Beth HaDerech; Messianic Jewish Congregation, Toronto, Canada

Tu B’Shevat – New Year of the Trees

Judaism has several different “new years.” This is not as strange a concept as it sounds at first blush; in the western world, we have the calendar year (January-December), the school year (September-June), and many businesses have fiscal years. It’s basically the same idea with the various Jewish new years. On this day, it is customary to eat from the seven species for which the land of Israelis praised: “…a land of wheat and barley and (grape) vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and (date) honey.” (Devarim (Deuteronomy)

The exception to this general immutability is the upcoming holiday of Tu B’Shevat (also spelled Tu Bishvat, and literally meaning “the 15th day of the month of Shevat”), often described as the Jewish Birthday of the Trees. The Academy of Hillel taught that the 15th of Shvat is the New Year for the Trees. This means that Tu B’Shvat is technically the day when trees stop absorbing water from the ground, and instead draw nourishment from their sap. In Jewish law, this means that fruit which has blossomed prior to the 15th of Shvat could not be used as tithe for fruit which blossomed after that date.

Again, there is no mention of the day Tu B’Shevat in Torah (by that name), but here in this passage in Mishnah, the only reference to it there we see, note that it wasn’t always universally marked on the 15th by all of Israel; there had been early debate: And there are four New Year dates: -- The first of Nissan -- New Year for kings and festivals -- The first of Ellul -- New Year for animal tithes. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say: the first of Tishrei. -- The first of Tishrei- new year for calculation of the calendar, sabbatical years and jubilees, for planting and sowing -- The first of Shvat -- new year for trees, according to the school of Shamai; The school of Hillel say: the fifteenth of Shvat."Mishna "Rosh Hashana", Ch.1,Mishna1 After much debate between the two schools of thought, it is apparent that the Hillel school’s observance became the custom. The reasoning mentioned for this decision was based on the conclusion that the fifteenth of the month of Shevat is the marginal date when the rains from the previous year cease to irrigate the trees and they are benefiting from the new rains.

Many celebrate Tu B’Shvat by eating dried fruits of trees that grow in Israel such as almonds, dates, figs, raisins and carob. Kabbalistic tradition even includes a mystical Tu B’Shvat “seder” service, where the inner dimensions of fruits are expounded, along with blessings, songs and deep discussion.

The Rabbis in ancient times decided to mark a rosh hashanah la’ilanot for trees to set an annual date for farmers to bring the first fruits of their trees (on the fourth year of a tree’s life, as it is forbidden by the laws of orlah to eat the fruit of a tree during the first three) to the Temple.

Zionist pioneers co-opted the holiday as a symbolic celebration of the Jewish connection to and rebuilding of the Land of Israel.

Tu B’Shevat has become the Jewish Earth Day. It’s no longer just about the trees. It’s about sustainable agriculture, environmentalism, eco-green building, recycling, water conservation, reusing and freecycling, solar energy, organic diets, communing with nature, global warming, ozone depletion… and the list goes on.

Regardless of what interpretation of the holiday is in vogue, the biblical phrase (Deuteronomy 20:19), ki ha’adam etz hasadeh (For the human is like the tree of the field) is at the core of Tu B’Shevat’s message.

Here’s a bit of an explanation from Rabbi Yehuda Prero:

The Gemora, when discussing cures for ailments, writes that “a tree that loses its fruits before they ripen should be dyed with a red paint.” What is the point of dying the tree with red paint? How does the red paint prevent the tree from losing its fruits before they ripen? The point of painting the tree red, the Gemora explains, is the same as the leper calling out that he is impure. When people will pass by and see a red tree, they will know that they are seeing a tree that is not producing fruits properly and is not thriving. As soon as they become aware of this situation, they will pray that the tree should be cured of whatever affliction is causing it to lose its fruit. This Gemora teaches us how we are to value our trees. The Gemora does not it is praiseworthy to pray for the welfare of trees. It does not say that praying for the health of trees is a preferred practice. It says that the red paint is there so that people will see the tree and will pray for the tree. It presumes that people will most definitely pray for the tree the same way people will pray for one of their brethren who is a leper. The health of our trees is vital, and the Gemora lets us know how vital: we take active measures to assure that people will be aware of the predicament of the tree and pray for it!

Tu B’Shevat is the day when new sap starts to rise in the tree, when new life is starting to emerge. Even though we are still in the middle of winter and all looks bleak, cold and lifeless, Tu B’Shevat comes, a day of new life with the promise of rejuvenation. That’s why Tu B’Shevat can be compared to the coming of the Mashiach and the final redemption of mankind. Everything looks bleak and there seems to be no sign of life; we are threatened by increasing assimilation and the loss of Jewish identity; Jewish life seems frozen and moribund. But even at that very moment, the sap is rising. On the surface, you can see no change whatsoever, but precisely at that moment, life secretly and inexorably starts to burgeon anew.

In the 1600s in the Land of Israel, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Safed and his disciples created a Tu Bishvat seder, somewhat like the Passover seder, that celebrated the Tree of Life (the Kabbalistic map of the Sephirot). The earliest published version of this seder is called the P’ri Eitz Hadar, which means "The Fruit of the Beautiful Tree". The seder evokes Kabbalistic themes of restoring cosmic blessing by strengthening and repairing the Tree of Life, generally using the framework

Tu B’Shevat Sameach!

Filed Under: Jewish Roots, Zionism, torah

Tags: barley, blush, devarim, fig trees, fiscal years, grape vines, hillel, immutability, Israel, Israelis, jewish law, Jewish Tzedaka, jubilees, nourishment, olive trees, rabbi elazar, rosh hashana, rsquo, tithe, tithes, Tree of LIfe, Tu B'Shvat, tu bishvat

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