Today Jews celebrate the holiday of Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish New Year for the trees. Or, I should say, some Jews. A lot of Jews don’t bother with this holiday or don’t know much about it.
This holiday is celebrated on the 15th of Shvat, a Hebrew month that usually falls between mid-January and mid-February. Originally this holiday served to calculate the age of the trees for tithing. Leviticus 19:23-25 states that no fruit may be taken from a tree during its first three years of life. Fruit from the fourth year was given to God as a burnt offering, and in the fifth year the fruit could be eaten. Trees aged one year on Tu B’Shvat. That’s why Jews call Tu B’Shvat the birthday of the trees.Many Jews have Tu B’Shvat seders, which are modeled after Passover seders. They eat fruits and nuts, mostly the kind mentioned in the Torah. Some make donations or plant trees in Israel.
What are you going to do today to celebrate the holiday?
The answer to that question probably depends upon whether or not the holiday means anything at all to you. Does it? Can you make it mean something to you? That’s always what I ask myself about any holiday—Jewish or secular. What does it really mean to me? What is it about and can I make that matter to me?
For some Jews, the more religious type, it’s all about what the Torah says or what God says. For others, like me, it’s about finding personal meaning. Here’s a post I wrote today about the meaning I found in Tu B’shvat. Now find your own meaning. Celebrate in your own way. I celebrated by writing two articles and going outside to spend time with the trees.
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