Happy Tu B'Shevat!

[DecemberDream]

Yep it's sundown, that means the holiday has begun! For those who don't know, it's a Jewish holiday and from what I understand (I'm in the process of converting so this is my first Jewish holiday :)) it's the New Year for trees. Customs are to eat a new fruit, plant a tree, or in Isreal children go around collecting money for trees.

Have a good one!

[tiger_rascal]

Cool, I like trees. :)

Thank you God for trees.

[young again]

Chag Sameach (happy holiday)!

Tu B'Shevat marks the start of spring in Israel. Another tradition is to have a seder along the lines of a Passover seder. I participated in one (sort of - it was a youth group seder so mostly I tried to keep the kids from throwing food around the room) for the first time this year. Due to the food-throwing issues I missed out on the significance of foods that you eat the whole thing, foods that you eat the outside but not the inside, foods that you eat the inside but not the outside, etc., but there is always next year.

[Earl Purple]

These are all fairly modern customs.

Tu B'Shvat is not mentioned anywhere in Scripture but is mentioned in the Mishnah for Rosh Hashanah, among the new years.

One of the laws (in scripture) is to give a proportion of fruit to the priests and Levites in the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th years, and to give them to the poor in the 3rd and 6th years (of the Sabbatical cycle). In the 7th year, any fruit that grows is free for anyone.

Tu B'shvat is the start of the year for reckoning, and it counts from the time the fruit blossoms. As the date is always around February no fruit will yet have blossomed, nor will any be picked so late in the year.