The New Year for Cattle. The 1st of Elul is the New Year for cattle. It was originally the beginning of the tax assessment year for cattle, and functioned in a manner similar to the New Year for fruit trees: an animal born in one cattle-year could only be offered as part of the tithe on animals born during that same year.
New Branches
Tu B'Shevat may have begun its life as the start of the tax assessment year for fruit trees, but after the destruction of the Temple and subsequent exile this aspect of the day began to pale in importance. But this original meaning of the holiday branched out into related meanings and new observances.
Israeli Rhythms, Israeli Fruit
The New Year for trees was said to occur in the month of Shevat because of the annual winter rains in Israel, rains which were essential for a successful crop. Diaspora Jews lived in different lands with different climates and weather patterns, but their hearts always looked toward the Land of Israel.
These Jews recognized that Tu B'Shevat focused on the fruits of Israel and was scheduled according to the pattern of weather and growth in Israel; what better way to emphasize their ties to their ancestral homeland than by marking this day on their own calendars—in some small way making the rhythm of life in Israel their own rhythm; and to mark it by eating fruits grown in Israel!
Over the years certain produce from Israel has been deemed especially appropriate to eat in commemoration of this holiday. Five fruits and two grains are associated with Israel because of the verse in Deuteronomy (8:8) which states that it is "a land of wheat and barley, of vines and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey." (The honey referred to in the verse is date honey rather than bee honey.) Almonds have also been popular, as almond trees were thought to be the first to blossom in Israel. Carob was also very popular because it could survive the long journey from Israel to the dispersed Jewish communities around the world.
Repairing the World, Atoning for the Tree
The Kabbalists—devotees of the mystical stream of Judaism—took the idea of eating Israeli fruits and combined this with the Kabbalistic concern of tikkun olam (spiritually repairing the world). Out of the two they created the custom of eating different fruits for spiritual enhancement. They also saw eating fruit as a way of atoning for the first sin, that of eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden.
To encourage the flow of God's goodness into the world and further the task of tikkun olam, sixteenth-century Kabbalists in the Israeli town of Safed formalized this observance into a seder, loosely basing it on the Passover seder. Having divided up the many fruits into different spiritual categories, they ate fruits from each category, drink four cups of wine, and recited relevant Biblical and Talmudic verses.
The Tu B'Shevat seder is described in more detail later in this article.
Planting Trees in Israel and at Home
With the advent of modern Zionism has come a new observance, one that was probably influenced by the American Arbor Day: reforesting Israel by planting trees there during Tu B'Shevat. People in Israel, especially schoolchildren, do this themselves; people in the Diaspora can plant trees with the help of the Jewish National Fund, paying for the planting of any number of trees and—if they wish—having each one planted in honor or memory of a loved one.
There is something especially appropriate in talking about planting trees while discussing how our culture is passed down: the person planting the tree will sometimes not live long enough to taste its fruit, and almost always the tree will continue growing for several generations. A person plants a tree not only for himself or herself, but as an act of faith in the future, an act of hope, and of love. There is a story from the Talmud which illustrates this:
Once Honi was walking along the road when he saw a man planting a carob tree. Honi asked, "How long before it will bear fruit?" The man answered, "Seventy years." Honi asked, "Are you sure that you will be alive in seventy years to eat from its fruit?" The man answered, "I found this world filled with carob trees. Just as my ancestor planted for me, so shall I plant for my children."
You might also want to plant trees locally or—if your apartment lacks space for a tree—plant an indoor garden. You can even tie the cycle of holidays to the cycle of growth by planting parsley at Tu B'Shevat and harvesting it for your Passover seder. This is also a great way of involving children in the holiday and illustrating the natural rhythms of germination and growth.
Focusing on Ecology
People continue to find Tu B'Shevat an expression of their current concerns as echoed in the Jewish tradition. For many people today that means focusing on the well-being of the environment and examining issues from an ecological perspective. You can use the holiday as an occasion to learn about your local environment, study ecological issues, or become involved in an environmental program. There are now several groups which combine environmental concerns with a Jewish perspective, including L'Olam: Committee on Judaism and Ecology, and Shomrei Adamah.
