What is Tu Bishvat? How did this festival, which is not mentioned in the Bible, originate and what is its purpose? Was there always a festival of tree planting as we know it today?

Tu Bishvat is mentioned in the Mishna, but not as a festival day. Tractate Rosh Hashana begins thus:
“There are four New Years. On the first of Nisan is the New Year for Kings and for Festivals; on the first of Elul is the New Year for the tithe of animals; on the first of Tishri is the New Year for the years, for Sabbatical Years, for Jubilee Years, for planting and for vegetables; and on the first of Shevat is the New Year for Trees, according to the view of the School of Shammai but the School of Hillel say, On the fifteenth thereof.”

Apparently, the date was primarily a means of fixing the tithing and orlah (the fruit of trees in the first 3 years of planting) laws and was not really a festival. Rashi explains the meaning of the date according to the lifecycle of trees: “a time when most of the rains have passed , which is the time of fruition, and the sap has risen in the trees and the fruits ripen from then on.” In the dispute between the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel, as to whether the date fell on the first or fifteenth of Shevat, one sees that the choice of the fifteenth carries greater celebratory weight, for the date is more suited to Jewish festivals that mark the seasons (see Babylonian Talmud Baba Metzia 106B): the festival of Spring (15th of Nisan), the harvest festival (which was brought forward to the 6th of Sivan to harmonize with Shevuot, the festival of the giving of the Torah), the festival of trees (15th of Av) and the festival of Succot (15th of Tishri).

The beginning of the year for man and for kings falls on the first of a month; the moon is hidden and darkness is at its height. The choice of this date was probably made in order to enable the counting of a full year. In contrast, the festivals of nature fall in the middle of a month, when the moon is full and the atmosphere is joyous. The date chosen by the School of Hillel thus places Tu Bishvat in the cycle of the festivals of the seasons.

On this date, the mystics of Tzfat had the custom of holding a Tu Bishvat seder, which consisted in drinking white wine and eating fruits of Eretz Yisrael. A description of the seder can be found in the book “Hemdat Yamim” which was published in 1763. The custom of eating fruits, in memory of the fruits of Eretz Yisrael and the connection of Jews with it, spread through all the communities of the Diaspora as a way of maintaining their tie with the land of Israel, where festivals connected with trees were fixed according to its seasons.

With the re-settlement of the land of Israel, this festival came into its own and became a festival of tree planting. On Tu Bishvat 1890, teacher and historian Zeev Yavetz led a group of students from the Zichron Yaakov school to a ceremony of tree planting and, in so doing, he gave Tu Bishvat a new character – as the festival of tree planting, and not just as the new year of the trees. In 1908, the union of teachers and kindergarten teachers officially declared Tu Bishvat as the festival of tree-planting. Subsequently, Keren Kayement LeYisrael adopted this date and since then it is known as the festival of tree-planting.

What is the importance of tree planting in Jewish texts?
The Babylonian Talmud (Taanit 23A) recounts that as Honi Hamaagal was walking he saw a man planting a carob tree and asked him: “how many years will it take before this tree yields fruit? The man answered: seventy years. Honi Hamaagal responded: and are you sure that you will be alive in another seventy years? The man answered: when I came into the world I found carob trees; as my forefathers planted for me, I will plant for my children.”

Tree-planting has value in itself. The Sages recount that at the moment when God created man, he showed him all the trees in the Garden of Eden, and said to him (Kohelet Rabbah 9): see how beautiful and good are my creations! Everything that I have created – I created for you. Take care not to spoil or expand my world, for if you spoil it there is no one who will amend it after you.”

The Torah commands us to safeguard nature: “take care not to spoil..” This obligation is even in force during times of war, as is written in Deuteronomy XX, 19: “When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an ax against them: for thou mayest eat of them and thou shalt not cut them down, for the tree of the field is man’s life, to employ them in the siege.”

