Tu Bishvat
"Tu Bishvat" (Hebrew: ט״ו בשבט) is a small Jewish holiday in the Hebrew month of Shevat, for the most part in late January or early February, that marks the "New Year of the Trees" (Hebrew: ראש השנה לאילנות, Rosh HaShanah La'Ilanot). Tu Bishvat is one of four "New Years" brought up in the Mishnah. Practices involve planting trees and consuming dried fruits and nuts, particularly figs, dates, raisins, and almonds. In Israel, the flowering of the almond tree, which grows wild in the country, go along with with Tu Bishvat.
Origins of the Name
The name for Tu Bishvat stems from the Hebrew date of the holiday, which falls on the 15th day of Shevat (שבט). "Tu" stands for the Hebrew numerals "tet vav" standing for 15. Up till the last few decades, it was comnonly reffered to as the fifteenth, of Shevat (Ḥamisha Asar BiShvat - חמשה-עשר בשבט). Using numerology, rabbinic rules forbid using the letter-numerals that depict 10 (י yud, y) and 5 (ה hey, h) together because they form the abbreviation of the "ineffable name of god," YHVH יהוה. This is the reason, 15 is depicted by the letters (ט tet t and ו vav u) for 9 and 6=15.Mentions In the Talmud
Tu Bishvat arises in the Mishnah in Tractate Rosh Hashanah as one of the four new years in the Jewish calendar. The conversation of when the new year for trees arises was a source of argument between the rabbis: "And there are four new year dates: - The 1st of Nisan - new year for kings and festivals - The 1st of Elul - new year for animal tithes. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon: the 1st of Tishrei. - The 1st of Tishrei- new year for calculation of the calendar, sabbatical years and jubilees, for planting and sowing - The 1st of Shevat - new year for trees, according to the school of Shamai; The school of Hillel claims: the fifteenth of Shevat" (Rosh Hashana:1a)The rabbis of the Talmud judged that the claim of Hillel on this issue was right. Therefore the 15th of Shevat came to be the date for calculating when the agronomical cycle started or ended for the purpose of biblical tithes associating trees and fruit.
Biblical
- Orlah accredits a biblical disallowance on consuming the fruit of trees harvested during the 1st three years after they were planted.
- Neta Reva'i accredits the biblical commandment to bring fourth-year fruit crops to Jerusalem as a tithe.
- Maaser Sheni and Maaser Ani were tithes to the poor that were also calculated by whether the fruit ripened before or after Tu Bishvat.
Jewish law Today
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, Orlah stays untill today in fundamentally the same manner it had in talmudic times and uses Tu Bishvat in the same manner. amongst Orthodox Jews, these traditional practices are still observed today as an essential part of the Halacha, Jewish law. Orlah fruit is not thought of as kosher, and Tu Bishvat still marks the cut-off date. For a tree in its last year, fruit ripening before Tu Bishvat is thought of as orlah, while fruit ripening on or after Tu Bishvat in the last year is permitted. Maaser Sheni and Maaser Ani are observed today by a ceremony redeeming tithing obligations with a coin. Because the form of redemption is the same for both of these latter obligations, the year of the fruit no longer matters for these tithes.Tu Bishvat generally falls on the second full moon before Passover, or, in a leap year, the third full moon before Passover.
In the synagogue, the penitential prayer of Tachanun is omitted on Tu Bishvat (and at the afternoon service of the day before), as is the practice on small Jewish holidays. There are no other special recitations or blessings in the prayer service.
Practices by the Kabbala
Trough out the Middle Ages, Tu Bishvat was celebrated with a festival of fruits in keeping with the Mishnaic description of the holiday as a "New Year." In the 1600s, 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 were given symbolic meaning. The central idea was that consuming ten specific fruits and drinking four cups of wine in a specific order while repeating the proper blessings would bring people, and the world, closer to spiritual completeness.In Israel, the kabbalistic Tu Bishvat seder has been restored, and is now celebrated by many Jews from all denominations. Unique haggadot have been produced for this purpose.
Chassidic Observance
In the Chassidic community, some Jews pickle or candy the etrog (citron) from Sukkot and consume it on Tu Bishvat. Some pray that they will be worthy of a beautiful etrog on the following SukkotObservance in Israel
On Tu Bishvat, 1890, Rabbi Zeev Yavetz, one of the benefactors of the Mizrachi movement,gathered his students and took them to plant trees in Zichron Yaakov. This practice was adopted in 1908 by the Jewish Teachers Union and later by the Jewish National Fund (Keren Hakayemet L’Israel), established in 1901 to oversee land reclamation and forestation of the Land of Israel. Our days In excess of a million Israelis take part in the Jewish National Fund's tree-planting activities organized every year during Tu Bishvat.In keeping with the idea of Tu Bishvat marking the revival of nature, symbolized by the budding of the almond tree, 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.