Thanks to Livnot U’lehibanot for this wonderful effort in sharing the beauty of Tu B’Shvat.
Livnot U’lehibanot – Be Part of the Celebration What is Tu B’Shvat
Thanks to Livnot U’lehibanot for this wonderful effort in sharing the beauty of Tu B’Shvat.
For thousands of years Jews have marked Tu B’Shvat as the New Year of the Tree. Ancient Jewish sages saw that in Israel, this was when trees started to come out of their winter dormancy. This holiday marks the awakening of life in the trees, when buds begin to develop, and new leaves grow.
The Kabbalists of ancient Tzfat built a special ceremony or seder, similar in nature to the Passover seder, celebrating Tu B’Shvat some 500 years ago.
This year, Tu B’Shvat starts on the evening of Sunday, Jan. 24, and goes until the evening of Monday, Jan. 25.
Livnot U’lehibanot – Be Part of the Celebration What is Tu B’Shvat
Tu B’Shvat is a perfect holiday to celebrate globally for many reasons:
- While it is a Jewish holiday, Tu B’Shvat is a celebration of universal values that can be appreciated across any culture or religion.
- Tu B’Shvat draws from the Jewish perspective on nature, using the world around us as our greatest teacher. It’s a holiday of respecting and appreciating the Earth, and the fruits it supplies for us.
- Jewish tradition holds respect for every living thing, including trees. For example, there are rules regarding how often farmers can harvest from trees, giving plants a rest on every seventh year (in Hebrew, the Shmittah year), and prohibiting fruit from being harvested for the first three years of a tree’s life. This approach to respect for living things also includes sensitivity to the needs of others: other humans, other living things, and even other objects. The trees in Israel may still seem to be sleeping this January, but our sages’ sensitivity to the world around them led them to realize that the first sparks of life were beginning to awaken in the trees.
In general, there are innumerable lessons we can learn from celebrating Tu B’Shvat: on respect, sensitivity, spirituality, and on connection to the world around us.
Livnot U’lehibanot – Be Part of the Celebration What is Tu B’Shvat
Livnot U’lehibanot – Be Part of the Celebration What is Tu B’Shvat
