What is Tu B'Shvat?

It's always funny to celebrate the holiday Tu B'Shvat (15th day of the Hebrew month Shvat) in Michigan. After all, it's below 0 here! How can we be talking about the birthday of the trees?

The Mishnah, the Jewish law book written by rabbis between the 2nd c. BCE and the 2nd c. CE, declares, "There are four 'New Year' days: on the 1st of Nisan is the New Year for kings and feasts; on the 1st of Elul is the New Year for the Tithe of Cattle; on the 1st of Tishrei is the New Year for [the reckoning of] years, o fhte Years of Release and Jubilee years, for the planting [of trees] and for vegetables; and the 1st of Shevat is the New Year for [fruit-]trees (so the School of Shammai taught; and the School of Hillel says: On the 15th thereof)" (Mishnah Rosh HaShanah 1:1).

Thus we see the source explanation for Rosh HaShanah--the 1st of Tishrei--being the New Year for years (i.e., the birthday of the world) and the 15th of Shvat--Tu B'Shvat--the birthday of trees. Just as in our own day and age we have multiple New Years (Rosh Hashanah, start of school, January 1, for example) so too do we have multiple times in our Jewish Year that we take stock of our lives. Are we caring for the earth in the way we must? Are we avoiding wastefulness (Jewish value called bal tashchit) and being responsible for our actions?

I read once that we do not inherit the earth from our parents; we borrow it from our children. As we come to celebrate Tu B'Shvat this coming Shabbat, let us remember to do our part to be a steward of the earth. Consider planting a tree in Israel to celebrate Tu B'Shvat, as well as to honor your child's Jewish learning or to remember the legacy of a loved one: www.jnf.org.