Spirituality
TU B'SHEVAT
Jewish Arbor Day
Tu b'Shevat: Echoes of new fruits and new beginnings.
Elizabeth Applebaum
have to visit many a Jewish bakery these
days before you'll find carob on sale.
Scholars of a kabbalistic bent viewed Tu
b'Shevat as a day of great mystical signifi-
cance. In the 16th century, the mystics of
Tzvat (Safed), Israel, devised a Tu b'Shevat
seder (a la Pesach) of multiple courses and
foods, including four cups of wine. There
are many versions of the seder, including
new ones recently devised. An Internet
search of "Tu b'Shevat Seder" will produce
thousands of hits.
Special to the Jewish News
W
hen: This year, Tu b'Shevat
begins at sundown on
Monday, Jan. 21, and ends at
sundown Tuesday, Jan 22.
• What the name of the day means
in English: "Tu" is a word formed from
the two Hebrew letters, tet and vav, which
together represent the number 15 (each
Hebrew letter has a numerical value).
Shevat is the name of the month.
"B" in Hebrew means "in" or, in this
case, "of." Thus, Tu b'Shevat means "the
15th of Shvat" (or "15 days in Shevat").
• Rituals: There are no special prayers
for Tu b'Shevat. If, however, Tu b'Shevat
comes out on a weekday, omit the
Tachanun penitential prayer. If Tu b'Shevat
comes out on Shabbat, omit the memorial
prayer Av HaRachamim.
• Purpose of the day: Tu b'Shevat
often is called the New Year of the Trees or
Jewish Arbor Day. Although it is a special
day on the calendar, it is not a holiday.
Rather, it is the time our ancestors began a
new year of a specific taxation.
• Background: Not mentioned in the
written Torah, Tu b'Shevat is known from
its reference in the Talmud. In the tractate
Rosh Hashanah, the rabbis discuss the
subject of tithing. The Temple in ancient
Israel was supported by a system of man-
datory contributions from what was then
largely an agrarian economy. Farmers
were required to tithe, or donate, a certain
percentage of their harvest to the priests
and levites who maintained the workings
of the Temple and its daily services.
Just as April 15 is the cutoff date for
taxes in modern America, so, too, did
ancient Israel have its day for taxpayers.
It was decided that the tax year for tree-
borne fruit would begin on the 15th of
Shevat. By then, the rabbis reasoned, the
winter rains tapered off, the sap started
to rise in the trees and new fruit began to
form.
In Parshat Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:23-
25), the Torah teaches that we may not
harvest fruit during the tree's first three
years of production. How do we calculate
these years? On Tu b'Shevat, every tree is
regarded as another year old no matter
when in the previous year it was planted.
Thus, if a farmer planted a tree at any time
prior to the 15th of Shevat — even on the
14th of Shevat — come Tu b'Shevat, that
tree is one more year old.
The tithing for fruit works like this:
If fruit was formed on a tree any time
between the previous Tu b'Shevat and the
present Tu b'Shevat, that fruit is included
in the current year. If fruit is formed
between the current Tu b'Shevat and the
next Tu b'Shevat, it is assessed for the next
year's tithing.
The laws of Tu b'Shevat apply only in
the Land of Israel; Jewish farmers else-
where need not set aside fruit.
There's nothing really earth-shattering
about Tu b'Shevat, unless you're thrilled
by basic bookkeeping. Nonetheless, over
the generations, the rabbis have attached
spiritual significance to the day, seeing
new fruit as symbolic of new hope, new
beginnings and new opportunities.
In the early 1900s, the Jewish National
Fund, which at that time was buying and
developing land in Palestine for Jewish
settlement, viewed Tu b'Shevat for its
marketing potential. Because the JNF
improved land by planting trees, it began
promoting Tu b'Shevat as the ideal time to
donate money for the acquisition of land
and the planting of trees in the rocky soil
of the ancient Jewish homeland.
The plan worked, and to this day in
many communities across the diaspora, Tu
b'Shevat is also JNF Day. Blue-and-white
JNF coin boxes are distributed in Jewish
schools, and the money collected goes
toward various projects in Israel (these
days the JNF is especially concerned with
finding ways of conserving Israel's pre-
cious water resources). In Israel, the JNF
still sponsors a day of tree planting.
• How to observe the day: In addition
to making a donation to the JNF, many
eat the traditional fruits of the Land of
Israel. Based on a verse in Parshat Eykev
(Deuteronomy 8:8), these fruits are: wheat,
barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives,
dates. Since wheat, barley and grapes do
not grow on trees, many Jews consume
any fruit produced on trees, including
apples, pears and oranges.
If you're older than 40, you'll remember
that on Tu b'Shevat every Jewish bakery
sold long, black pods of dried carob, com-
monly known by its Yiddish name, bokser
(the carob tree is native to Israel, but the
pods sold in the bakeries probably came
from California). The naturally sweet pods
were chewed and loathed by some, adored
by others. (Ask detractors and they will
tell you that carob tastes terrible — this,
despite the fact that the natural-foods
industry extensively uses carob as a caf-
feine-free chocolate substitute). You'll
• Social Significance: Tu b'Shevat is
an excellent opportunity to teach children
(and adults) about the tremendous eco-
nomic and environmental values of trees.
A renewable resource, trees provide food,
fuel, fiber, paper, housewares, building
materials, chemicals and many other use-
ful products.
Trees planted in urban areas greatly
reduce summer heat that builds up in con-
crete-covered neighborhoods, and trees
put in the right spots around a house can
keep air-conditioning bills to a minimum.
Trees planted in windbreaks help farm-
ers conserve their crops and topsoil, and
trees along rivers, streams and hillsides
keep soil in place, reducing siltage and
landslides.
The beauty of natural woodlands is
unmatched, and natural forests are home
to countless species of animals and plants.
Trees breathe in carbon dioxide and
breathe out oxygen. Without trees, life
would disappear.
In Parshat Shoftim (Deuteronomy
20:19), the Torah teaches that when the
army of Israel makes war and besieges a
city, it may not cut down fruit trees to use
the wood for weapons (non-fruit-bearing
trees may be felled). Our quarrel is not
with the trees, "for is the tree of the field a
man that comes before you in a siege?"
Judaism teaches common sense about
trees — useful for the betterment of
humanity and respected for their value to
the life of the earth.
❑
January 17 • 2008
A33