(Author: Henia Bryer, Vol 74, #1, Pesach 2019)
Tu Bishvat is a somewhat forgotten and much neglected Jewish festival, especially outside of Israel. The etymology of the name derives from the letters ‘tet’ – number nine in the Hebrew alphabet – and ‘vav’ – number six – that together constitute the number 15, and which in Hebrew is pronounced as “Tu”. It is the date of the festival: the 15th of the month of Shvat, which is the fifth month in the Hebrew calendar. Tu Bishvat has another name – Rosh Ha-Shanah la-Ilanot, the New Year of the Trees. That name originated in the Mishnah, but the festival is deeply rooted in the Torah and in the Hebrew Bible (Tanach) as a whole.
Trees are accorded special significance in the Tanach. In Proverbs (3: 18), the Torah itself is described as a tree of life, a metaphor that is echoed in the well-known prayer in the synagogue: Etz hayim hi le-mahazikim ba – “She is a tree of life to them that cleave to her”. Man is often compared to a tree, as in Psalm 92: Tsadik ka-tamar yifrah: ke-erez ba-Levanon yishgeh – “The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon”; while Psalm 1:3 compares man to a tree “planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season”; In welcoming the Sabbath, we pray “Az yeranenu kol atse ha-ya’ar” – “Let all the trees of the forest exult before the Lord who cometh.”
According to Biblical law, there is a seven-year agricultural cycle concluding with the Sabbatical year, the Shmitta. The Hebrew Bible contains specific laws regarding the harvesting and consuming of the fruit of the trees according to this cycle. Leviticus 19: 23-4 contains a prohibition on eating the fruit of trees in the first three years after they are planted. This is known as ‘Orlah’, literally, ‘uncircumcised fruit’.1 In the fourth year, there is an obligation to bring the fourth-year crops to Jerusalem as a tithe, known as Neta Revi’i. Deuteronomy 14: 22-29, refers to a Ma’a s a r S h e n i , the Second Tithe that had to be eaten in Jerusalem. It is called the second tithe because it is in addition to the two percent tithe that has to be given to the priests (Kohanim) and to the ten percent tithe that is given to the Levites. In the third and sixth year of the cycle, instead of the owners eating the second tithe in Jerusalem, they were obligated to give it to the poor. This tithing is known as Ma’a s a r A n i (“the tithe for the poor”).2 In the Orthodox Jewish world, these practices are still observed. Fruit that ripens on a three year-old tree before Tu Bishvat is considered ‘Orlah’ and eating it is forbidden, while fruit that ripens on or after Tu Bishvat can be eaten. In the first, second, fourth and fifth year years of the Shmitta cycle, Ma’asar Sheniis observed today by a ceremony redeeming tithing obligations with a coin; in the third and sixth year, Ma’a s a r A n i is substituted, and no coin is required for redeeming it. It was these biblical injunctions that obliged the rabbis of the Mishnah to determine a date for the New Year of the Trees in order to calculate the age of fruit-bearing trees to determine the year to which the tithes belonged.
Tu Bishvat appears only once in the Mishnah, in Tractate Rosh Hashanah. It is one of a total of four new years that are marked in the Hebrew calendar. The dates of each of the new years were debated by the rabbis. The first date was that of the first of Nissan, and was considered to be the new year for calculating the reign of kings and of the festivals. The first of Nissan was also a contender for the beginning of the calendar year. However, Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon declared the first of Tishrei to be the new year for the calculation of the calendar, sabbatical years and jubilees. The first of Elul was declared the new year for animal tithes. The date of the new year for planting and sowing was also hotly debated. According to the school of Shammai, it was the first day of Shevat, while the school of Hillel declared it to be the fifteenth of Shevat (Rosh Hashanah: 2a). The rabbis of the Talmud ruled in favour of Hillel and thus the 15th of Shevat became the date for calculating the beginning of the agricultural cycle for the purpose of calculating biblical tithes. 3 This date was chosen because most of the annual rains in the Land of Israel fall before this date (RH 14a).4
There are many references to trees in the Bible. They demonstrate the love of our ancestors for trees and the appreciation they had of their value as a source of food and shelter. In Leviticus (19: 23), it is written that the planting of trees should be the first matter attended to when the Children of Israel entered the Land of Israel. The custom of planting trees on Tu Bishvat derives from this commandment. Because of their vital importance even in war time it was declared that fruit trees should not be destroyed, as it is written in the book of Deuteronomy (20: 19):
When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man’s life) to employ them in the siege.
