Shared by Lieba B. Ruth on י״ג באדר ה׳תשע״ג (February 23, 2013) 
Because we cannot live on two planes, we are granted the opportunity to disguise our external features. We develop the capacity to know each others hearts and find even greater satisfaction in the exchange. Yet, too often, we act as if someone else — who looks remarkably like oneself — is going to provide the support for nonprofit organizations we deem are necessary for a decent life. We assume / hope / pray that someone “else” is doing our part. It’s their turn to make a critical contribution, even a small one, that gives relief, replaces a worn-out part, opens the door wide enough to make a difference. . . . → Read More: Knowing But Not Revealing: A Purim Tax Deduction Loophole
Shared by Trisha Arlin on ט׳ בשבט ה׳תשע״ג (January 20, 2013) 
This is the month when we tell the story Of the escape from the narrow place. This is the month of Shabbat Shirah, When we sing the song of liberation. We give thanks for freedom. This is the month when we talk of wine and nuts and fruit, The New Year of the Trees. This is the month of Tu Bishvat When we eat the gifts of our planet. We give thanks to the earth. . . . → Read More: Rosh Ḥodesh Shevat
Shared by Rabbi R. Karpov, Ph.D. on ג׳ בשבט ה׳תשע״ג (January 14, 2013) 
Ḥaza”l suggest that at this season in particular, we honor the spirits of our friends and teachers, the trees. On Rosh HaShanah La’Ilan, the New Year of The Tree, we connect with the spirits of those trees. According to Rabbi Tzvi Elimelekh of Dinov (B’nei Yissakhar):
On this day the saraf, the sap containing the Holy Sparks in those trees, begins its upward flow. That saraf contains a spiritual dimension, a ‘fire’ or ‘burning energy’, the sacred sparks that the fruits of the Holy Land contain in abundance. On this day, HaShem our Creator begins to place the first sacred sparks into the tree, from where the fruits of the coming year will emerge. Those sparks can ignite the reponsive soul with a burning desire to rise even higher and closer to HaShem.
. . . → Read More: Seder Rosh Hashanah La’Ilan: A four worlds seder for Tu Bishvat
Shared by Arthur Waskow on ג׳ בשבט ה׳תשע״ג (January 14, 2013) 
The four teachings above are connected with the Four Worlds that the kabbalists saw as the architecture of the universe. When the Kabbalistic community of Tz’fat created the Seder for Tu BiShvat/ Yah BiShvat, they unfolded these Four Worlds in four cups of wine and four sorts of fruit and nuts (one sort so ethereal it was invisible and untouchable). This year, the full moon of Shvat will fall on Shabbat Shira itself, January 24-25. . . . → Read More: Rebirthing the Tree(s) of Life: Four Teachings for the Four Worlds of Tu BiShvat/Yah BiShvat
Shared by Hillel Ḥayyim Yisraeli-Lavery on כ״ז בשבט ה׳תשע״ב (February 20, 2012) 
The following seven lessons by Rabbi Hillel Ḥayim Yisraeli-Lavery to help the student prepare for their reading of Megillat Esther. The nusaḥ taught is Israeli style Ashkenaz-Lithuanian.