The prohibition against the destruction of trees or fruits stems from this injunction. As Rabbi Aharon Halevi of Barcelona wrote in his Book of Education (Mitzva 529): “This is the way of the pious and men of great deeds, that they would love peace…and would not even harm a mustard seed in their entire life, and they would suffer personal pain at any loss and destruction they would witness.” The concept that became even more rooted in Jewish tradition is that of the tree of the field as man’s life, a concept where trees stand for man and the injunction not to destroy them is given great moral weight, in that harm to man is viewed as a grave sin, and this sense of guilt should also accompany harm to the ‘tree of the field’.

It is indeed from this religious perspective and from the belief that the world was made in the image of God that we derive our great veneration for nature and the obligation to safeguard and maintain it. The holy texts are replete with images of nature and respect for nature. The laws of the Torah and the Talmud provide comprehensive statutes governing the preservation of the environment, preventing suffering to animals, safeguarding extinct species, ensuring sanitation and preventing pollution (Mishna, Tractate Baba Batra, Chapter 2).

The Torah commands us to plant green areas around our cities (Numbers XXXV 3-4):
“And the cities shall they have to dwell in; and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle and for their goods and for all their beasts. And the suburbs of the cities, which ye shall give unto the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city and outward, a thousand cubits round about.”

The prohibition against cross-breeding and the grafting of species both in plants and animals, can be interpreted in a modern context as an obligation to ensure the preservation of a variety of life-forms (Leviticus X1X, 19): “Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let they cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with a mingled seed..” As Rabbi Abraham Eben Ezra wrote: “Ye keep my statutes – preserve every species.” This means that human beings are commanded to keep the laws of nature which were fixed by God, and should not interfere with any species or make them extinct.

The Sabbath laws too, which command us to cease work every seventh day, as well as the shmita (Sabbatical) laws which command us to let the land lie fallow and cease from cultivating it every seventh year, were not given just to ensure rest for man – they have great ecological significance in aiming to safeguard nature and animal life:
“And six years thou shalt sow thy land and shalt gather in the fruits thereof. But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of they people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with they vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. Six days thou shalt not work and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed” (Exodus XXIII, 10-12).

The Sabbatical year removes from man ownership over the land for one year. The fruits of the trees during this year are accessible to the needy, and private ownership over the fruits of the land is annulled. Everything that grows during this year does not grow for a particular person or another. Everyone can come, including former owners, and benefit from the free property:
“ A positive commandment to refrain from using everything that the earth brings forth in the seventh year, as it is said; during the seventh year you must leave it alone and withdraw, and anyone who locks his vineyard or fences his field during the seventh year annuls the positive commandment. And similarly if he gathers all his fruits into his house. Rather he should make everything ownerless, and everyone should have equal access… as it is said ‘and the poor of your people shall eat’” (Rambam, Sabbatical and Jubilee Laws, Chapter 4, Halakha 24).

This mitzvah is intended to oppose private ownership, which is not seen as having value in itself and certainly does not stand for something holy, for if it did it would not be annulled, not even for a year.

Recognizing the wonderful gifts of nature given to man by God, the Sages created blessings for all the wonders of nature – for rain, lightning, falling stars, first blossoming of trees: “Blessed are we that the Lord omitted nothing from his world and created good creations and trees to be enjoyed by man.”

The Rambam wrote that close observation of nature leads man to love the Creator (Mishne Torah, Yesode HaTorah 2, 2):
“And what is the way that will lead to the love of Him and the fear of Him? When a person contemplates His great and wondrous works and creatures and from them obtains a glimpse of His wisdom which is incomparable and infinite, he will straightaway love Him, praise Him, glorify Him and long with an exceeding longing to know His great Name.”

In this perspective, Tu Bishvat marks the completion of the yearly lifecycle of trees, which is part of the wonderful ecological cycle. 

Hannah Kehat is the founder of Koleh (Your Voice) – an organization of women committed to Jewish religious law, Jewish tradition and equality of the sexes. Kehat lectures and does research on Jewish and educational studies and was awarded the 2004 President’s Prize for Volunteers for her work as chairwoman of Koleh.