Introduction
On Tu B’Shevat we celebrate a New Year for the Trees, rejoicing in the fruit of the tree and the fruit of the vine, celebrating the splendid, abundant gifts of the natural world which give our senses delight and our bodies life.
Tu B’Shevat marks the beginning of spring in Israel. Sustaining rains are at the peak of their power and the world responds, brimming with buds of fragrant life. To mark this moment, school children plant trees. Often these trees have been provided by the contributions of Jewish students abroad through the good offices of the Jewish National Fund.
For Jews outside of Israel, Tu B’Shevat is a celebration of the renewal of vision and awareness, a celebration of connections and connectedness–to our own inner-selves, to the social world of human beings, and to the natural world and its Source.
The Tu B’Shevat Seder
In the 17th century, the Kabbalists, the Jewish mystics of Safed, developed a special seder (order service). Their efforts were influenced by the esoteric meaning in the verse Deuteronomy 20:19: “For man is like the tree of the field”.
Modeled on the Passover seder, the Tu B’Shevat seder included drinking four cups of wine with varying percentages of red and white wine, representing perhaps the shifting of yearly seasons. The seder also included readings on trees and fruit from a range of Jewish literature.
The new form of celebration spread from Safed to Sephardi communities in Turkey, Italy and Greece, and later in Europe, Asia and North Africa. Modern adaptations of this centuries old practice have been created by Hillels, Jewish environmental groups and others involved in Jewish renewal.
Source: http://www.Hillel.org
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