The Tanach accentuates the trees that were used in matters of religious importance. For example, acacia wood (atsey shittim) is often mentioned in reference to objects used in the construction of the Tabernacle (Exodus 37: 25). From a practical point of view, acacia trees would have been the only type of trees available in the wilderness regions traveled by the Children of Israel. It has also been suggested that this was because acacia wood is most resistant to decay.5 When Solomon built the First Temple, he built the entire inner structure out of wood. He made the walls of cedar, the floor of fir or pine, and the doors of olive and of fir wood (I Kings 6: 1-38).
Mentioned many times in the Bible, the willow tree is possibly most famous for its appearance by the rivers of Babylon, as is described in Psalm (137: 1-2): “We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.”
The palm tree is best known for the part it plays in the creation of booths on the festival of Sukkoth, as it is written in Leviticus (23: 40): And ye shall take you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, the branches of palm trees.” Curiously the citron or etrog, one of the four species, is never specifically mentioned in the Bible. The rabbis ruled that the term pri ets hadar – ‘the fruit of goodly trees’ – referred to it.6
The Hebrew atse broshim can be translated either as a cypress or as a fir tree. Thus we read in II Samuel (6: 5):“And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of cypress/fir wood…”
Gopher wood appears only once in the Bible as the wood from which Noah was instructed to build the ark. (Genesis 6: 14). However, it is not a word that is known in Hebrew and there is no consensus as to its exact translation.7
The fig tree is primarily known for providing the leaves that Adam and Eve sewed together to make themselves aprons to hide their nakedness (Genesis 3: 7). The fruit of the olive tree is known for providing the “pure olive oil” to burn the eternal light in the Tabernacle (Exodus 27: 20-21). The dove and the olive branch after the Flood has become an international symbol of peace (Genesis 8: 8-12).
The carob tree (haruv) was made famous in post-Biblical times. When the great teacher, Simeon Bar Yochai continued to teach Torah to his pupils in defiance of the Romans, he was forced to hide in a cave in the mountains of Galilee. According to legend, a carob tree grew at the mouth of the cave and supplied him with food (Shabbat 33b).8
In ancient Israel, it was customary to plant a cedar tree when a boy was born and a cypress tree for a girl. When the children grew up and were married, branches from each of their trees were used for making the chupah. This was considered to bring them good luck, while all the while they cared for their own trees.9
Customs
For liturgical purposes, the New Year of the Trees is regarded as a minor holiday; no penitential prayers are said and no fasting is permitted. With no fixed liturgy, over the years many and varied customs for celebrating this festival sprang up all over the Jewish world.
