Tu Bishvat is a minor Jewish holiday. It is celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Shevat. According to the Gregorian calendar, this day falls in January or February. Tu Bishvat is the "New Year of the Trees." This year it begins on the evening of February 12.
By Dr. Tobias Krämer
This non-biblical holiday falls at the end of the rainy season. In Israel, this marks the beginning of the planting season. The holiday celebrates the start of the new harvest year, particularly the fruit harvest. Often, the first fruit trees are already budding or blossoming at this time, as spring begins in Israel as early as January.
Various traditions are associated with the day. At meals, fruits that haven't been eaten during the year are consumed, especially grapes, nuts, figs, dates, olives, pomegranates, and grains. Tu BiShvat has also become a national holiday. It celebrates the founding of the State of Israel and is dedicated to environmental protection and sustainability. Israelis plant seedlings throughout the country. Donations are also collected for reforestation. This isn't limited to Israel. When the defoliant Agent Orange destroyed three million hectares of forest during the Vietnam War, rabbis called on people on Tu BiShvat to raise money for new trees and donate it to Vietnam.
Tradition with a biblical background
The festival can be traced back to the first century BC. It is based on a commandment in the Torah. Leviticus 19:23 states:
“When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree that people eat, leave its first fruit as unclean, like an uncircumcised tree. For three years the fruit shall be considered uncircumcised to you; it must not be eaten.”
God himself commanded that trees should be planted, but also that the first three harvests of the year should not be eaten. The fruit is therefore left on the trees for the first three years; only from the fourth year onward are the fruits considered pure and may be eaten. The impure fruits are called orla fruits. To document the exact age of the trees, the planting date has always been precisely recorded. This practice continues to this day in Judaism.
Behind all the traditions of Tu Bishvat lies the same motive: care, indeed respect, for creation, especially for the trees. For trees are of great importance to both the land and its people. They protect the land, for example from drought and erosion, they improve the microclimate, and they nourish the people.
