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Tu BiShvat

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Tu BiShvat
Almond tree in blossom on Tu BiShvat
Official nameט״ו בשבט‎
TypeJewish religious, cultural
SignificanceThe fruits that ripened from Tu BiShvat on were counted for the following year's tithes.
ObservancesTu BiShvat seder
Date15th of Shevat
2023 dateSunset, 5 February –
nightfall, 6 February[1]
2024 dateSunset, 24 January –
nightfall, 25 January[1]
2025 dateSunset, 12 February –
nightfall, 13 February[1]
2026 dateSunset, 1 February –
nightfall, 2 February[1]
Related toSukkot

Tu BiShvat (Hebrew: ט״ו בִּשְׁבָט‎, romanized: Ṭū bīŠvāṭ, lit. '15th of Shevat') is a Jewish holiday occurring on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat (in 2024, Tu BiShvat begins at sunset on January 24 and ends in the evening of January 25). It is also called Rosh HaShanah La'Ilanot (ראש השנה לאילנות‎), literally "New Year of the Trees". In contemporary Israel, the day is celebrated as an ecological awareness day, and trees are planted in celebration.

Etymology

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The name Tu BiShvat is originally from the Hebrew date of the holiday, which occurs on the fifteenth day of Shevat. "Tu" stands for the Hebrew letters Tet and Vav, which together have the numerical value of 9 and 6, adding up to 15.[2] The date may also be called "Ḥamisha Asar BiShvat" (חמשה-עשר בשבט‎, 'Fifteenth of Shevat').[3]

Talmud

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Tu BiShvat appears in the Mishnah in Tractate Rosh Hashanah as one of the four new years in the Jewish calendar. The discussion of when the New Year occurs was a source of debate among the rabbis, who argued:[4][5][6]

The rabbis ruled in favor of Hillel on this issue and the 15th of Shevat became the date for calculating the beginning of the agricultural cycle for the purpose of biblical tithes.[7][8]

Biblical tithes

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  • Orlah refers to a biblical prohibition (Leviticus 19:23) on eating the fruit of trees produced during the first three years after they are planted.[9]
  • Neta Reva'i refers to the biblical commandment (Leviticus 19:24) to bring fourth-year fruit crops to Jerusalem as a tithe.[10]
  • The second tithe was a tithe which was collected in Jerusalem and the poor tithe was a tithe given to the poor (Deuteronomy 14:22–29), which were also calculated by whether the fruit ripened before or after Tu BiShvat.

Of the talmudic requirements for fruit trees which used Tu BiShvat as the cut-off date in the Hebrew calendar for calculating the age of a fruit-bearing tree, the orlah remains to this day in essentially the same form it had in talmudic times. In the Orthodox Jewish world, these practices are still observed today as part of Halakha, Jewish law. Fruit that ripened on a three-year-old tree before Tu BiShvat is considered orlah and is forbidden to eat, while fruit ripening on or after Tu BiShvat of the tree's third year is permitted. In the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th years of the Shmita cycle, the second tithe is observed today by a ceremony redeeming tithing obligations with a coin; in the 3rd and 6th years, the poor tithe is substituted, and no coin is needed for redeeming it. Tu BiShvat is the cut-off date for determining to which year the tithes belong.[citation needed]

Tu BiShvat falls on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat and begins a three-month series (in years without a leap year) of holidays that occur on the mid-month full moons that culminate in Passover.[11]

Traditional customs

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Dried fruit and almonds traditionally eaten on Tu BiShvat
Main article: Tu BiShvat seder

In the Middle Ages, Tu BiShvat was celebrated with a feast of fruits in keeping with the Mishnaic description of the holiday as a "New Year." In the 16th century, the kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Safed and his disciples instituted a Tu BiShvat seder in which the fruits and trees of the Land of Israel, especially of the Seven Species, were given symbolic meaning. The main idea was that eating ten specific fruits and drinking four cups of wine in a specific order while reciting the appropriate blessings would bring human beings, and the world, closer to spiritual perfection.[12]

In Israel, the kabbalistic Tu BiShvat seder has been revived, and is now celebrated by many Jews, religious and secular. Special haggadot have been written for this purpose.[citation needed]

In the Hasidic community, some Jews pickle or candy the etrog (citron) from Sukkot and eat it on Tu BiShvat. Some pray that they will be worthy of a beautiful etrog on the following Sukkot.[13]

Sephardic Jews prepare a dessert made of grains, dried fruits, and nuts, known as Ashure or trigo koço, to celebrate the holiday.[14][15]

Modern customs

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Tu BiShvat is the Israeli Arbor Day,[16][17] and it is often referred to by that name in international media.[18] Ecological organizations in Israel and the diaspora have adopted the holiday to further environmental-awareness programs.[19][20] On Israeli kibbutzim, Tu BiShvat is celebrated as an agricultural holiday.[21]