In the Ashkenazi communities in Europe, it was customary to eat fifteen different types of fruit, with special emphasis on the fruits that were grown in the Land of Israel. The eating of fruits was accompanied by the reciting of Psalm 104 and the 15 ascending psalms 120-134. In some communities, children did not go to school on the festival. The Sephardic communities gave the festival even greater significance. Under the influence of the Kabbalists of Sefad, in the 16th Century the Sephardi liturgy and customs for the festival were expanded. From Safed the liturgy spread to the Jewish communities of Turkey, Italy, Greece, Asia and North Africa. Among Sephardic communities, it became known as the Feast of Fruits, and special poems – called ‘complas’ – were sung. A special order of service known as Hemdat ha-Yamim was compiled by Nathan of Gaza (c1644-1690). It was modeled on the Passover seder and included drinking four glasses of wine. This liturgy, expanded by additional poems (piyyutim) for the Amidah on the 15th of Shevat and readings from the Scriptures and Midrashic literature, was collected and published under the title, Pri Ets Hadar (1753).10
Some communities instituted a Ma’o t Perot fund to provide fruit for the poor. In Kurdistan, raisins and other sweet fruits was placed in a ring around the trees on Tu Bishvat, while the people prayed for an abundant fruit season and for the birth of many children.11
Since the establishment of the agricultural settlements in Palestine in the last decades of the 19th Century, the New Year of the Trees has acquired great significance symbolising the revival and redemption of the land. On Tu Bishvat in 1890 Rabbi Ze’ev Yavetz, one of the founders of the Mizrachi movement, took his students to plant trees in the agricultural colony of Zichron Yaakov. This custom was adopted in 1908 by the Jewish Teachers’ Union and later by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), established in 1901 to oversee land reclamation and afforestation in the Land of Israel. In the early 20th Century, the JNF devoted the day to planting eucalyptus trees to stop the plague of malaria in the Huleh valley. Today, the Fund organises major tree planting events in large forests every Tu Bishvat. In keeping with the idea of Tu Bishvat marking the revival of nature, many of Israel’s major institutions have chosen this day for their inauguration. The laying of the cornerstone of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem took place on Tu Bishvat 1918, the Technion in Haifa on Tu Bishvat 1925 and the Knesset on Tu Bishvat 1949.12
In modern Israel it is mainly a children’s festival. It is celebrated with children’s songs in honour of the New Year of the Trees and tree-planting ceremonies by kindergarten children are organised under the auspices of the Afforestation Department of the Jewish National fund.13 Children are taught how to plant and care for trees. It is the first sign of spring in Israel and the first tree to blossom is the almond tree.
In South Africa, Tu Bishvat is observed by contributing to the JNF and eating fruits from Israel.
Flowers and trees and all growing things mean a great deal to every human being. Our ancestors knew this. They realised that trees are among our best friends. Trees help feed and clothe us. They give us wood for our houses, paper for books, fruit to eat and shade from the hot sun. Trees keep the soil rich and fertile and they give beauty to the world. Tu Bishvat reminds us that the world is G-d’s creation.
Henia Bryer, a Polish Holocaust survivor, lived in Israel during the early years of the State before coming to South Africa in 1952. After training as a Hebrew teacher, she taught at the Talmud Torah in Bloemfontein for forty years. This article, transcribed and expanded upon by Veronica Belling, is based on a talk she gave in Bloemfontein during this time.
Tree planting in Israel, Tu Bíshvat, 1954
NOTES
1 Orlah, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlah
2 Tu B’Shvat: What and How, http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/468738/jewish/Tu-BShevat-What-and-How.htm
3 Wikipedia, Tu BiShvat, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_BiShvat; Why is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, in September? http://metro.co.uk/2017/09/20/why-is-rosh-hashanah-the-jewish-new-year-in-september-6942057/
4 Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 15, Keter, Jerusalem, 1972.
5 What is the significance of acacia wood in the Bible?https://www.gotquestions.org/acacia-wood.html
6 http://jbqnew.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/432/jbq_432_moskovitzetrog.pdf
7 Wikipedia, Gopher-wood, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher_wood
8 https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/36120/how-could-rabbi-shimon-bar-yochai-eat-from-the-carob-tree
9 Tree-planting ritual, https://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/tree-planting-ritual.
10 Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. 15, Keter, Jerusalem, 1972, pp1419-1420.
11 Henye Bryer.
12 Wikipedia, Tu BiShvat, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_BiShvat
13 Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol 15, Keter, Jerusalem, 1972, pp1419-1420.
