Tu beShevat is not "Jewish Arbor Day"

Monday is Tu beShevat, the 15th of Shevat, the "new year for trees." Since trees suggest ecology to many people, and since ecology prompts many people to go off the politically correct deep end, this is one of those holidays that is not well understood in many quarters. The following, from Torah.org, is a good explanation:

The Torah doesn't mention the date, but it is a subject in Tractate Rosh HaShana. In fact, the tractate opens up with the following words:

"There are four new years. On the first of Nisan is the new year for kings and for festivals. On the first of Elul is the new year for the tithe of animals. R Eliazar and R Shimon say on the 1st of Tishrei. On the 1st of Tishrei is the New year for the years, for the shmitta (Sabbatical) and Yovel (Jubilee) years, for the sapling and for the vegetables. On the 1st of Shevat is the New Year for the tree according to Beis Shammai, Beis Hillel say on the 15th."

O.K. So it's a new year for trees. What does that tell us?

Well, tithing is a pretty important concept regarding produce in Israel. Without getting into all the complications of it, suffice it to say that tithing is on a seven-year cycle (the seventh year is the "shmitta" year, where we are not allowed to grow anything in the land of Israel . . .) and different years require different tithes, and you are not allowed to pay the tithe of one year with produce from a different year.

Later in the Talmud (RH 14b), we read the following rule: "If one picked fruit from an esrog tree on the eve of the 15th of Shevat before the sun went down, and he then picked more of its fruit after the sun went down, we may not separate the tithes from one batch for the other... either from the new crop for the old or from the old crop for the new one..."

So, the 15th of Shevat marks the end and the beginning of the "fiscal year" for trees.

For some authentic holdiday customs, see this.

Tags: Tu beShevat, Judaism, holidays