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TU BI'SHEVAT -- THEN AND NOW

Several mitzvot (commandments in the Torah, the Written Law) were specific to the land of Israel. For example, "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap all the way to the edges of your field, nor gather the gleaning of your harvest.... You shall not pick your vineyard  bare, nor gather the fallen fruit. You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger." [1]. Similar mitzvot were related to annual tithing and donations of the fruit of the land, including a ban on eating the fruits of a tree during its first three years. The date of Tu Bishevat, the new year of the trees, was central to such events, as mentioned in our "Seder" for this holiday.
 
In reality, over the ages, Tu BiShevat has outgrown this exclusive legal framework, limited to the land, and became the holiday of Israel, as being one with nature. Just as the 9th of Av became, in our Jewish tradition, the day of mourning for the destruction of ancient Israel (both Temples destroyed, the land ravaged, the exiles), so has Tu Bishevat come to symbolize the exact opposite: the revival of the land, its rebuilding and its settling, the beauty of its nature, and the quality of its agricultural products.
 
Even in the diaspora, Jews have made the effort to eat and to say the blessing over fruits from the land of Israel, as a symbol of self-identification. The "Seder" of Tu Bishevat, as a "day of eating fruits of Israel", originated with the Kabbalists in the land of Israel (13th-16th centuries). We recite the "She-hecheyanu" while eating a new fruit (new for the year starting on Tu Bishevat).
 
Planting new trees is a common custom for schoolchildren in Israel. After all, "All the trees were created to please people." [2].
 
References:
 
[1]. Torah, Book of Leviticus, 19:9-10.
[2]. Talmud, tractate Ta'anit, p. 23.

-- Shlomo Karni

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