tu b’shevat

Planting, Seders and Psalms: Practices for Shevat

February 3, 2015 By Ketzirah

Editors Note: we will be having a Tu B’Shevat themed service on Tuesday, February 3rd at 8PM EST at OneShul.org

When most people think of Shevat, they think of Tu b’Shevat, the “new year” of the trees. Tu b’Shevat is one of the four new years in the Jewish religion. What began thousands of years ago as a tax day on fruit trees, has grown into the Jewish arbor day and/or a spiritual opportunity to explore new growth and our connection to the environment. Like so many of our holidays there are so many layers, so Tu b’Shevat can offer an amazing array of in-roads to exploring Jewish practice.

Tree Planting
It’s no wonder that Jews love Tu b’Shevat, after all we call the Torah the “tree of life.” In ancient Israel we even planted trees when children were born to commemorate their birth and then these trees were used as the chuppah poles at their weddings. That’s just one of many amazing tree-based traditions in Judaism! If you want to plant a tree for Tu b’Shevat, there are lots of organizations that you can donate to that will help you with that, since it’s a lousy time of year to actually plant trees in most parts of the world. If this is what you are looking for, then check out Casey Trees and Jewish National Fund. I’m sure there are tons of other great organizations, and I hope you’ll share your favorite in the comments.

Seders
By now most people have heard of a Tu b’Shevat seder, even if they’ve never been to one. So where do you start? Thankfully, there are many free, and really good, Tu b’Shevat seders available online. Here are few of my favorites to explore:

If you are a more DIY kind of person, check out this Tu B’Shevat Seder Outline, from Kolel. It gives you a bit of a mix and match set up that allows you to easily create your own Tu B’Shevat seder.

Psalms
I learned about the tradition of reciting the fifteen “Psalms of Ascent” (120-134) during the first fifteen days of Shevat from my teacher, RK’Jill Hammer. She has taken this practice further by associating a specific type of tree with each psalm. Since the psalms have become a big part of my daily spiritual practices right now, I’m very excited to explore this concept this year.

You could even create prayer trees by writing or printing out pieces of the psalms of ascent and tying them to trees in your yard. Imagine if you write the psalms on pieces of ribbon or fabric, how pretty the tree would look! You could leave the fabric up just during Shevat, or if you use unbleached cotton or muslin, you could even just leave it to disintegrate naturally over time.

Final thought…

Whatever you do, take some time to appreciate Judaism’s long and complicated history with trees. You might even want to take time to reflect on your own relationship with trees and nature. No matter where you live, take some time to appreciate these amazing partners in life. Without trees, we couldn’t breath, have paper, firewood, and a million other things!

Ketzirah is a Kohenet, Celebrant, and Artist. She works with individuals and groups to explore, discover, and create meaningful rituals and ritual artwork to mark moments in life.

What a Buddha Hand Made Me Realize About Tu B’Shvat

February 3, 2015 By punktorah

Tu B’Shvat is the best holiday a Jewish environmentalist could ask for. The New Year for the Trees gets us to think about the natural world, and indeed I’ve enjoyed that focus at Hazon’s Tu B’Shvat seders the last couple of years. However, my Tu B’Shvat observance has often been at odds with my general environmental outlook on food. Whereas I normally prioritize locally grown produce from a farmers market, for Tu B’Shvat I adore exotic, varied fruits. Celebrating the full bounty of nature isn’t consistent with limiting your carbon footprint if that oddball fruit had to travel 3,000 miles to get to you.

My love for Tu B’Shvat dates back to my freshman year of college, when a Chabad Shabbat dinner featured 44 different types of fruits and nuts instead of the regular brisket or chicken. Since then I’ve hosted a series of non-seder gatherings in which I tried to present a diverse array of fruits. At the Tu B’Shvat Disorder! ’08, I served coconut, horned melon, persimmons, pineapple, uglifruit, honeydew, cantaloupe, bananas, grapes, apples, peaches, tangerines, olives, starfruit, figs, dates, cherries, blueberries, kiwis, pistachios, almonds, pine nuts, cashews, walnuts, filberts, and Brazil nuts. Let’s just say that it hadn’t all been grown locally in Virginia in January.

This year’s I-can’t-stop-thinking-about-it fruit is the Buddha hand, also known as a fingered citron. (Many readers will be familiar with the etrog, another type of citron, which is used on Sukkot.) I’d seen the Buddha hand at a NYC Whole Foods store a few times before, but I’d never found any legitimate reason to buy this masterpiece of citrus. When I spotted a California-grown Buddha hand that appeared to be giving me the finger on Thursday—so close to Tu B’Shvat—I knew I just had to spend $3.14 for it.

The Buddha hand was a big hit at a Shabbat potluck the following night. We started amputating fingers off the Buddha hand left and right. One guy ate an entire finger (including the rind), and he put a little nub in his wine and called it sangria. Several of us gnawed into the flesh at the base of the fingers instead. We passed around the opened Buddha hand to appreciate the scent. After the night was over, I was able to salvage the base of the hand for some flesh. I cut some of it up and put it in tea, and as of this writing, I’m not sure what I’ll do with the rest.

The Buddha hand was fun, but did this fruit—which we did not even consume to a significant extent—really help us to respect the Earth?

In celebrating Tu B’Shvat, it’s important to have foods that are native to Israel and that represent the different categories of fruits and nuts: those that have edible insides but inedible outsides, those that have edible outsides but inedible insides, and those that are edible throughout. Beyond that, if you have a choice and you truly want this to be a holiday that is good for the Earth, buy local when possible.

Tu B’Shevat For Kids

February 3, 2015 By punktorah

Alright kids, it’s almost time for Tu B’Shevat, the birthday of the trees.

