JEWISH NEW YEAR FOR TREES

Sunday, January 29
1:30 to 3 p.m.
in the visitor and education center

Garden admission and activities are FREE during the event, generously underwritten by a donor. Activities and crafts are underwritten by Beth El Synagogue.

Observed on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Shevat, Tu B'Shevat is a holiday also known as the New Year for Trees. "Tu" is the number 15 in Hebrew, as if you were to call the Fourth of July "IV July" (IV being 4 in Roman numerals). This year, Tu B'Shevat begins the evening of Tuesday, February 7 and ends the evening of Wednesday, February 8.

Although Tu B'Shevat is called a holiday, it has no religious significance but rather, marks the end of the rainy season and the start of the new growing season in Israel. Its origins are from the days when Jews were an agricultural nation with biblical requirements for tithing the produce of trees. Judaism has several different "new years." Tu B'Shevat was established as the beginning of the fiscal year for produce of trees to allow the farmers to determine in which year the produce grew.

In recent years, Tu B'Shevat has taken on new meaning as a time to remember the importance of the preservation of nature, discuss questions of ecology, and the spirit of  living in cooperation with the world. One custom is to eat a new fruit from Israel on this day. Some people plant trees on this day. A lot of Jewish children go around collecting money for trees for Israel at this time of the year.