Tu Bishvat

The Jewish New Year of the Trees ( ראש השנה לאילנות ) in February is a small Jewish holiday.

Tu biSchevat ( ט"ו בשבט ) literally means " the 15th Schevat ". In modern times trees are planted on this day. It is customary on this day to eat a fruit, which one has not yet eaten this year. The festival dates back to the Mishnah. There it is, the House of Hillel certain the 15th of the month Schevat New Year of the Trees ( MRH 1.1 ).

This date marks the end of rainy season and thus the beginning of the ideal planting season in Israel. The date is important for the rules for the Orla, ie determine the age of the trees. The festival is based on the prohibition of fruit trees have been planted under three years to enjoy to present them for the fourth year in the temple and eat only in the fifth year. Tu biSchevat indicates the end of winter and symbolizes the blossoming of Israel, its colonization, the beauty of nature and the good fruits that produces its earth.

It is a day to be eaten on the fruit / fruit salad. In the course of time, a tradition that was reflected in the book Chemdat ha - Jamin, later in the book Pri Etz Hadar, which was the Aggadah of the 15th Schevat developed. In the Diaspora, it is customary fifteen fruits as possible to put together reminiscent of the Land of Israel and to consume.

There are Jews who eat that day up to fifty different kinds of fruit. Today you covers on 15 Shevat the table by applying the finest fruits of the land of Israel, but especially the "seven species " which was blessed the land. These attempt to find fresh fruits that you have not eaten yet this year, so that one of them the blessing " Shehecheyanu " ( שהחינו Who has kept us alive ) can say. At Tu biSchevat it is also forbidden to fast, and it is also called no sorrow speech. Provided that it is not a fallow year in which each field is prohibited, you drive into the countryside, and often planted new trees you.