Planting trees for Tu BiShvat, 1945. Photographer: Zoltan Kluger
Planting trees for Tu BiShvat, 1945. Photographer: Zoltan Kluger

On Tu BiShvat 1890, Rabbi Ze'ev Yavetz, one of the founders of the Mizrachi religious Zionist movement,[22] took his students to plant trees in the agricultural town of Zikhron Ya'akov. This custom was adopted in 1908 by the Jewish Teachers Union and later by the Jewish National Fund, established in 1901 to oversee land reclamation and afforestation of the Land of Israel. In the early 20th century, the Jewish National Fund devoted the day to planting eucalyptus trees to stop the plague of malaria in the Hula Valley;[23] today the Fund schedules major tree-planting events in large forests every Tu BiShvat.[16] Over a million Israelis take part in the Jewish National Fund's Tu BiShvat tree-planting activities.[24]

In keeping with the idea of Tu BiShvat marking the revival of nature, many of Israel's major institutions have chosen this day for their inauguration. The cornerstone-laying of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem took place on Tu BiShvat 1918; the Technion in Haifa, on Tu BiShvat 1925; and the Knesset, on Tu BiShvat 1949.[25]

In the diaspora, starting especially in North America in the 1980s, Tu BiShvat became treated as the Jewish "Earth Day" – with contemporary communities emphasizing all kinds of actions and activism related to the environment and the natural world.[26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Dates for Tu BiShvat". Hebcal.com by Danny Sadinoff and Michael J. Radwin (CC-BY-3.0). Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  2. ^ When representing the number using letters, rabbinic rules forbid using the letter-numerals that represent 10 (י‎ Yud) and 5 (ה‎ Hei) together because they form the abbreviation of the "ineffable name of God", YHVH יהוה‎. Therefore, the number 15 is represented by the letters ט‎ (Tet) and ו‎ (Vav), or 9 and 6 = 15.
  3. ^ Tractate Rosh Hashannah Mishnah 1:1
  4. ^ Talmud, b. Rosh Hashanah 2a
  5. ^ "Translation:Talmud/Seder Moed/Tractate Rosh Hashanah/2a". Wikisource. December 14, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  6. ^ Jewish Agency for Israel, Department for Jewish Zionist Education Pedagogic Center (May 15, 2005). "Tu Bishvat". Jewish Agency for Israel. Archived from the original on January 14, 2005. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  7. ^ Kariv, Gilad (January 21, 2008). "Tu Bishvat / The Festival of Love – the Celebration of Nature". Haaretz. Archived from the original on January 21, 2024. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  8. ^ Silberstein, Eli. "Chabad Rosh Hashanah ch.1 Mishnah 1". Chabad.org. Archived from the original on October 22, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  9. ^ Silberberg, Naftali. "What is Orlah". AskMoses.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2020. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  10. ^ Schneersohn, Sholom DovBer; Schneersohn, Yosef Yitzchak. "With Light and With Might: Two Chassidic Discourses with an Appendix: Glossary". Sichos in English. Translated by Rabbi Eliyahu Touger & Uri Kaploun, edited by Uri Kaploun. Archived from the original on November 28, 2010. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  11. ^ "Tu BiShvat Seder!". Sefaria. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  12. ^ "Themes And Customs – Tu B'Shvat Around The World". virtualjerusalem.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2009. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  13. ^ "'A Thing or Tu 'bout Shvat'". Torah.org. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  14. ^ Aylin Öney Tan, ‘Be Merry, Around a Wheat Berry!’, p. 352.
  15. ^ Isin, Mary (2021). "Adam and Eve's Wheat Porridge". Petits Propos Culinaires (119): 72–85.
  16. ^ a b Rinat, Zafrir (January 20, 2011). "Israelis Go Green For Tu Bishvat". Haaretz. Archived from the original on August 5, 2022. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  17. ^ "Tu B'Shevat (Arbor Day) in United States". Operational Home Front. 2011. Archived from the original on April 28, 2012. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  18. ^ "Arbor Day Around the World". Arbor Day Foundation. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  19. ^ "Kibbutz Lotan – Tu B'shvat Campaign". Kibbutz Lotan. 2005. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  20. ^ "Tu B'Shvat – The Jewish Earth Day". Jewish Woman Magazine. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  21. ^ Yael Zisling. "Tu Bishvat traditions". Gemsinisrael.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  22. ^ "Zionist Philosophies". Mfa.gov.il. October 19, 1999. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  23. ^ Zuroff, Rabbi Avraham (2011). "Just a Jewish Arbor Day?". Ohr Somayach International. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  24. ^ Paz, Shelly (January 19, 2008). "Tu Bishvat gets 'shmita' treatment | Israel | Jerusalem Post". Fr.jpost.com. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
  25. ^ "The Knesset's Early years". Knesset.gov.il. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  26. ^ See "Jewish Environmentalism in North America", David Seidenberg, Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature
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