The Lorax may speak for the trees, but people have celebrated them for thousands of years. While many have heard of Arbor Day and Earth Day many people outside of Jewish culture are unfamiliar with Tu BiShvat.
Tu BiShvat is a way to celebrate the trees and the beauty of the world. This historic holiday marks new beginnings and new life, includes delicious meals and celebrates bringing life to our Earth. This article will dive into depth on what Tu BiShvat is and how people celebrate this festival holiday.
Tu BiShvat, also known as Rosh Hashanah La’llant, translates into “New Year of Trees.” This is considered a festival of nature, wonder, joy and thankfulness. This holiday is the mark of the beginning of spring in Israel.
Tu BiShvat is celebrated on the fifteenth of Sh’vat, which roughly falls into February. It is found that Tu BiShvat is first mentioned in the Mishnah. Each year, the Israelites would bring one-tenth of the fruit they grew to the Temple of Jerusalem, where they brought their offerings to God and helped to sustain both the priestly and the poor class.
Since fruit could not be reserved so well, the Rabbis determine a certain time frame to grow and bring their crops to the temple. Scholars believe this was also a day to plant trees.
Parents would plant trees to bless their children, cedars for boys and cypress for girls. When the children would grow up and get married, the trees are cut down to make the marriage canopy. Many of the customs are still followed today.
As mentioned before, this is a holiday full of history, delicious meals and bringing life to our Earth. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many of the customs that Jewish cultures celebrate today were made.
These customs have been compared to the Passover Seder. Many people would gather in their homes for a fantastic fifteen-course meal, each of these courses being a food associated with the land. Between every course, they would read from the P’ri Eitz Hadar, also known as “The Fruit of the Goodly Tree.”
However, in today’s society, Tu BiShvat has become more of an environmental holiday, reminding us of the duty to take care of our natural world. Planting trees is a way to show that we still care about our Mother Earth.
Whether in Israel, America, Europe or anywhere else, this holiday is celebrated worldwide to keep the love of Earth alive. We have so much to be thankful for in our lives and so much to be alive for, Tu Bishvat is a way to show what the world means to all of us.
This holiday is a chance for all of us to show the world we still care by cleaning up litter or planting trees. This holiday is a chance for us to make a difference in our world.
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