First, we kick off the holiday by reading the story of Tu B’Shevat with one of our book reviewer Tamara Levine’s new favorite books, Happy Birthday, Tree! written by Madelyn Rosenbery.

What would you give a tree for its birthday? Ribbons, water, a present? Does it have all that it needs already? Joni in the picture book Happy Birthday, Tree!, written by Madelyn Rosenbery and illustrated by Jana Christy, doesn’t think so. She believes her favorite tree needs something for its birthday so that it can celebrate.

Tu B’Shevat is one of the Jewish New Years. It’s the birthday of the trees, of course! It’s celebrated on the 15th of Shevat.

Read this beautifully written and illustrate book to find out what Joni gives her favorite tree for its birthday. -Review by Tamara Levine

This wonderful craft project by blogger Miri Flower is a great way to bring a little light during a dark time of the year, while connecting to the spirit of Tu B’Shevat.

Tu B’Shevat Leaves Lantern

A craft to brighten up your day, close the curtains, turn off the lights & read a book by the light of a couple of these beautiful lanterns!

You will need: dried leaves, tissue paper cardboard paper

1) Cut your tissue paper into a square
2) Glue the leaves onto the top half, fold over the bottom & glue it together.
3) Cut a circle out of the cardboard, fold up the edges & glue your tissue paper around the circle. This is the bottom of your lantern.
4) Place a glass jar inside , light a candle & carefully place it inside the jar,
enjoy!

Of course, there are lost of great learning opportunities on Tu B’Shevat. Check out our Tu B’Shevat Portal for resources on the holiday, podcasts and grown up how-to guides.

Tu B’Shevat Happy New Year Trees

February 3, 2015 By punktorah

Tu B’shevat is very much a minor holiday to us today, perhaps it’s because most of us no longer work the land to provide for our families and communities. Perhaps it’s because few people care for the Earth as deeply as we once did. Whatever the reason is this is no longer a holiday celebrated by most families with a full Seder. It’s now seen almost as an Earth day or Arbor day. A day that even most people in America don’t tend to celebrate. Tu ‘B’shevat is important to me though, it is the new year for the trees. What exactly does a new year for a tree mean? One thought holds trees as one of the closest to immortal things living on this planet today. While no tree is immortal some are very old. The oldest non-clonal tree in the world today is known as The Sisters or the Sisters Olive Trees of Noah, The sisters are believed to be over 6,000 years old and is thought to be where the dove found the olive branch to bring Noah at the end of the great flood. What is another year for them? What does that mean for us? The trees new year means for them an awakening. Almost all trees especially fruit baring ones go through a dormant phase during the year and Tu B’shevat is the time that inside of them they grow another ring. This ring might be thin or thick depending on how the growing season treated them. You can learn a lot about a trees life from their rings. So what does that mean for us? It’s hardly time to plant trees the only thing right now you can do is prune the dormant and dead branches.

Well for us I believe that Tu B’shevat is a great time for our own awakening. It’s time to awaken to ourselves and to our soul. The great thing is that we don’t have a yearly dormant phase but perhaps our community involvement or passions or even our spirituality does. Perhaps you were volunteering your time more frequently around Rosh Hashanah. Or maybe you get in the mood to let your passion of baking run wild for Chanukah (which would make a ton of sense considering you may have been meshuggah enough to host a giant Thanksgivukkah party.) However, lately you have found that you haven’t been doing these things as much as you would like. Perhaps you were taking comfort in going to minyan and meeting new people and then for one reason or another just stopped. Inside of you as with the trees it is time for an awakening. One that will allow you to flourish and blossom just like our trees. This doesn’t happen over night. Our trees won’t bud tomorrow, they will simply begin to put their energy in that direction, that will allow us to appreciate them. Perhaps you can take this Tu B’shevat and begin to use that energy to awaken yourself so that you can greater appreciate the world around you. We don’t have the luxury of living up to 6,000+ years but if we can appreciate today maybe we can plant the seeds for others to appreciate their tomorrow.

Melissa Bullins is an Atlanta based chef and is active in the local Jewish community at Shabbat Atlanta. Come hang out with Melissa and the Shabbat Atlanta chavurah!

Tu B’Shevat Themed Shabbat + More

January 13, 2014 By punktorah

Monday @ 8PM – Torah Talk with Chanah

Torah study with Chanah from Darshan Yeshiva. This week’s portion is Parshah Yitro.

Friday @ 2PM – Tu B’Shevat Themed Shabbat

Join us for a post-Tu B’Shevat themed Shabbat service and seder hosted by Rabbi Patrick Aleph. To make the Shabbat service and seder more fun and interactive, have the following available to you when you log in: White and red wine (or grape juice) Sweet smelling herbs (cloves, cinnamon, etc) Fruit or nuts that grow on trees with a hard outside and soft inside (pistachio nuts, bananas) Fruit or nuts that grow on trees with a soft outside and a hard inside (cherries, peaches) Fruit or nuts that grow on trees that can be eaten whole (apricots, etc.) You can download our seder here

Friday @ 8PM – Around the Shabbat Table with David

Hosted by David “haShamash”. Brief observance followed by a topic of discussion.

Saturday @ 3PM – Haftorah with Troy
Troy will host Haftorah study this week. Haftorah Yitro, Isaiah Chapter 6

Saturday @ 7PM – Havdalah with Michael
Michael will welcome in the week with Havdalah and Maariv observance.

All events are Eastern Standard Time.

There is a suggested $5.00 donation for each event you attend. All proceeds go to PunkTorah, so that we can provide free, online Jewish life to over a quarter million people.

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