Tu BiShvat

Summary. Tu BiShvat ("the 15th of Shevat") is named for its date — the Hebrew letters tet and vav have the numerical value of 15. The Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 1:1) lists it as one of the four New Years — specifically the New Year of the Trees, the date from which the age of trees is counted for tithing purposes (relevant only to fruit-bearing trees in the Land of Israel). In modern times, particularly with the rise of Zionism and ecological consciousness, Tu BiShvat has been recovered as a substantial celebration: planting trees in Israel, eating the seven species, and (under Kabbalistic influence) a Tu BiShvat seder.

The Mishnaic Origin

The Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 1:1) records the dispute between Hillel and Shammai about the New Year of the Trees: Shammai held it was the 1st of Shevat; Hillel held the 15th. Halacha follows Hillel. The date marks when the previous year's rainfall has substantially soaked the soil, and the trees enter their new fiscal year for halachic purposes (orlah — the prohibition on the fruit of a tree's first three years; ma'aser — tithing of the fourth year onward). The date is fixed and unrelated to any historical event.

The Kabbalistic Recovery

The Safed mystics of the 16th century, particularly the Arizal's circle, developed the Tu BiShvat seder — a structured ritual meal in which four cups of wine (progressing from white to red, representing the seasonal turn from winter to summer) and the eating of the seven species (wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranate, olive, date — Devarim 8:8) are framed with Kabbalistic intentions about the spiritual elevation of the four worlds and the gathering of the sparks. The text Pri Etz Hadar ("Fruit of the Beautiful Tree," 1753) is the standard liturgy. Many contemporary communities hold a Tu BiShvat seder.

Modern Israel

The Zionist movement embraced Tu BiShvat as a tree-planting holiday; the Jewish National Fund (JNF / Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael) has organized mass tree-plantings on Tu BiShvat since the early 20th century, planting hundreds of millions of trees and substantially reforesting parts of Israel. Most Israeli schoolchildren plant a tree on Tu BiShvat; many Israeli families do as well.

Eco-Judaism

In the late 20th century, particularly in the Renewal and Reform movements, Tu BiShvat became a focal day for Jewish environmental consciousness. Contemporary eco-Jewish seders (Hazon, the Heschel Center, Adamah) integrate the Kabbalistic structure with explicit teaching about sustainability, climate change, and Jewish environmental ethics.

Where Denominations Diverge

Originally a Mishnaic minor day. The Kabbalistic seder is widespread in Hasidic, Sephardic, Modern Orthodox, and (in recent decades) Conservative and Reform settings. The tree-planting tradition is universal in Israel; in the diaspora it is more developed in Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist settings.

Sources

Mishnah, Rosh Hashanah 1:1.

Talmud Bavli, Rosh Hashanah 2a, 14a.

Pri Etz Hadar (1753) — the Kabbalistic Tu BiShvat seder.

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 131:6 — no Tachanun.

Tu BiShvat Q & A — Chabad.org.

Tu B'Shevat: New Year for the Trees — OU.

Tu BiShvat - New Year for Trees — Hebcal.

Further Reading

Ari Elon, Naomi Mara Hyman, Arthur Waskow (eds.), Trees, Earth, and Torah: A Tu B'Shvat Anthology.

Eilon Schwartz, Bal Tashchit: A Jewish Environmental Precept.