Holidays

The fifteenth day of the Hebrew month of Sh’vat, Tu B’Shvat, is the new year of the trees. On that date, in biblical times, fruit trees (whose first fruits had to be tithed in the ancient Temple in the fourth year of their growth) were counted a year older. Although largely ignored for centuries after the destruction of the Temple, for the medieval mystics of Safed in the land of Israel, Tu B’Shvat was a day to connect with the natural world and celebrate God (whom they depicted as a great upside down tree whose trunk and branches reach down from heaven, with roots largely hidden from us). The kabbalists read the biblical verse "ha-adam etz ha-sadeh — Is the human a tree of the field?" as "A human is a tree of the field." They saw the world, God, and themselves as shaped like lifegiving trees.

They created a “seder” — a ritual meal with a prescribed order, loosely structured around four cups of wine and the eating of fruits and nuts native to the Land of Israel (including those of the “seven species”: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates). The seder elements symbolize the four levels of divine and human reality: physical (connected with earth), emotional (with water), intellectual (with air) and spiritual (with fire). Each kind of fruit — those with inedible skins or shells (e.g., oranges), those with inedible pits (e.g., olives), and those that can be eaten whole (e.g., figs) — is seen as a reflection of ways that we connect with God and holiness in the material world.

In modern times, Tu B’Shvat has also become a time to celebrate the land of Israel and its fruits, and to plant trees in Israel to honor or memorialize loved ones. Tu B’Shvat seders have enjoyed a revival in recent decades, especially in light of a heightened interest in ecological concerns, and, in general, the day has been increasingly associated with appreciation of the natural world and protection of the environment.

Because Tu B’Shvat has no halachic (Jewish legal) requirements or restrictions, it is a holiday ripe for creativity and innovation. There is no required tale to be recounted (as there is during the Passover seder), and no mandatory prayers or blessings other than those normally used for particular foods and drinks. For example, the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) has developed a rich seder including biblical and rabbinic texts about women linked to the various fruits consumed during the seder.

Rabbi Susan Fendrick