated a detailed seder of collecting 30 fruits. (There is a ton of painfully incorrect history about Tu bShevat on the web)
Twenty years ago, it was still hard to collect 30 fruits. But with the revolution in eating habits and the opening of new markets (Fairway, Whole Foods) one can now collect 30 fruits with ease. In 19th century Russia, even mid-summer one could with great difficulty only collect half the number.
It has made a come-back in certain circles. The seder will probably remain limited in its practitioners for a variety of reasons.
1] To collect 30 fruits based a set typology is a very tactile, crunchy, foody, techie activity. Most American Orthodox Jews don’t regularly shop for papaya, fresh lychees, gooseberries, dragon fruit, guavas, tamarind fruit, hickory nuts, and kumquats.
2] The seder assumes that one is comfortable with Zohar as one’s table talk. In America, this limits it to academics, Renewal Jews, Neo-Hasidim, and Moroccans.
3] The seder is a performance ritual. Most modern orthodox Jews have a difficult time with ritual. performance. Watch them struggle to get into hoshanot.
4] One has to have a visionary and narrative religion.
5] One has to have a meaningful understanding, beyond rationalism and irrationalism, of tikkunim, theurgy, magic, and religious cause and effect.
6] When you are told that Rav Kook avoided onions because they are all kelipot – it must resonate with you. .
- R' Dr. Alan Brill (https://kavvanah.wordpress.com/tag/pri-etz-hadar/)
Three centuries later, also in the Land of Israel, one of the early Zionist movement’s goals was the reforestation of the land. As early as the First Aliyah at the end of the 19th century, we see Tu B’Shvat become a day to plant trees. With each successive wave of Jewish immigration to the land of Israel, Tu B’Shvat grew in importance.
The Jewish National Fund, founded in 1901, turned tree planting, particularly on Tu B’Shvat, into part of the national ethos. The Zionist movement also turned to Tu B’Shvat as a symbol of revival, beyond just reforestation, when the date was chosen for the opening of the Technion in 1925 and of the first Knesset in 1949. It came to represent the blossoming of a restored Jewish nation.
source: http://forward.com/articles/123351/the-lesson-of-tu-b-shvat-a-judaism-for-every-se/
TEL AVIV (JTA) — From leafy eucalyptus trees lapping the shores of the Sea of Galilee to date palms in the desert to pine and oak trees in the North — many of which were destroyed in the Carmel’s forest fire last month — Israel will celebrate trees on Tu b’Shvat...
But this year, in wake of the Carmel Forest fire that killed 44 and consumed some 5 million trees and 12,000 acres of land, a growing understanding has taken root that mass replanting of trees is not the way to go. At least not right now.
"Planting is still important, but in many cases we have to make a kind of change in our consciousness,” said Yisrael Tauber, director of forest management for the Jewish National Fund-Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael. “It’s not just planting, but also natural regeneration of forests, and the managing of that natural regeneration that is key.”
The strategy after the fire has cast a spotlight on Israel’s longtime rush to make the Holy Land green, which for decades was embraced as Gospel (or, more accurately, Torah from Sinai) by both Diaspora and Israeli Jews. The question now is not how fast trees can be planted but whether and which trees should go in the ground, and how Israel should plan its ecological future.
Source: http://www.jta.org/2011/01/11/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/after-fire-what-types-of-trees-are-best-suited-for-israel
In the past century, with the renewal of Jewish life in Israel and the establishment of the state of Israel, planting trees in Israel has become a sacred act. Jews throughout the world contribute money to planting trees in Israel. Tu B'Shevat has been infused with a new kind of spiritual power, honoring a Jewish connection to the land and pledging ourselves to caring for God's magnificent creations.
Rabbis for Human Rights celebrates this holiday with Jews around the world in different ways. Our members in Israel participate in planting ceremonies in Israel while those of us in the Diaspora, celebrate the rebirth of Israel, our connection to the land and contribute to planting trees in Israel.
Yet as we rejoice, we are keenly aware that trees are also sacred to the Palestinian people, and entire communities depend on olive trees in particular for their livelihood. In the current intifada, thousands of Palestinian olive trees have been destroyed, and during the harvest this past year olives have been stolen. Only by preventing the destruction of these trees, and protecting the right of Palestinian farmers to gather their olives, can we fully celebrate this holiday.
One Tree, Two Peoples, One Land: Tu B'Shvat Resource from Rabbis for Human Rights, 2001
As the historian Jonathan Sarna has noted, “Tu B’Shvat has changed in my lifetime, from a Zionist holiday—eating Israeli products and planting trees [for the Jewish National Fund]—to an environmental holiday, characterized by becoming environmentally conscious and going green.” The rapidity with which this change has happened is striking. Rabbi Irving Greenberg’s 1988 The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays is in many ways a guidebook to American Jewish holiday observance. In his description of Tu B’Shvat, Greenberg does not even mention the environment, although he does note that the day has “become a time for picnics and outings and identification with nature as well as with the land of Israel.” Overall, though, Greenberg concludes that “in the absence of historical significance, the day remains a minor semi-festival.”
Source: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/article/i-think-that-i-shall-never-see-a-jew-as-lovely-as-a-tree/
[A midrashic reading of Malachi for our generation:]
“Your planet is heating like a furnace. Already droughts scorch your continents, already your waters boil into typhoons and hurricanes, already the ice melts and your sea-coasts flood. Yet even now you can turn away from the fires of coal and oil, turn to the solar energy and the winged wind that rise from a sun of justice and tranquility to heal your planet. For God’s sake, you must all take on the mantle of Elijah! Turn your own hearts to the lives of your children and the children of your children, turn their hearts to learning from the deepest teachings of the Wisdom you inherited – that together you can yet avert the utter destruction of My earth.”
(Rabbi Arthur Waskow, “A Sun of Justice with Healing in its Wings”)