There’s a birthday being celebrated in your home this week. Actually the party is taking place in your refrigerator. That’s because tonight at sundown begins Tu B’Shevat, the traditional Jewish new year for trees, and by extension, for fruit.
Not one of the major holidays on the calendar, Tu B’Shevat has always has a special significance for school kids, the pioneers of Israel and more recently, to members of the environmental movement. And perhaps because of a lack of formal liturgy associated with the day, many people have crafted new observances to commemorate it. You can find that entire range of celebrations of Tu B’Shevat on the Internet.
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 15 can be pronounced as Tu. Read about it at www.jewish.com/holidays/
tuB’Shevat.shtml Tu B’Shevat is not mentioned in the Torah but is one of the first issues addressed in the Mishnah. The 15th of the month of Shevat was established as the new year for purposes of tithing fruit. Nowadays, the holiday has evolved into a kind of Jewish Arbor Day.
One tradition known by every schoolchild in Israel is the planting of trees on Tu B’Shevat. (This year, as the holiday falls on Shabbat, trees will be planted on a weekday.) You can peek in on Noam and his kindergarten class plant trees in the town of Modi’in, at http://judaism.about.com/religion/judaism/library/holidays/tuB’Shevat/bl_tub ishvat_planting.htm
Even if you couldn’t make it to Israel for this year’s holiday, you can still plant a tree — using your keyboard. The Jewish National Fund’s Online Tree Planting Center lets you choose which certificate you’d like to choose with a personalized inscription and the number of trees at $18 each, at www.jnftrees.com At the same time, you may want to recite the Tree Planter’s Prayer, which was composed by Rabbi Ben Zion Chai Uzziel and can be found at http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y16A22BE2 “…As for these saplings that we plant before You today, deepen their roots and increase their magnificence that they may blossom and be accepted among the other trees of Israel for blessing and for beauty. Strengthen the hands of all our brethren who labor in the work of the holy soil and who cause the wilderness to bloom…”
Actually, trees aren’t alone in celebrating their birthday on Tu B’Shevat. Israel’s Constituent Assembly, now known as the Knesset, held its first meeting on Tu B’Shevat 5709 (Feb. 14, 1949.) Every year, even members of Knesset mark the day by planting trees. You can find out more at the Knesset’s Tu B’Shevat site, where you can plant a virtual tree in the Knesset’s virtual forest. Go to www.knesset.gov.il/main/eng/engframe.htm and click on the “Tu Bishvat” button on the right side of the page.
The Jewish Theological Seminary has put together a marvelous Tu B’Shevat page geared toward activities kids can do both alone and with their parents at http://learn.jtsa.edu/ topics/kids/ together/tubshevat These include creating a Tu B’Shevat leaf mobile, discussing why trees need a birthday and planting a kitchen forest. The Torahtots site — www.torahtots.com/holidays/tubshvat/tubshvat.htm — has pages to color, find words and play other games.
The first fruit tree to bloom in Israel is the almond, or in Hebrew the shekadia, with its white blossoms. And that also gives us the most famous song for the holiday “Hashekedia Porachat” — “The Almond Trees are White.” You can find both the lyrics to the delightful tune online at http://207.168.91.4/vjholidays/tubshvat/song.htm
And then there is the food. Tu B’Shevat is remembered around the world by eating almonds, dates, figs, raisins and (what always seemed to be rock hard) carob. If you want to put a bit more work into celebrating the holiday, here are some recipes to try out. The RFCJ archives has an even larger assortment of fruit-based recipes for the day at www.cyber-kitchen.com/rfcj/category.cgi?category=TU_b_SHEVAT
There’s even a Tu B’Shevat fruitcake, which thankfully “is lighter than the classic version.”