Woodside_park Synagogue

Tu B'Shevat

Tu B'Shevat: Nightfall Tuesday February 7th - Nightfall Wednesday February 8th (15th Shevat)


NEW YEAR FOR TREES BY REV MICHAEL PLASKOW MBE

When was the time you wished a tree Happy New Year? The 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat is a great opportunity. It is known as Tu b'Shevat, the New Year for Trees. "Tu" is two Hebrew letters whose numerical value is TET =9 and VAV = 6 which total 15.

Why do trees celebrate their New Year so much later than ours? It has to do with the rainy season in Israel, which commences with the festival of Succot. It takes four months for the rains to saturate the soil, nurture the trees and coax them into producing fruit. This is important to know if you are planning to give your tithes of fruits, as we did in Temple times, because the required tithes varied from year to year.

We humans can also celebrate along with the trees. After all, the Torah says, Man is a tree of the field."(Devarim 20:19). We are nurtured by deep roots, as far back as Abraham and Sarah. We reach upwards to the heavens while standing firmly on the ground and when we do all this in a correct manner, we produce fruits that benefit the world - namely our good deeds.

Try and eat some fruit this day for which Israel is famous and which are singled out by the Torah such as olives, dates, grapes, figs and pomegranates. It is customary to eat 15 types of fruit on this day.



Shalom Sesame: Avigail plants a small tree in honor of Tu Bishvat


Click here for more videos from Shalom Sesame



Take a look at the video "I wannna be a tree"



Take a look at the following links:

Tu B'Shevat Colouring Pages

Tu B'Shevat Word Find

Break the Star Code