Tu b'Shevat, the “Jewish New Year for Trees,” begins this year on the evening of Friday, February 10. To celebrate, it is traditional to prepare festive meals with olives, dates, grapes, figs, and pomegranates (all fruits that grow well in the Jewish Holy Land), and to spend time gardening or planting a tree. The holiday’s origins were practical in nature; people wanted a set time for crop harvests to roll over for taxing/tithing reasons. But today, the holiday persists as a welcome way to celebrate good food and the natural world. The biblical book of Deuteronomy also compares humans to “trees of the field,” with their good deeds blossoming like fruit.
This year, Tu b'Shevat arrives not long after the Lunar New Year, which many of our Cooperation Circle members celebrate, especially in Asian countries. Witnessing and celebrating multiple new year celebrations is one of the many benefits of being connected to a worldwide community of people who follow different traditions, and it gives URI members recurring chances to re-center on our goals and best intentions year-round.
Explore our Cooperation Circles, many of whom are celebrating Tu b'Shevat with their Jewish friends.