The complete reading of Megillat Esther Related liturgy and liturgy-related work:Ta’amei Hamiqra (cantillation) for Megillat EstherThe Ritual of the Seder and the Agada of the English Jews Before . . . → Read More: Learn the Kriyat Megillat Esther
Shared by kungfujew18 on י״ד בשבט ה׳תשע״ב (February 7, 2012) 
The Tu Bishvat seder is a metaphor. But usually we use metaphor in our daily lives to accomplish, persuade, inspire or explain. There is something we’re bending metaphor to accomplish. This meditation is an exercise in free-thinking. Here, just play with metaphor for the sake of expressing and exploring your emotional state, history, anticipations and apprehensions. Each of the quotations from the Torah or rabbinical writings below represents an emotion. After we say the blessing over the olives, read the quotations, pick one (or more) that resonate, and play with the metaphor to reach a deeper understanding of yourself and others. . . . → Read More: A Tu Bishvat Seder Meditation on the World of Yetzira by Ben Murane
Shared by David Seidenberg on י״ד בשבט ה׳תשע״ב (February 7, 2012) 
From [the Holy One’s] form/to’ar the constellations are shimmering, and God’s form projects the exalted ones. And Her crown blazes [with] the mighty, and His garment flows with the precious. And all the trees will rejoice in the word, and the plants will exult in His rejoicing, and His words shall drop as perfumes, flowing forth flames of fire, giving joy to those who search them, and quiet to those who fulfill them. . . . → Read More: On Sweet Fruit and Deep Mysteries: Kabbalistic and Midrashic Texts to Sweeten your Tu Bishvat Seder
Shared by Pesach Dahvid Stadlin on כ״ד באלול ה׳תשע״א (September 23, 2011) 
السلام عليكم اننى يهودي أعيش في أسرائيل هذه الاغنية أهديها لجيراني العرب انها أغنية حب لكل جيراني العرب الذين يحبون الحياة و التعايش معا في سلم و سلام , و الاوقات السعيدة , و الاكل الطعم , و الصداقات الجميلة , و العلاقات الجيدة , و الأمن و الأمان نتعلم في التوراة أن اللهّ \ الخالق خلق الناس أجمعين و هذا يتضمننا كلنا هذه أغنية حب لكم…
. . . → Read More: A Love Song to Arabs from a Jew
Shared by Jill Hammer on י״ג באב ה׳תשע״א (August 13, 2011) 
Tu B’Av, the fifteenth of the month of Av, comes in July or August, at a time when the air is sweltering, the sun is ever-present, and the green plant life is wilting. In Israel, Av is a month of extreme heat when nothing grows. It comes just six days after the 9th of Av, Tisha B’Av, the holiday of mourning, when the Temple is destroyed, when the Shekhinah grieves like a widow who has lost her mate. The first of Tammuz, when we recognize our exile and mortality, lingers in the heat of the air. Yet Tu B’Av is a holiday of dancing and choosing lovers, a holiday of life. It is a turning around of time. It is the moment when the fallen fruit breaks open to reveal the new seed. . . . → Read More: The Fruit of Tu B’Av: explanation and ritual for the 15th of Av by R’ Jill Hammer
Shared by Aharon Varady on י״ג באב ה׳תשע״א (August 13, 2011) 
Since the Jewish calendar is not affixed to the sun, but corrected by a leap year to its seasons, Tu B’Av does not normally fall on the summer solstice. And yet, the relationship between Tu B’Av and the zenith of the summer is alluded to in Rav Menashya’s statement regarding Tu B’Av, “From this day onwards, he who increases [his knowledge through study as the nights grow longer] will have his life prolonged.” . . . → Read More: Tu B’Av: sources for study and celebration on the 15th of Av
Shared by Aharon Varady on ד׳ באדר ב׳ ה׳תשע״א (March 10, 2011) 
The Open Siddur Project is pleased to offer the world the first freely licensed Seder Megillat Esther. We would like to thank our contributors: the Jewish Publication Society for sharing an authoritative digital edition of their 1917 English Translation of the TaNaKh (The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text), Christopher Kimball and the Westminster Leningrad Codex digitzation project for an authoritative digital text of the TaNaKh. We would also like to thank Rabbi Rallis Wiesenthal for his contribution of the Siddur Bnei Ashkenaz, Shmueli Gonzales for his transcriptions of siddurim witnessing the Nusach Ha-Ari, and Aharon Varady, the editor of opensiddur.org and founder of the Open Siddur Project. If you have any free licensed resources representing other nuschaot and minhagim, please share them. . . . → Read More: Seder Megillat Esther for Purim
