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When Is Tu B´Shevat?

Tu Bishvat: Tu B’Shevat (or Tu Bishvat) marks the “birthday of the fruit trees” under Jewish law, and is often celebrated by a symbolic meal and tree planting activities. This Jewish holiday occurrson the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat. It is also called Rosh HaShanah La’Ilanot (ראש השנה לאילנות‎), literally “New Year to the Trees”. In contemporary Israel, the day is celebrated as an ecological awareness day, and trees are planted in celebration.

Fruit, Nuts and Planting

Some Jewish people gather with family and friends to celebrate Tu B´Shevat by serving a seder (holiday meal) of dried fruit and nuts, red wine and grape juice. Pickled etog, a type of citrus, is often a featured dish at these festivities.

Other Jewish people celebrate by planting trees or joining in on efforts to raise environmental awareness. To many, it is considered the Jewish equivalent of Arbor Day.

Background

In some interpretations of Jewish law, any fruit that grows in the first three years after a tree starts bearing is called orlah, meaning it’s not kosher and can’t be eaten. Tu B’Shevat celebrates the “new year” or “birthday” of trees, and fruit that ripens in the third year on or after the 15th of Shevat is considered kosher. Traditionally, fruit from the fourth year was brought to the temple as a tithe, but today this is done symbolically with coins.

• Leviticus 19:23-25
  • ‘When you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall consider their fruit forbidden. For three years the fruit shall be forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten.  In the fourth year all the fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord.  In the fifth year you may eat the fruit [of the trees], this is so that their yield may increase for you; I am the Lord your God.

After 1600 CE, some Jewish communities began holding a symbolic seder on Tu B’Shevat, featuring various fruits and nuts, each with its own spiritual meaning. This tradition is still observed by certain Jewish groups today.

Tu B’Shevat is one of the four Jewish new years. Among the most well-known is Rosh Hashanah, celebrated on the first day of Tishrei. The New Year for kings and festivals falls on the first day of Nisan, and the New Year for animal tithes is observed on the first day of Elul.

Symbols

Important symbols of Tu B’Shevat include different types of dried fruit arranged on a platter, flowering almond trees and the “seven species”. These are:

• Barley.
• Dates.
• Figs.
• Grapes.
• Olives.
• Pomegranates.
• Wheat.

The seven species are associated with the Land of Israel in the Torah so they have an important place in Jewish culture.

Green Day

In recent years,Tu B’Shevat has come to be primarily an environmental holiday. Many Jews use this day as an opportunity to remind themselves of their scriptural duty to care to be good stewards for God’s creation, or the natural world.

Many Jews honor the day by taking part in a tree-planting ceremony, or collecting and sending money to Israel for tree planting efforts there.

Others celebrate by picking fruits and vegetables at farms, starting herb gardens, building birdhouses, or organizing beach and park clean-up activities.