Tu b'Shevat - Tasty Fruits

בס"ד

This Wednesday evening and Thursday are the beginning of the eleventh month of the Jewish calendar, Shvat. It is described in the Sefer Yetzira (Book of Creation - ספר יצירה) saying, "He crowned the letter tsade (צ) with taste . . . and formed Aquarius in the world, Shevat in the year, and esophagus in the soul", (chapter 5 paragraph 10). Its constellation, Aquarius, is the water drawer, and Shevat is the month with the most rain. The fifteenth of it on average falls precisely in the middle of winter which is the coldest day of the year. The Hebrew letter צ) צָדִי) is associated with the word צָדִיק (tsadik) meaning saint. These ideas come together with the minor Jewish festival, named after the date, of tu b"Shevat (ט"ו בשבט).

The fifteenth of Shevat is the new year of trees. It's importance lies in the agricultural laws pertaining to the land of Israel as delineated in the Chumash. The ancient world was much different from that of today. Most of the population supported themselves by private agriculture. The main national institution was the temple. The educators were the hereditary priests and their vehicle was the pilgrim festivals. As it was primarily a barter economy, they were supported by dedication of a portion of the crops, commonly called tithes. Because it was an annual contribution, a cutoff date was required. The middle of winter, tu b'Shevat, was the natural time. Therefore fruits which blossomed before the 15th of Shevat belonged to the previous year. Another reason was the prohibition against eating fruits from trees that were less than three years old. A tree planted on or before tu b'Shevat was assumed to have taken root on the first of Tishre (Rosh Hashanah) which is the start of Autumn. Therefore it was reckoned to be one year old.

Tu b'Shevat was considered a happy day therefore the penitential prayers (Tachanun) in the daily liturgy were omitted. Later on it became a tradition to eat fruits associated with the land of Israel. In the 16th century Rabbi Yitzchak Luria and the mystics of Safed created a Tu BiShvat seder, somewhat like the Passover seder. The earliest published version of this seder is called the P'ri Eitz Hadar (Fruit of the Beautiful Tree - פּרִי עֵץ הָדָר). It draws on the idea of the tree of life in the garden of Eden and the verse, "for a man is a tree of the field", (Deuteronomy 20:19), and their homilies about righteousness. 

My edition brings selections from the Ben Eesh Chai (בן איש חי) including a citation from the Jerusalem Talmud, "Rabbi Eebon said in the future a man will make an accounting concerning that he saw a delicacy and did not eat it. Rabbi Elazar would economize so he could eat something new", (Kiddushin 48b). The rationale is that failure to make the appropriate blessing weakens the angel that created the fruit. Another way to look at it is that God prepared a nice meal for his son and he didn't eat it. Also by eating and enjoying good fruits man atones for the sin of Adam who neglected it to eat from the tree of life.

On Tu BiShvat 1890, Rabbi Ze'ev Yavetz took his students in the land of Israel to plant trees in the Zionist agricultural colony of Zichron Yaakov. After that the planting of trees in Israel on tu b'Shvat became a popular custom. The lessons of the holiday today are love of the land of Israel as expressed through appreciation of its produce and to live in harmony with nature.

לע"נ  האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח

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