Today, the 15th of the hebrew month Shvat, is one of four new year's days celebrated within the Jewish calendar (1 Tishre being Rosh Hashannah for the world, 15 Nissan being Passover the birthday of the Jewish People, and 1 Elul being a new year for financial matters (our own April 15th of sorts)). Today is the new year for trees, as the rebirth of spring is palpable in the land of Israel.
Tu B'shvat has become an occasion for highlighting many different themes: nature, produce from Israel, ecology, mystical links to Israeli produce, etc.
I would encourage you to consult many strong websites (myjewishlearning.com, aish.com, etc) for ways to imagine a rich Tu B'shvat celebration for you and your family. For us, today, I would ask that we consider focusing on our attachment to the land of Israel as it is originally conceived in the Torah (Deut. 8:8-10).
We appraise what we eat it many ways - caloric value, taste, and of course by the bible's prefered diet of kashrut. But we don't often think of food in zionistic terms. Tu B'shvat (along with the traditional blessing included below) invites such a possibility.
This summer, when we read from Deuteronomy chapter 8 (Parshat Ekev), it occured to me for the first time that verse 10, which is the biblical basis for 'Grace after Meals', might have been originally intended to relate primarily to the seven species of the land of Israel (wheat and barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olive trees and honey) as opposed to the consumption of bread (which is the norm today in Jewish law). This thought occured to me because verse 10 says: "When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the Lord your God for the GOOD LAND (emphasis added) which He has given you." Why bless God for the land? It is food, specifically bread, that customarily requires us to bless (say Grace after meals). Why doesn't the verse say: "...for the good food..." instead?
Perhaps the passage reads as it does to highlight a strong connection between the 'good land', that is the land of Israel, and saying blessings of appreciation for food.
It does, however, appear that the seven species (verse 8) which are indiginous to Israel get marginalized a bit - as bread becomes the only food that requires the blessing called for in verse 10.
Not to worry, the seven species do get their very own blessing (Grace after Meals) found in translation below (following a brief thought from Heschel).
May you be warmed by the tastes of the fruits of the land of Israel this Tu B'shvat.
Rabbi William Hamilton
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