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 | 5 Actions You Can Take in 15 Minutes to Protect Forests |
| Tu b'Shevat Fruit and Nut Cups |
From www.urj.org
Tu b'Shevat is the New Year of the Trees. Its name is derived from its date on the Hebrew calendar. In the Hebrew aleph-bet each letter has a numerical value. This system is called "gematria." The Hebrew "Tu" is made up of a tet, which has the value of nine, and a vov, which has the value of six. Together the two letters equal 15. Tu b'Shevat occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month Sh’vat.
Tu b'Shevat marked the time, determined by the sages, when the trees were nourished by the rains of the new year, as opposed to the rain of the previous year. Another name for Tu b'Shevat is Rosh HaShanah L’Ilanot–the New Year of the Trees. Tradition teaches that on Tu b'Shevat , a heavenly court judges the trees and pronounces their fate–which trees will thrive and which will wither. In the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, taxes were collected on fruit trees. The age of the tree determined this tax, also called a tithe.Tu b'Shevat was considered the birthday of the trees, and the age of the tree was reckoned from this date.When the Temple was destroyed, Tu b'Shevat lost its purpose, since the laws of tithing and planting did not apply outside the land of Israel.
It was the kabbalists, the Jewish mystics of Safed, who created a new observance for Tu b'Shevat some 400 years ago. Isaac Luria, a rabbi at that time, established the 15th of Shevat as a day for eating fruits. His intent was to connect humankind to nature. The kabbalists saw Tu b'Shevat as a holiday that celebrated two ideas: the revival of nature after the long winter and the revival of the Jewish nation. They created a Tu b'Shevat seder, similar in structure to the Passover seder.
The seder is a festive observance. Some common basic components of the seder include:
| Drinking four cups of wine or juice, which represent the seasons: white for the bleak time of winter, white with a bit of red to represent the earth’s awakening in early spring, red with a bit of white representing the blossoming of late spring and dark red to represent the fullness of all the growing plants and vegetation along with the heat of summer, |
| Eating from three categories of fruit: fruits with a pit, fruits with a shell or peel, and fruits that are entirely edible, and |
| Reading about nature, the earth, trees, the ingathering of the Jewish exiles, and the covenant of the people of Israel with God. |
The Jewish Parent Page is a publication of the Union for Reform Judaism and is written by Barbara Binder Kadden, R.J.E.
| Send a virtual postcard to the U.S. Forest Service at http://www.ourforests.org to support an effective policy to protect our national forests. |
| Reduce junk mail by sending a letter to the Direct Marketing Association, or Mail Preference Service, POB 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008 asking to remove your name from mailing lists. |
| Buy one forest-friendly alternative to an everyday product: e.g. avoid paper cups by investing in a reusable travel mug; buy stationary from tree-free paper or recycled paper with at least 50% post-consumer waste; share a newspaper or magazine subscription with a friend. |
| Make a commitment to purchase only wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council; ask for them at your neighborhood hardware store. |
| Pick two actions from the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" list and commit to doing them this year. Next year, pick two more! |
For more ideas about celebrating Tu b'Shvat, go to www.coejl.org/tubshvat/index.php. This has been brought to you by the Michigan Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (MI-COEJL). For more information, contact MI-COEJL at 248-642-5393 ext. 7, or mi-coejl@jfmd.org.
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Baking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
| 1/3 cup walnuts, 1/3 cup almonds and |
| 1/3 cup pecans |
| 1 cup dates |
| 1 cup apricots (or your choice of dried fruit, |
| such as apples, cranberries, etc.) |
| 1 cup raisins |
| 1/3 cup sugar |
| 2 extra large eggs |
In a food processor, chop the nuts, dates and apricots with quick on/off pulses until the fruits and nuts are coarsely chopped. Place the chopped fruit and nuts in a bowl and blend in the sugar and raisins. Beat the eggs and add to the fruits and nuts. Mix well. Thoroughly grease a mini-cupcake tin. These tins usually have 12 spaces; this recipe will fill two tins. Fill the muffin tins level with the pan.Do not overfill or the fruit may burn. Bake in a 350°F oven for approximately 20 minutes. Let cool and carefully remove the fruit and nut cups. You will need to loosen them by running a small sharp knife around the edges.
Copyright © 2005 Congregation Shir Tikvah
Last modified: January 09, 2007
Celebrate
Tu b'Shevat on February 3, 2007!