Tu Bishvat is the Fifteenth day in the Jewish month of Shvat. It was once merely the last date of the tax year for the produce of the tree. Any fruit ripening after Tu Bishvat was to be assessed for tithing only for the following tax season. Today Tu Bishvat is celebrated as the Birthday of the trees with a symbolic eating of fruits and with active redemption of barren land by planting trees. People express their ecological concerns and their desire to reconnect themselves to nature.

A Brief History:

Tu Bishvat or Rosh Hashanah La'ilanoth, is a joyous festival marking the beginning of a new fruit crop. Now celebrated on the fifteenth of Shevat, it was originally celebrated to mark the day to tithe the farmyard crops. In the sixteenth century, a group of Cabbalists, exiled from the land of Israel, started the tradition of eating 15 to 30 species of Israeli fruit on this holiday. It was considered another kind of Seder since they also drank wine and told stories about the judgment day of trees. Among the popular fruits eaten on this holiday are carob, pomegranates, almonds ,figs, dates, apricots, and oranges. Historically, our forefathers planted trees to celebrate the birth of a child (a cedar tree for a boy, a cypress tree for a girl) and then used the branches of the trees to form the wedding canopy for the marriage celebration.

Like other Jewish Holidays, Tu Bishvat has a threefold significance. It teaches us about historical Judaism, about the economy of Jewish life in the Middle Ages and it has a religious importance. That is , the tree represents life and a symbol of upright man and his inner strength. Today, in Israel, the day is marked with school holidays, picnics and the planting of trees, which has been of such vital importance to the economic survival of Israel.

Reflections from Rabbi Silver:

Would you believe that in Israel the almond trees are beginning to put forth their blossoms? White and tinged with pink, the trees make the valley of Israel come to life with the promise of spring. Years ago, the children in religious schools in America and in Israel made Hashkediot (almond branches) to celebrate the event. Cotton balls dipped in pink resembled the almond tree closely enough so that the children could celebrate Tu Bishvat, the festival of trees.

Today our children look to other ways to celebrate. A concern with the environment has made our trees even more dear to us. Our children plant trees in the land of Israel and here at home. Jewish ecological concerns are taught in our religious school, so that our students will grow up with a sense of their partnership with all living creatures in God's world. Tu Bishvat has come round once again to remind us of our duty to safeguard the world.