Tu BiShvatט״וּ בִּשְׁבָט

The Mishnah lists four “new years”; 1 Shevat is the new year of trees according to the School of Shammai, 15 Shevat according to the School of Hillel, whose view is followed. Its significance was originally legal: it determined to which year fruit was counted for tithes and for the rules on young trees (orlah).^1,2

In the 16th–17th centuries the Tu BiShvat Seder arose in kabbalistic circles, recorded in the work Pri Etz Hadar: eating fruit in stages by category, and four cups of wine ranging from white to red.³

The festival recalls the bond with the land and refers to Deuteronomy 20:19 (“is the tree of the field a man?”), often cited in environmental ethics. The kabbalists understood eating fruit as a repair (tikkun) of the spiritual worlds.⁴

Fruit is eaten, and especially the seven species of the Land of Israel: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.⁵

Tu BiShvat has no rest from work and no special prayer; according to the Shulchan Arukh, however, the penitential prayer Tachanun is not said and one does not fast.⁶

On tasting a fruit not yet eaten that year, Shehecheyanu is said, preceded by the blessing over fruit, borei pri ha-etz.⁷

Besides the blessing over fruit and Shehecheyanu, there are psalms and texts from the kabbalistic tradition for the seder; in some communities Psalms 104 and 148 are recited.⁸

Children can plant a seed or a sapling, taste the seven species and draw a tree of the year.