“Tu biShvat” holiday in Israel
Posted by Shira Cohen-Regev on February 9, 2009 under Jewish Holidays | 
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On February 9th we celebrate the New Year of the Trees, called by the date it falls on the Jewish Calendar: Tu biShvat (ט”ו בִּשְׁבָט) – the fifteenth day of the month of Shvat. Around this time of the year, we see the bloom of the late winter or early spring flowers, with the queen of all blooms – the Almond tree (שְׁקֵדִיָּה) which paints nature with wonderful pink colors.
One of the modern customs of this day is planting trees. This year, however, we have been experiencing an especially dry winter with very little accumulation, very dry land, and an urgent need to save water. Due to the drought (בַּצֹּרֶת) the planting goes into less water-consuming trees with much more attention to ecology.
In my children’s elementary school, there was a decision to direct the energy of this day to the school. Rather than going to plant trees in forests or other areas, the day was devoted to planting trees within the school, improving the school environment with paying much attention to ecological needs.
The parents came to the school with gardening tools and much motivation and energy. The children, parents, and staff planted trees, trimmed bushes, raked the ground, and prepared environmental sculptures from recycled planters (עֲצִיצִים מְמֻחְזָרִים). The fest ended (as usual) with a feast of dried fruits. The school turned into a much nicer area and the children will surely help the trees grow, and keep the school grounds in much better shape now.
I find this Tu biShvat celebration special and appropriate. The children’s 
ability to continually care about “their” trees, watch them grow, and celebrate their “birthday” every year in Tu biShvat, make them better citizens, who care about their environment and take an active role in protecting it.
I wish we have more rain in the years to come so we can grow more trees everywhere and make our beautiful country even more blooming and fertile.
