View source for Tu BiShvat seder

{{Short description|Jewish holiday celebration}}
[[File:PikiWiki_Israel_5195_Seder_Tu_BShvat_2007.JPG|250px|upright|thumb|Tu BiShvat seder table]]
A '''Tu BiShvat seder''' is a festive ceremony, often accompanied by a meal featuring fruits in honor of the [[Jewish holidays|Jewish holiday]] of [[Tu BiShvat]].
During the Middle Ages or possibly a little before that, this day started to be celebrated with a minor ceremony of eating fruits, since the Mishnah called it "Rosh Hashanah" ("New Year"), and that was later understood as being a time appropriate for celebration.
==History==
In the 16th century in the [[Land of Israel]], Rabbi [[Isaac Luria|Yitzchak Luria]] of [[Safed]] and his disciples created a ''Tu BiShvat seder'', somewhat like the [[Passover seder]], that celebrated the [[Tree of Life]] (the Kabbalistic map of the [[Sephirot]]).<ref>[http://www.kkl.org.il/eng/people-and-environment/israeli-and-jewish-festivals/tu-bishvat/tu-bishvat-seder/ How to run a Tu Bishvat Seder]</ref> The earliest published version of this seder is called the [[P'ri Eitz Hadar]], which means "The Fruit of the Beautiful Tree". The seder evokes [[Kabbalah|Kabbalistic]] themes of restoring cosmic blessing by strengthening and repairing the Tree of Life, generally using the framework of the [[Four Worlds]] of emanation that can be roughly mapped onto the physical metaphor of a tree, that is, roots, trunk, branches and leaves.
In conjunction with this practice, some [[Chassidic]] Jews eat [[etrog]] on this day.
The traditional Tu BiShvat seder ended with a prayer which states in part, "May all the sparks scattered by our hands, or by the hands of our ancestors, or by the sin of the first human against the fruit of the tree, be returned and included in the majestic might of the Tree of Life."
Historically, during the Tu BiShvat seder, [[Sephardic Jews]] in the [[Land of Israel]] consumed fruits, a sweet wheat pudding called ''[[ashure]]'', and drank both red and white wines to symbolize the transition from winter to spring.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |title=The Old Sephardi Yishuv in Eretz Israel |publisher=Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East; Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem |year=2023 |editor-last=Ben-Naeh |editor-first=Yaron |series=Jewish Communities in the East in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries |pages=372–373 |language=he |trans-title=היישוב היהודי הספרדי הישן בארץ ישראל |issn=1565-0774 |editor-last2=Held Delaroza |editor-first2=Michal}}</ref>
==Customary fruits==
[[File:Raisins.jpg|thumb|right|Raisins]]
[[File:Carobs.JPG|thumb|200px|Dried [[carob]] is often eaten on Tu BiShvat, although it is not one of the [[Seven Species]] of the [[Land of Israel]].]]
While some version of the Kabbalistic order is often followed in eating fruits and nuts on Tu BiShvat, it is generally customary to eat dried fruits and nuts even among those who are not following the Kabbalistic rite. Figs, dates, raisins, carob, and almonds are especially popular. Many people also incorporate into their seders the [[Seven Species]] associated with the [[Land of Israel]] in the [[Torah]], which according to [[Deuteronomy]] 8:8 are [[wheat]], [[barley]], [[grape]]s, [[ficus|figs]], [[pomegranate]]s, [[olive]]s and [[Date Palm#Fruit|dates]].
In Kabbalistic terms, the fruits that one eats, dried or fresh, can be divided up from lower or more manifest to higher or more spiritual, as follows:
*Fruits and [[Nut (fruit)|nuts]] with hard, inedible exteriors and soft edible insides, such as [[orange (fruit)|oranges]], [[banana]]s, [[walnut]]s, and [[pistachio]]s. Note that some count oranges and other citrus as wholly edible, in keeping with the interpretation of the etrog as being on the highest level.
*Fruits and nuts with soft exteriors, but with a hard pit inside, such as [[Date Palm#Fruit|date]]s, [[apricot]]s, [[olive]]s and [[persimmon]]s
*Fruit that is eaten whole, such as figs and [[berry|berries]].
Kabbalistic tradition teaches that eating fruits in this order creates a connection with the [[Tree of Life (Judeo-Christian)|Tree of Life]] that [[God in Judaism|God]] placed in the [[Garden of Eden]], as mentioned in the [[Book of Genesis]], where [[Adam and Eve]] had been placed after their [[Creation according to Genesis|creation]], which is also represented by the [[Sephirot]]. In effect one is traveling from the most external or manifest dimension of reality, symbolized by fruits with a shell, to the most inner dimension, symbolized not even by the completely edible fruits but rather by a fourth level that may be likened to smell. At the same time, one drinks various proportions of red and white grape juice or wine, from white to red with just a drop of white in it, also corresponding to these stages.
==Ecological interpretation==
{{Main|Judaism and environmentalism}}
While the Tu BiShvat seder started as a kabbalistic way to celebrate the holiday, some ecologically-minded Jews have decided to resurrect the custom of having a Tu BiShvat seder to reflect issues and themes related to [[Religion and ecology#Judaism and ecology|ecological]] or Zionist interpretations of the day. In the style of a Passover seder, some friends might be invited to the house, where various symbolic fruits and other foods are eaten, along with wine or grape juice. Many seders follow the Kabbalistic framework of the [[Four Worlds]] as well, often giving them a contemporary spin in terms of (physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual) meaning, or reinterpreting them culturally (social, cosmic, national, ecological). Seders might also concentrate on one aspect of one theme.
The ecological interpretation of Tu BiShvat seder can be dated to the 1970s, emerging to some degree out of the awareness that was engendered by a Jewish campaign of protest against U.S. use of Agent Orange called "Trees for Vietnam". One of the earlier ecologically-themed Tu BiShvat seders, created by [[Jonathan Wolf]], incorporated information from groups like Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel ([[SPNI]]) and the [[JNF]] directly into the Kabbalistic framework. More recent ecological interpretations of the seder include the idea that the Four Worlds and the types of fruit eaten represent levels of symbiosis between people and trees, or that the Tree of Life in Kabbalah can be mapped onto the evolutionary Tree of Life.<ref>See [http://neohasid.org/resources/tu_bishvat/ neohasid.org's Tu BiShvat resources]</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://customandcraft.org/service/tu-bshevat-seder Simple Tu Bisvhat Seder template] on CustomandCraft.org
*[http://neohasid.org/resources/tu_bishvat Tu Bishvat seder resources] and Torah , including [http://neohasid.org/torah/blessing_for_tubi/ the original seder blessing] published in the 17th century, on Neohasid.org
*[https://torah.org/holidays/tu-beshvat/ Materials from Torah.org]
*[https://www.aish.com/h/15sh/ Materials from Aish haTorah]
*[https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3264/jewish/15-Shevat.htm Fruit For Thought for Tu B'Shevat, the New Year for Trees] chabad.org
*[https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/260798/jewish/Tu-BiShvat-Customs.htm Customs and B'rachas for Tu B'Shevat]
*[https://rchaimqoton.blogspot.com/2007/01/holiday-of-trees.html Reb Chaim Haqoton's Holiday of Trees]
*[https://www.jewfaq.org/holiday8.htm Judaism 101 Description of Tu B'Shevat]
*[https://theshalomcenter.org/treasury/118 Shalom Center's Tu BiShvat resources]
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[[Category:Jewish festive meals]]
[[Category:Judaism and environmentalism]]
[[Category:Shevat observances]]