Other Customs
Tu B'Shevat, as the New Year of trees, has a counterpart in Sukkot, which is a harvest festival. Accordingly there is a custom of making jam from the etrogim of Sukkot and eating it on Tu B'Shevat. Some Hasidim pray on Tu B'Shevat for a beautiful etrog to be used on the following Sukkot.
There are also customs involving eating fruity, nutty, and Israeli-type foods, and of giving ninety-one cents or dollars to charity because ninety-one is the numeric value of the Hebrew letters which spell ilan (tree).
The Seder
As stated earlier, Kabbalists in the community of mystics in Safed began to observe a Tu B'Shevat seder in the sixteenth century. Tu B'Shevat focuses on trees, and for the Kabbalists the tree stood for the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, and for the Tree of Sephirot (divine emanations, each one a different aspect of God).
The Kabbalists taught that it is on the New Year of trees that The Tree—of Life, of Sephirot—renews the flow of the life and divine energy to the world. They felt that it was the responsibility of those who grasped the mystical knowledge to help this process, which they could do by eating different kinds of fruit and saying blessings and relevant verses over the fruit to free the divine sparks hidden within them.
The Fruit
The Kabbalah states that there are four levels of creation—ranging from the purely ethereal to the purely physical—and the Kabbalists imagined corresponding categories of fruit and nuts:
- Atzilut (emanation). This is entirely spiritual, and cannot be represented by anything tangible.
- Beriah (creation). This level is symbolized by fruits that are completely soft and edible—that is, those without a shell on the outside or a large pit on the inside: grapes, figs, apples, etrogim (citrons), lemons, pears, raspberries, blueberries, carobs, and quinces.
- Yetzirah (formation). This level is only one step away from the physical world, and has a kernal shielded by an inner shell. The fruits representing this level have hard pits: olives, dates, cherries, jujubes, persimmons, apricots, peaches, loquats, plums, and hackberries.
- Assiyah (action). This is the physical world of everyday experience, and has a hard outer shell. It is symbolized by fruits and nuts with a hard inedible shell: pomegranates, walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, coconuts, Brazil nuts, pistachios, and pecans.
As each fruit or nut is eaten, an an appropriate quotation from the Bible or Talmud is read.
The Wine
There are four cups of wine which accompany the meal:
- The first is white wine.
- The second is a light pink, made by mixing some red into the white.
- The third is a deeper rose, with more red in the mixture.
- The fourth cup is a dark red, with just a drop of white.
There are different interpretations of the change of colors, but the white is frequently seen as representing the dormancy or paleness of winter, and the red as symbolizing the burst of life or the colors that come with the blooms of spring and summer and the rich tapestry of fall leaves.
Join Us at the Seder!
The original Kabbalist ritual for the seder is found in the Peri Etz Hadar (Fruit of the Goodly Tree). The seder has been modified and adapted by others over the years, and we observe a communal Tu B'Shevat seder here at West End Synagogue. If you would like to join us at the seder—complete with fruit, nuts, wine, singing, learning, and a catered kosher dinner—just call the office!
Beyond the Trees
As Tu B'Shevat has lost some of its earlier significance, it has accumulated new meanings, serving as a mystical bridge from the human to the divine, a cultural bridge from a dispersed people back to the natural rhythms of their homeland, a social bridge from our traditional observance to twentieth-century Israeli renewal, and a political bridge from the historical Jewish concern with life and land to contemporary concerns with the environment.
Tu B'Shevat—a day originally about tithing, but bound up also with the rich symbolism of trees and the earthy reality of a fertile land—is a mark of Judaism's vitality. A living culture is one that both creates and transforms. When the Jewish people needs to express new hopes and concerns we have at our disposal a rich cultural vocabulary, the cumulative gift of earlier generations. We can reconstruct this vocabulary sufficiently to give voice to our contemporary hopes, while retaining the wisdom and truths discovered earlier. It is because we value both creativity and continuity that we can be true to our present and true to our past.
Want to Know More?
At West End Synagogue we value earlier Jewish insights and build on them to express our current reality and ideals. By combining tradition and transformation, continuity and creativity, we seek to live a fresh Jewish present that is meaningful to us, honors our tradition, is intellectually curious and honest, as well as spiritually and emotionally rewarding. If you would like information about services, classes, and other programs at West End Synagogue, or more information about the Reconstructionist approach to Judaism, go to our home page.
