This is an archive of special readings for, or relevant to, the Jewish New Year’s Day for Trees, Rosh haShanah la-Ilanot, popularly referred to by the day it falls on the Jewish religious calendar, ט״וּ בִּשְׁבָט (Tu biShvat), the 15th day of the month of Shəvat. The day is perhaps best known as a demarcation for the tithe of budding first fruits during the Second Temple period, an event that reflects the seasonal agricultural significance of the approach of the Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the warming of the soil, and the fertility of fruit-bearing trees. The significance of the date was also crucial to the determination of ancient calendars based on astronomical observations. From the display, “Shabaṭu XV / Ṭu Bishvaṭ: Is Venus Visible?” exhibited at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem:
In the evening of the fifteenth day of the month of Shabatu, the priests went up to the roof of the temple to observe the planet Venus in the western evening sky. They set out their offerings of animal sacrifices and meal cakes on a table, intoned prayers and observed the movements of the heavenly bodies. The Sumerians personified the planet Venus as Ninsianna, the daughter of the moon god. The name means “red lady of heaven,” perhaps referring to the hue of the evening sky over the western horizon. As she appeared in the sky, her worshippers imagined her looking down on mankind and judging the just and unjust; at the new moon, she was believed to hold a divine court to hear mortals’ petitions. In the lunar calendar, the fifteenth day of the month was the day of the full moon — the turning point of the month and an important astronomical date. The fifteenth of Shabatu was the date of decision concerning the addition of an extra Adar — a thirteenth month — to the normal year of twelve months. If Venus was visible this evening, the priests knew that the lunar calendar was synchronized with the progression of the heavenly bodies; if Venus was not visible, the extra month had to be added! in order to realign the lunar year with the solar year. Since the barley harvest was two months away in Nisan, the decision was of crucial importance to the agricultural cycle. We are thus able to explain why all observations of Venus begin on the fifteenth of Shabatu.
A note on the romanization of the Hebrew for ט״וּ בִּשְׁבָט. In Hebrew grammar, a word cannot start with two shəvas in a row. When the prefix בְּ- is added to a word that already starts with a shəva (as with the month of Shəvat), the shəva in the בּ- prefix becomes a ḥiriq. So it’s always בִּשְׁבָט (Bishvat), and never בְּשְׁבָט (B’Shvat or B’Shevat). (This, derived from a concise explanation offered by Ben Dreyfus.) Click here to contribute a prayer you have written, or a transcription and/or translation of a historic Tu biShvat prayer or song in any language. Filter resources by Collaborator Name Filter resources by Tag Filter resources by Category Filter resources by Language Filter resources by Date Range
Ḳerovot for Tu biShvat, a celebration of Divine verdancy, which namedrops a stunning array of flora from throughout the land of Israel. . . .
Tags: 11th century C.E., 49th century A.M., acrostic, Alphabetic Acrostic, עמידה amidah, Cairo Geniza, ethnobotany, קרובות ḳerovot, Nusaḥ Erets Yisrael, פיוטים piyyuṭim, Public Amidah
We call to sukkat shalom, the shelter of peace, all of our various selves To rest from the contortion of social life and the demands of others. We liberate ourselves and each other from roles and titles labels and closets positions and pretendings internalized oppressions and oppressive projections hierarchies and competition. . . .
God of all spirit, all directions, all winds You have placed in our hands power unlike any since the world began to overturn the orders of creation. . . .
This prayer for Tu biShvat, derived from the prayer included with the seder for Tu biShvat, the Pri Ets Hadar, are based on the Ḳabbalah of the four worlds and the ancient idea that everything physical is an image of the spiritual. . . .
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. . . .
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. . . .
Tu Bishvat is sometimes referred to as the day in which the sap begins to rise in the trees. From where does this teaching arise? “A Tree Comes of Age” by Rabbi Dr. Sperber was originally given as a lecture on Parashat Yitro 5769/ February 14, 2009 and published on Bar-Ilan University’s Parashat Hashavua Study Center’s website, here. We have formatted the essay adding a number of the sourcetexts referred to in the lecture and all referenced citations. . . .
A Tu biShvat prayer for the trees of the land of Israel and the world over, that they not be victims of deforestation. . . .
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