Tu B’shevat reminder and ideas

Fruit Platter

Fruit Platter (Photo credit: Kenski1970)

Tu B’shevat is coming! Tu B’shvat is the new year for the trees, and it’s Tuesday night and Wednesday (2012). It’s not a holiday that has prescribed observances, although eating fruit and making the “‘ha’aitz” bracha are common, and some people do “shehechianu” on a new fruit. It basically celebrates the awakening of the earliest flowering trees from their winter sleep. Some people do a seder of 15 fruits. Many people eat fruit on Tu B’shevat, especially the five kinds of fruit from Israel: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates. There are also Kabalistic and other mystical traditions, including eating carob.

We are generally pretty low key on Tu B’shevat. We eat extra fruit, including mango and plums (kids’ choices at the store this year), and since we have some aging oranges that aren’t so sweet this year, we’re thinking about doing something with dried orange slices. Maybe making a dried orange garland, since sewing and stringing are favorite activities around here. I’ve heard about some other people planting trees, visiting the local arboretum, taking nature walks, and doing leaf identification exercises, too.

Are you doing anything for Tu B’shevat?

 

Permanent link to this article: https://organizedjewishhome.com/2012/02/06/tu-bshevat-reminder-and-ideas/

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