Tu B’Shevat

Tu B’Shevat, the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar -is the day that marks the beginning of a “New Year for Trees.” This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.

We mark the day of Tu B’Shevat by eating fruit, particularly from those singled out by the Torah in its praise of the bounty of eretz Yisrael : grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. On this day we remember that “Man is a tree of the field” (Deuteronomy 20:19)