It’s true, a few days before the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shvat occurs, the almond trees in Israel begin to shake blossoms out along their branches. Travelers along the Tel-Aviv-Jerusalem highway can spot the occasional cloud of pink or white flowers among the olive groves and green fields along the way. Enjoy the beauty of mid-winter in Israel, because soon enough summer’s hot winds will change the landscape to something much drier and sere.

Strolling on ground covered with almond blossom is a lovely thing to do, and the milky new almonds, sco0ped out of their fuzzy green shells, are delicious eating. In a few weeks, you’ll be able to buy sacks of them in the open-air markets. Another way to celebrate the gracious almond tree is by picking up the best and freshest of those fallen blossoms and making almond blossom liqueur.

The Jewish new year of the trees determines which agricultural year their fruit belongs to, as explained in this post. The day is also called a new year because, as for humans, Heaven determines each tree’s fate that day. How much water will it receive? (Some of that has to do with not wasting water ourselves.) Will it survive to fruition one more year, or not?

A song Israeli kindergartners sing on Tu B’Shvat:

The almond tree is blooming
The golden sun is shining,
Whistling birds atop each roof
Bless the day’s oncoming.

We eco-conscious treehuggers can also ask ourselves how active our commitment to  stewardship has been this past year – what we’re doing to prevent a scenario as depicted by this artist, in a world with no trees.

Tu B’Shvat gained special mystical importance in Safed’s 16th century kabbalistic traditions. The great Rabbi Isaac Luria instituted a Seder for the holiday in which participants eat thirty kinds of fruits and drink four colors of wine, stopping to meditate on the symbolism of each variety. It’s also great fun; remember, you’re expected to drink four cups of wine!

Read our post on the Tu B’Shvat seder, which includes a link to downloading instructions on how to conduct one. For some recipe ideas, follow the links below. And remember safety for your little ones under age five: cut hard fruit like apples into small pieces; likewise cut grapes in half; and either don’t allow them nuts, or break nuts up into small, un-chokable pieces ahead of time.

Some recipes that celebrate the native fruits of Israel:

• Almond Torte with Pomegranate Molasses
• Carob Nut Balls
• Cool and Hot Arabic Almond Milk
• Warm Freekah, Feta, and Fig Salad

Images of almond blossom and green almonds via Shutterstock.

The post Tu B’Shvat is Jewish New Year For The Trees appeared first on Green Prophet.

Tu B’Shvat is the Jewish holiday marking the beginning of a new year for trees, and is usually celebrated by planting trees and exchanging gifts of dried fruit with loved ones.  While these traditional activities are great and we support going out to plant trees (thus increasing the amount of carbon-eating leaves out there), these activities sound a little stale.

Tu B’Shvat Party at City Tree, Tel Aviv: Get down with fellow green folks in Tel Aviv’s ecological apartment – City Tree.  Enjoy dates, carobs, dried fruit cookies, organic wine, and other surprises.  Saturday February 7th, 23 Bialik Street, Tel Aviv, 8pm-11pm

The Giving Tree, Jerusalem: The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel is hosting an evening to discuss the topic of The Giving Tree: How to Protect Adult Trees in the City.  The evening will include lectures, film, a discussion of the Jerusalem municipality’s policy on urban trees, and a presentation of a map of the Jerusalem trees being discussed.  For details and reservations contact the Center for Green Culture, 02-6252357.

From Garbage Hill to Green Park:  Join the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel for a tour of Hiria, a former garbage-dump-turned-national-park, to learn about recycling.  A highlight of the tour includes a hike to the top of Hiria to see an impressive view of the Gush Dan region.  February 5th.  Reservations required, 057-200-30-30.

Tu B’Shvat Street Party, Tel Aviv: Alma, the Home for Hebrew Culture, is hosting a cultural Tu B’Shvat street party which will include artistic installations, a theatrical performance, live jazz music, and activities for kids.

The main event will be a performance by Marap (which includes musician Kobi Oz, the lead singer of popular Israeli band Tipex). Friday February 13, 12:00-4:00pm, reservations required.

Read more about green Jewish holidays:
A Happy, Sustainable Passover to All
Start the Year Right with a Sustainable Rosh Hashanah
Green Holiday Celebrations Continue with a Green Sukkah

The post What To Do on Tu B’Shvat in Israel appeared first on Green Prophet.

Although Israel has grown into a modern post-industrial economy, the country still has strong agrarian roots, most famously, the agricultural socialist community of the kibbutz. But earlier than that, the Bible proscribes things to do to mark the passing seasons. There are rights and rituals for nature in Judaism and it all started thousands of years ago.

So it’s no surprise that the relatively minor Jewish festival of Tu B’shvat, which starts tonight, has been growing in importance. In recent years Tu B’shvat, the New Year of the Trees, has taken on a more ecological significance and represents an opportunity to reflect on one of today’s key environmental questions – the impact of what we eat on our environment. (Read 5 reasons to be grateful for the trees).

Israeli arbor day

For religious Jews the New Year of the Trees is the time when you start counting the age of a tree. All trees share the same birthday. This is important to know when it is acceptable to eat the fruit of a fruit tree, as a Biblical command does not let you eat fruit from a tree grown in the land of Israel that is less than 3 years old. At the age of four year, fruit from four year fruit trees were tithed at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Some it went to poor people who didn’t have food.

In the 16th century, the kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Safed and his disciples instituted a Tu BiShvat seder in which the fruits and trees of the Land of Israel were given symbolic meaning. The main idea was that eating ten specific fruits and drinking four cups of wine in a specific order while reciting the appropriate blessings would bring human beings, and the world, closer to spiritual perfection.

In a special essay, Professor Richard Schwartz, author of Judaism and Vegetarianism, reflects on how this festival encourages a more sustainable outlook to our food:

“While other Jewish holidays honor or commemorate events and people, Tu B’Shvat honors trees, fruits, and other aspects of nature,” he explains. “While people generally take the environment for granted, on Tu B’Shvat there is an emphasis on the proper stewardship of the environment.”

One of the special things about the fruit and vegetables in Israel is that they are almost entirely locally-grown. In such a tiny country, it’s rare for anything to travel more than 100 miles from farm to fork (apart from a few foreign commodities like coffee). That’s fantastic compared to my native UK where most food is imported and the proportion of home-grown food is falling each year.

While Israel’s self-sufficiency is an example to other countries – slashing pollution from transport and food storage – ‘food miles’ are not the end of the story. What about how the food is grown and the effects of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, or the health and welfare of farm animals and workers?

“While there has been increasing interest in Tu B’Shvat recently, this holiday that is so rich in symbolism and important messages for today is still not considered to any great extent by most Jews,” says Schwartz.

“Let us hope that this will soon change and that an increased emphasis on Tu B’Shvat and its important lessons will help revitalize Judaism and help shift our precious, but imperilled, planet to a sustainable path.”

Some activities around this time can be planting trees, fruit trees especially.

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