It’s time for local religious school students to get down and dirty.
Saturday, Jan. 18 is Tu B’Shevat — the New Year for Trees — and local religious schools plan on planting a few more of them as the holiday approaches.
“We’re going to get the kids into the ground,” said Moses Goldberg, principal of Congregation B’nai Israel’s religious school in Petaluma.
“I’m really partial to the olive tree; it’s such a symbol. If you plant it, it won’t bear fruits until the next generation, which is something to bear in mind. You’re planting for the future, rather than the immediate gratification of a flower.”
In ancient times, Tu B’Shevat (literally, the 15th of the month of Shevat) served as a universal birthday for trees. The age of trees could then be easily calculated for tithing purposes for the poor and priestly classes. Also, according to Leviticus 19:23-25, the fruit from trees may not be eaten during the first three years; the fourth year’s harvest is for God, and after that, it’s fair game.
Interestingly, a tree planted on the 14th of Shevat is considered a year old on the next day. If you planted on the 16th, then you’re out of luck.
Since no one is tithing their fruit haul anymore, Tu B’Shevat is now best known for tree-planting activities like B’nai Israel’s and, of course, the work of the Jewish National Fund, which has planted 220 million trees in Israel since 1900.
About a dozen local schools are either funding JNF tree-planting projects or handing out JNF materials at their own Tu B’Shevat activities.
Robin Wood, director of Congregation Beth Emek’s religious school in Livermore, said donating to the JNF is a yearly tradition — but it’s especially important this year.
“We always have kids buy trees or send home something so the kids can buy trees in Israel,” she said. “But we told them, this year particularly, with all the conflict and difficulty in Israel, it’s nice to keep up a normal tradition we do every year.”
The land around the Santa Rosa Jewish Community Center Nursery School is peppered with the evidence of past Tu B’Shevat endeavors.
The grounds feature a “huge” olive tree that is harvested for olive oil during Chanukah, a walnut tree and a mulberry tree that is utilized to teach the preschoolers about the life cycle of the silkworm.
The campus has run out of space, however, according to director Pam Jacobs, so this year the school will be sponsoring JNF projects in Israel.
Students at Contra Costa Jewish Day School, however, will be going off campus to Walnut Creek’s Shell Ridge Open Space to plant acorns for the Oak Habitat Restoration Project.
Mark Lazar, the principal of both Peninsula Havurah High and San Francisco Havurah, sees Tu B’Shevat as an opportunity to connect young people to Israel through a “universal, non-threatening concept.”
“How can you feel connected to the land of Israel when you live so far away? To all these students, it’s the same thing as Honduras, another country somewhere else,” said Lazar, who relocated to the Bay Area after living in Jerusalem for the past nine years.
“This year, finding a connection to Israel is really necessary, especially for teens who can’t go there.”
On the Peninsula, Lazar plans for outdoors-themed lectures on such topics as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s writings on ecology. In San Francisco, he’s scheduled a Tu B’Shevat seder featuring Israeli fruits and nuts.
A Tu B’Shevat seder is also scheduled for Thursday at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills. The 7:30 p.m. event is co-sponsored by the JNF, Hadassah and the congregation and is open to the public.
Similarly, Oakland Hebrew Day School will celebrate Tu B’Shevat indoors, as the third-grade class performs the Hebrew play “The Lonely Palm Tree” for the rest of the school.
Meanwhile, Rabbi Sara Shendelman, the founder and director of Berkeley’s Jewish Arts & Culture Religious School, neatly ties together Tu B’Shevat and Passover.
After decorating the seed boxes in art class, the students take home vegetables like parsley or cilantro that are used in the Passover seder to nurture them until Pesach.
“This year they get an extra month because of leap year,” said Shendelman.
“It’s a simple thing, but if children see that they can regenerate life, and invest themselves in planting seeds, something can come from it. Children are so schooled by this society to want instant gratification, and in taking care of a seed and watering it, it’s delayed gratification. It gives them a visceral sense of satisfaction, a real sense of joy.”