Shared by Gabriel Seed on כ״ז באדר א׳ ה׳תשע״א (March 3, 2011) For aspiring ba’al koreh (readers) of Megillat Esther studying its various styles of cantillation (Hebrew, ta’amei hamiqra or in Yiddish, trope), a fair number of recordings are popping up online, but only one so far is being shared with a free/libre, copyleft license thanks to Gabriel Seed, lead developer of zemirotdatabase.org. The audio file is . . . → Read More: Ta’amei Hamiqra (cantillation) for Megillat Esther
Shared by Shmueli on י״ז בשבט ה׳תשע״א (January 22, 2011) 
Tired of people who can’t tell their kiddish (blessings for the Sabbath) from their kaddish (prayer for the dead)? Well, it sets Samuel L. Jackson off too! But he found a way of making a bracha (blessing) and mourning the dead at the same time. Now I can’t vouch for the origins of his nusaḥ (custom) but it sounds very effective! Most people haven’t noticed, the only real part from the Bible is that last section, the first part is actually his own spiel: . . . → Read More: PULP Kaddish
Shared by T'ruah : The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights on ט״ו בשבט ה׳תשע״א (January 20, 2011) 
In the wake of the continued uprooting of fruit trees and human settlements in the Land of Israel, Rabbis for Human Rights-North America shared the following petitionary prayer. . . . → Read More: A Tu Bishvat Prayer for Trees
Shared by Barak Gale on י״ד בשבט ה׳תשע״א (January 19, 2011) 
We are grateful to Dr. Barak Gale[1] and Dr. Ami Goodman, for sharing their Tu Bishvat Haggadah, The Trees Are Davvening, with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA) license. We’ll be developing their full unabridged version (currently online via the Coalition on the Environment & Jewish Life (COEJL) just as soon as . . . → Read More: The Trees are Davvening (abridged), a Tu Bishvat Haggadah by Dr. Barak Gale and Dr. Ami Goodman
Shared by David Seidenberg on א׳ בשבט ה׳תשע״א (January 6, 2011) This prayer, and the seder, are based on the Kabbalah of the four worlds and the ancient idea that everything physical is an image of the spiritual. Traditionally this prayer was recited at the beginning of the seder, but it can also be recited at the end. Bracketed words are added; words in parentheses are . . . → Read More: A Prayer for the Tu Bishvat Seder
Shared by Dalia Marx on כ״ח בטבת ה׳תשע״א (January 4, 2011) Through eating those fruits that our sages of blessed memory identified as the fruit of the tree of knowledge, we recall the best of creation, in its beauty and completeness. We remember that every human being, by virtue of being a human being, is the pinnacle of creation. Our task as caretakers is to preserve the world, to work it, and to repair it. Our task is to make the State of Israel more just, so that she will be a blessing to all of her inhabitants and those who love her. . . . → Read More: The Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge by Rabbi Dalia Marx
Shared by Mark X. Jacobs on ג׳ בטבת ה׳תשע״א (December 10, 2010) In 1993, the Rosh Hashana for Trees, the 15th of the month of Sh’vat (Tu Bishvat) coincided with Shabbat.
יוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי׃ וַיְכֻלּוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וְהָאָרֶץ וְכָל צְבָאָם: וַיְכַל אֱלֹהִים בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה: וַיִּשְׁבֹּת בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מִכָּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה: וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ, כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא . . . → Read More: Kiddush of Liberation for Shabbat Tu Bishvat
Shared by Miles Krassen on כ״ב בכסלו ה׳תשע״א (November 29, 2010) From the Pri Etz Hadar, the first ever published seder for Tu Bishvat, circa 17th century: “speech has the power to arouse the sefirot and to cause them to shine more wondrously with a very great light that sheds abundance, favor, blessing, and benefit throughout all the worlds. Consequently, before eating each fruit, it is proper to meditate on the mystery of its divine root, as found in the Zohar and, in some cases, in the tikkunim, in order to arouse their roots above.” . . . → Read More: Pri Etz Hadar, the first ever Tu BiShvat Seder (circa 17th Century)
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