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LETTER FROM LILLY
Dear BJE Kids,
I am so excited! Tomorrow is my favourite day of the whole year. Tomorrow is Tu Bishvat – the Jewish Birthday for the Trees!
I love Tu Bishvat because it’s always at the end of winter in Israel and I can feel spring in the air. The almond trees are blooming and every day there are new flowers springing up.
Because tomorrow is Tu Bishvat we won’t be in the classroom.
Instead of being in the classroom, we’ll go for a walk in the hills and plant baby trees in the earth. I hope the weather will be nice, but we’re very happy that it’s been raining lately, because Israel doesn’t get much rain. I hear that in Australia you also don’t get much rain either. That must be hard in such a big country.
After everyone finishes planting their tree, we’re going on a long hike in the countryside near Tzfat, a very important city in the north of Israel. It is a very beautiful area. Then, we’re going to have a picnic and eat lots of different fruits, like figs, grapes and dates. Those are fruits which have been growing in Israel for thousands of years. But we also grow mangoes, oranges, pineapples, kiwis and bananas. Israelis love fruit! How are you going to celebrate Tu Bishvat? Are you going to eat lots of fruit and go for a long walk in the countryside too? Can’t wait to hear what you get up to.
Love, Lilly
TU BISHVAT
What is Tu Bishvat and when do we celebrate it?
The name ‘Tu Bishvat’ means ‘the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shvat’. Tu Bishvat is the Jewish New Year of the trees, and we celebrate it at the time that most trees in Israel begin to bud. This is the time of year when the winter has just ended and spring is coming.
Tu Bishvat is the birthday of the trees and it reminds Jewish people of our close ties to the Holy Land of Israel.
How do we celebrate Tu Bishvat?
Today we celebrate Tu Bishvat by eating fruit and planting trees.
Eating fruit
On Tu Bishvat we celebrate by eating fruit, especially fruits grown in Israel. We try to eat the first of each fruit from the seven species (listed above) because these were the ones brought to the Temple in ancient times. We also eat other fruits that are associated with Israel, such as almonds, citrus fruits, and apples. Many Jews believe that eating fruit spiritually improves a person.
Planting trees
Tu Bishvat is the Jewish birthday of the trees, so it is also a day when we plant trees. In Israel at this time the sun shines and the sky is clear blue. Israeli children take shovels and hoes, and go singing happily to plant trees. They have parties when they have finished, where they sing more songs, eat fruit and dance around the trees.
In the Diaspora (countries outside of Israel) Jewish people plant seeds or trees where we live, or send money to Israel for people there to plant trees for us.
The Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is a huge Zionist organization that started in 1901 buying land in Israel and planting trees on it for the Jewish people. The Knesset (Israeli parliament) celebrates its own birthday on Tu Bishvat, which was the day of its first session, in 1949.
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