The BiG Story

from the profits of all agricultural
products. Initially, these funds were
used for the upkeep of the Holy
Temple. Today, farmers in Israel
may donate this money to help the
indigent.
But how to determine when the
agricultural year began? And
should it be different for various
types of crops? The House of Hil-
lel, followers of the great rabbi,
established the 15th of Shevat as
the day for measuring a new year
of produce for trees. In Israel,
December is not a month of snow
but of rain. The rabbis reasoned
that because the largest rainfall
comes before the 15th of Tevet,
trees that bloom after this date are
tithed to the following year.
So how do we celebrate Tu
B'Shevat?

A tree to grow as the children grow.

the 15th of Shevat.
Long ago, Jewish boys and girls
had the day off from school on Tu
B'Shevat, and in Israel the holiday
is still celebrated with tree plant-
ings, usually by children, and with

Airforce men and women assist children planting trees.

Naturally, food is involved. It's tra-
ditional to eat fruits and nuts that
grow in Israel. These include
grapes, pomegranates, oranges,
almonds, figs, dates, olives and
carob. Some people even try to eat
15 different kinds of fruits and nuts
this day — of course, because of

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1999

70 Detroit Jewish News

special presentations at schools.
There are no special prayers said
for Tu B'Shevat, though a few partic-
ular customs have arisen. The most
popular of these today is the Tu
B'Shevat seder, established by the
kabbalist, Nathan of Gaza, which
includes a service with recitation of

certain biblical and other texts.
Is it still possible to plant a tree in
Israel?
It certainly is. To order a tree, call
the Jewish National Fund national
office, 1-800-542-8733.
In fact, Tu B'Shevat might have
gone largely forgotten in modern
times were it not for the J\F.
Known in Hebrew as the Keren
Kayemet L'Yisrael, the JNF was
founded in 1901 at the fifth Zionist
Congress. Its first office was in Vien-
na, where a man named Johann
Kremenezki came up with two bril-
liant ideas to help the organization
grow. The first was to give little
blue boxes to Jewish families, in
which they would place tzedakah
for the JNF. The second was to
encourage members of the Jewish
community to mark any special
occasion by planting a tree in Israel
(through the JNF, naturally).
Enough of those blue boxes were
filled in the following years that by
1908 the JNF was able to pur-
chase its first land for tree planting.

The area was called the Herzl For-
est, in honor of the founder of mod-
ern Zionism.
Initially, the JNF was as occupied
with buying property in the Land of
Israel as with starting forests. In
fact, the JNF bought, then leased,
property in Tel Aviv, Haifa and
Jerusalem (which later became such
famous sites as Herzlia High
School, the Technion and the Beza-
lel Art Academy). After the state
was established, the JNF returned
to overseeing Israel's forestry — a
role in which it continues to this day
along with land and water man-
agement and the overseeing of
other natural resources and infra-
structure.

This year, the local JNF office is
sponsoring the following program
in honor of Tu B'Shevat.
• Sunday, Jan. 31, 1:30-3:30
p.m.: Everyone is invited, though
the event is geared to families
with children aged 4-12. There
will be crafts, puppets and tree