The Shulchan Aruch (131:6) rules
that the penitential prayers typically said during the week should not be said
on Tu b’Shevat (the fifteenth day of the Jewish month of Shevat). Concerning
this the Mishna Berura (paragraph 31) mentions that it is also the custom of
Ashkenazim to eat many fruits on this day.
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz explains
that after the Jews went into exile Tu b’Shevat became a day for remembering
the land of Israel and the way it was remembered was by eating fruits
associated with the land of Israel particularly carobs and oranges. Rabbi
Yitzchak Luria in the sixteenth century created a seder for Tu b’Shevat on
which all types of fruits are eaten and four cups of wine are drank. It is also
popular to eat candied esrog and doven for a nice esrog for Succos. Many people
will alternate the eating of the fruits with saying the short Psalms going from
120 to 134, otherwise known as the Shir HaMa’alos. It is especially meritorious
to eat the seven fruits by which the Torah praises the land of Israel as it
says, “It is a land of wheat, barley, grape vines, figs, pomegranates, [date]
honey, and olive oil”, (Deuteronomy 8:8).
In 1890 the religious
nationalist Rabbi Ze'ev Yavetz had his students plant trees in the Zionist
agricultural settlement of Zichron Yaakov on Tu b’Shevat. The idea caught on
and many Jews would buy a tree to be planted in Israel for which they would
receive a nice certificate from the Jewish National Fund.
It is often asked why carobs
are popular on Tu b’Shevat. At times the story is given of how Rabbi Shimon bar
Yochai lived on carobs, when he hid in a cave from the Romans. There is also a
story in the Talmud (Ta’anis 23a) about the tsadik Honi HaMa’agel.
Honi HaMa’agel pondered the
verse, “When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, it was like we were
in a dream”, (Psalm 136:1). Who can keep dreaming for seventy years, he
wondered. It was just after the destruction of the First Temple that Honi was
traveling to Jerusalem, he chanced upon a man planting a carob tree. He asked
the man how long before the tree will bear fruit and was told seventy years. He
asked further do you think you will live another seventy years and was told, “I
found a world with carob trees because my fathers planted them therefore I
plant them for my sons”. Honi then sat down, ate something, and fell asleep for
seventy years. When he awoke he saw a man gathering fruit from this tree. He
asked him man if he was the one who planted this tree and was told that he was the
grandson of the planter.
One of the main ideas of Tu
b’Shevat is love of the land of Israel. It is similar to Succos in that we wave
a beautiful esrog, and branches from a tasty date palm, fragrant myrtle, and
water rich willow. People will search hard and pay a lot of money for a
beautiful esrog and buy a lulav that strictly conforms to the halacha. In Tu
b’Shevat these lessons have been taken to heart therefore we eat fruits of the
land of Israel particularly ones that are very sweet. There is a difference
though. With Succos if it’s possible to say HaKadosh Baruch Hu is saying look
at this great land particularly its wonderful produce. With Tu b’Shevat we are
tasting the sweetness of the produce of the land of Israel and giving thanks to
G-d for both of them. So to speak on Succos G-d is reaching down to the Jewish
people and on Tu b’Shevat the Jewish people are reaching up to G-d.
In Judaism there is the idea
of past, present, and future. The Torah represents the past because it tells
the stories of the ancients. If someone loves the present, they will tend to
love the Jewish people, because they are living with them now. If one looks to
the future, he will love the land of Israel because this represents the destiny
of the Jewish people. It is only in our own land that we can obtain our
national hopes and dreams. These dreams may be very distant, but because the
land lasts forever one can still cling to the expectation that they someday
they will be fulfilled.
לע"נ, הסבא ,אהרן בן יוסף ז"ל
נלב"ע כז טבת תשכ"ו
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