Tu Bishvat - Definition and Overview

Tu Bishvat (ט״ו בשבט ṭū bišḇāṭ) is the Jewish holiday equivalent of Arbor Day— it is the new year for trees. This day was set aside in the Mishnah on which to bring fruit tithes. It is still celebrated in modern times. In the 1600s Land of Israel, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Safed and his disciples created a short seder, reminiscent of the seder that Jews observe on Pesach, that explores the holiday's Kabbalistic themes. It is customary on this holiday to eat different types of fruit.

Traditionally, these types of fruit are:

• Fruits and nuts with hard, inedible exteriors and soft edible insides. Examples: oranges, bananas, walnuts, pistachios.
• Fruits and nuts with soft exteriors, but with a hard pit inside. Examples: dates, apricots, olives, persimmons
• Fruit that is eaten entire. Examples: figs, berries.

In addition, kabbalistic tradition says that there is a fourth type of fruit, not of this world,

In 2005, Tu Bishvat fell on the 25th of January (beginning at nightfall on the 24th). In 2006, Tu Bishvat will fall on the 13th of February (beginning at nightfall on the 12th).

The name Tu Bishvat comes from the date of the holiday, the 15th of Shvat (ט"ו=15, read as "Tu").

External links

• Tu Bishvat (http://www.aish.com/tubshvat/tubshvatdefault/default.asp)

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