Today, We Speak for the Trees

This week we are celebrating the holiday Tu B’Shvat! This holiday is all about trees! It’s kind of like Jewish Arbor Day in that we celebrate trees and it’s a bit of an underrated holiday that doesn’t get a lot of hype.

When did all of this start? Tu B’Shvat is first mentioned in the Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah 1:1. In this text, four different new years are mentioned and they are all connected to tithing. The Israelites were expected to bring a tithe (one-tenth) of their fruits to the Temple in Jerusalem. There they were offered to God and helped to sustain the priests and the poor. The fruit, for obvious reasons, could not be saved from year to year. The Rabbis chose the month of Sh’vat as the cut-off date for the crop year. In Israel, this is when the sap begins to run and trees awaken before they start bearing fruit.

There are a few ways you could celebrate this holiday. Passover isn’t the only holiday that features a seder. There is a special Tu B’Shvat seder, but it isn’t as commonly observed anymore. This seder is very similar to our Passover seders, but one main difference is that this seder is all about the fruits!

In addition to sharing similarities with Arbor Day, many modern celebrations of Tu B’Shvat resemble how we celebrate Earth Day. One thing you could do is plant some seeds. It doesn’t have to be a tree, any seeds will do. Another way to celebrate is to either plant a tree or donate to have a tree planted either in your name or the name of a loved one. You could also find another charity that resonates with you to donate to or help raise money for.

You could also read a book! Some good book recommendations are The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, and Pearl Moscowitz’s Last Stand by Arthur Levine. Don’t have these books? No problem! Did you know you could go on YouTube and find videos of people reading stories? We recommend you check them out and find the ones that you like best (there are a lot of really good interactive ones for children as well). But just in case, we picked out some for you. Here are read alouds for The Giving Tree, Pearl Moscowitz’s Last Stand, and The Lorax (this one might just be our favorite).