TuB'shvat: Birthday of the Trees 1/25/05

The celebration at this festival has come to be referred to as the Tu B'Shevat Seder. In the Babylonian tradition, the dining room table is formally set like any other Jewish holiday. It is then laden with many plates/bowls, each containing different nuts or fruits (usually dried fruit, since it is really still winter). Ideally, there should be at least thirty selections, but that can be difficult ... simply the more the better!

Prayers are said over the nuts and fruits. The woman of the house places a big tablecloth in the center of the table and the containers are emptied onto the top tablecloth. The dried fruits and nuts are mixed together by bringing the four corners of the cloth together. Each person gets a "goody bag" of the mixture. Since it is too much to eat in one evening, the children usually take the "goody bag" to school the next day. Often they exchange favorites!

It is a time to think of the SEVEN SPECIES... This comes directly from the Torah: grapes, figs, pomegranates, dates, olives , wheat and barley... There is a recipe for a bread that uses all of these in the ingredients.

Tu B' Shevat Jewish New Year of the Trees

A wonderful tradition for our celebration of Trees and things that grow is to plant parsley, Plant for Tu B'Shevat and have your green parsley to dip in salt water for your Passover Sedar on the end of April this year...

Also called Rosh HaShanah La'ilanot, the New Year of the Trees, the festival of Tu B Sh'vat illustrates the significance of trees and nature to Jews throughout history

Link: About TuBishvat

The Souls of Trees - a nice story in Jewish tradition