It’s just February, but most of us are anxiously awaiting warmer temperatures, fresh vegetables and flowers from the garden. Our new year might occur in January, based on our calendar, but in many cultures, spring is considered the new year. In the Jewish tradition, there are four dates of the new year. The first of Nissan or Nisan is the new year for kings and festivals. Five months later, the first of Elul, is the new year for animal tithes. Tishri, the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, is used as the new year for calculating the sabbatical years and jubilees. However, the first of Shevat is the month that is used to calculate planting and sowing, and called New Year of the Trees.
Probably the most important event in the Jewish religion is Passover, which occurs in the first month of the Jewish calendar year, or Nissan. Generally, Passover occurs in March or April. The civil Jewish New Year occurs in Tishri, generally around September or October. These new year dates are important to the Jewish religion because Jewish law is very specific about tithing and harvesting. This is true when it comes to trees and the fruit produced by the trees.
Tu BiShvat
Under Jewish law, there is a prohibition on eating the fruit of trees that are less than three years old. Leviticus 19:23 says, “When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten.” The fourth-year fruit crops were considered holy and to be offered to the Lord. Once the tree was of age, fruit that ripened before a certain date was considered an offering to the Levites, foreigners, orphans and widows of the town.
It was important to the Israelites to have a way to calculate the age of a tree and to have a date that would determine obligations of the fruit. It occurs on the 15th day of Shvat, which generally falls early in the year in the Gregorian calendar. In 2017, 15 Shvat begins at sunset on February 10 and ends at nightfall on February 11. It’s called the New Year of the Trees, and while it’s a minor holiday in Jewish tradition, it is important to the culture.
The day is also referred to as Rosh HaShanah La’Ilanot. Today, it’s generally celebrated more as an ecological awareness day in Israel rather than a biblical holiday and feast. During a Tu BiShvat seder, 10 different fruits and nuts from Israel would be eaten with four cups of wine in a specific order while reciting blessings. It’s thought that this ceremony would bring humans closer to spiritual perfection.
This is the Shehecheyanu blessing that might be said:
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam,
shehecheyanu, v’kiy’manu, v’higianu laz’man hazeh.
Our praise to You, Eternal our God, Sovereign of all:
for giving us life, sustaining us, and enabling us to reach this season.
Plant Trees for Spring
In Israel today, Tu BiShvat is an agricultural holiday, or the New Year of the Trees. Many institutions choose the 15 Shvat as an inauguration day, because it marks a revival of nature. The natural world is central to Jewish law and liturgy. Ecological concerns are part of the tradition, as reflected in Genesis, in which man was put in the Garden of Eden to take care of it.
Jews have always been environmentally aware. Celebrating the New Year of the Trees is just one more reminder of how fragile creation is and how we should be committed to protecting the world around us. You don’t have to believe in the same Jewish God to appreciate trees, flowers and plants and to remember to take care of nature.