Tu B’Shvat
Tu B’Shvat is an ancient celebration of the new year for trees, that has changed and evolved over 20 centuries, and has never been more vital or significant than it is today.
The resources below, including the Hazon Tu B’Shvat Haggadah, offer thoughts and ideas for you to celebrate Tu B’Shvat in your home or community. The texts, questions, activities, and suggestions were chosen to help you look at Tu B’Shvat through fresh eyes, and to enable you to hear the tradition speaking to you.
Hazon Tu B’Shvat Resources
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Tu B’Shvat Haggadah: Hazon Seder and Sourcebook
The Hazon Tu B’Shvat Haggadah is designed to help you think about your responsibility towards the natural world in relation to four different levels: physical place, community, world, and spirituality. Each section of the haggadah will relate to one of these four levels of responsibility, and offers texts, questions, and activities to spark conversation around your seder table. Our haggadah is available in PDF format so you may print as few or as many copies as you need. Download our comprehensive, pluralistic haggadah.
You may also download our Haggadah in booklet form. Be sure to print with your settings set for landscape and double-sided on the short side. This will result in 10 pages which you can fold and staple in the middle. Or you can purchase pre-printed copies of the Haggadah in packs of five.
Leader’s Guide
Download Hazon’s Tu B’Shvat Seder Leader’s Guide. It’s everything you ever wanted to know about hosting a Tu B’Shvat Seder but were afraid to ask! Our guide contains tips for preparation, leading an engaging seder and making it your own.
Family Seder
Download Hazon’s Tu B’Shvat Family Seder for families with school age kids. Complete with games and family friendly language, our abbreviated family seder is perfect for the all ages table.
Music and Songs
We’ve compiled a great selection of music for you to make your seder a more multi-faceted experience. Our Haggadah and Leader’s Guide have suggestions of when to use these songs and we invite you to integrate any or all of these songs in to your seder.
Beyond the Four Worlds
Read Nigel Savage’s piece, “Beyond ‘The Four Worlds’: Creating Meaning in Your Tu B’Shvat Seder”
More Background and Activities
Tu B’Shvat (Hebrew: ט״ו בשבט) is a minor Jewish holiday in the Hebrew month of Shvat, usually sometime in late January or early February, that marks the “New Year of the Trees” (Hebrew:ראש השנה לאילנות, Rosh HaShanah La’Ilanot). Tu B’Shvat is one of four “New Years” mentioned in the Mishnah. Customs include planting trees and eating dried fruits and nuts, especially figs, dates, raisins, carob, and almonds. In Israel, the flowering of the almond tree, which grows wild around the country, coincides with Tu B’shvat.
In the Middle Ages, Tu B’Shvat was celebrated with a feast of fruits in keeping with the Mishnaic description of the holiday as a “New Year.” In the 1600s, the kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Safed and his disciples instituted a Tu B’Shvat seder in which the fruits and trees of the Land of Israel were given symbolic meaning. The main idea was that eating ten specific fruits and drinking four cups of wine in a specific order while reciting the appropriate blessings would bring human beings, and the world, closer to spiritual perfection.
In Israel, the kabbalistic Tu B’Shvat seder has been revived, and is now celebrated by many Jews, religious and secular. Special haggadot have been written for this purpose.
In modern times, many Jewish organizations, including Hazon, have connected Tu B’Shvat to the issues on sustainability and environmental awareness. This year, we would like to have Tu B’Shvat Shabbat tables across America discussing sustainability and environmental issues. Hazon can help you plan a menu and prepare text for discussion.
G-dcast’s Tu B’Shvat Episode
G-dcast is an educational media company that makes accessible and entertaining media, including animated shorts, feature-length films and games, that introduce viewers to core Jewish texts. They’ve created a Tu B’Shvat cartoon and free curricula to accompany the video. Visit G-dcast’s home.
Fair Trade Tu B’Shvat Seder
Download our Long Island CSA Fair Trade Tu bshvat Seder, compiled by the Hazon Long Island CSA. This “How-to” guide gives great suggestions on ways to have a Tu B’Shvat Seder which incorporates important topics like food justice. This gives you the tools that you need to host a Tu B’Shvat Seder with a focus on the environmental benefits of fair trade!
Suggestions from Fair Trade Judaica:
- Host a Tu B’Shvat seder focusing on the environmental benefits of fair trade (Download the Long Island Hazon CSA “How-to” guide for a Fair Trade seder)
- Use fair trade certified dried dates, almonds, and walnuts at your Tu B’shvat seder
Check out more Tu B’Shvat resources from our friends at COEJL – The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
My Jewish Learning – Tu B’Shvat 101
More Jew & the Carrot articles concerning Tu B’Shvat:
From Sod to Seed, and Back Again
Balancing Food Traditions at Your Tu B’Shvat Seder
A World of Dishes for Tu B’Shvat
The Original Tu B’Shvat Seder: ‘Pri Etz Hadar’
Tu B’Shvat Recipes
Serve local, organic wine. The Tu B’Shvat seder emphasizes the use of both red and white wines. Find out ahead of time what your local wine store has in stock—especially if you plan to buy a lot of bottles. If they don’t have anything, ask them to order a case for you. There aren’t many kosher organic wines available, but for options see our list of kosher organic wines. Consider paying a little more at a locally-owned store—sustainable means supporting local businesses, too.
Go Vegetarian! Tu B’Shvat is a great time to celebrate the environment and all of its natural offerings. What a better way to do that by eating vegetarian! For some great winter soup options, check out this great JCarrot article. Here are some creative vegan options.
Eat Local. If you live in an area with a variety of seasonal, winter offerings, use this to your advantage by eating local. In the south, citrus fruits are in season and can provide a great addition to the Tu B’Shvat celebration: try citrus curls in your drinks, lemon curd for desert, or roast chicken with oranges and lemons inside.
For many people in the US, the seven species are not in season locally. If possible, buy organic varieties of the dried versions, and use some of the suggestions below to make your Tu B’Shvat more sustainable.
Wheat and Barley. To feature sustainable grains during your Tu B’Shvat seder, look to your local grain coop. In the New York area, Cayuga Pure Organics offers a wide variety of organic, sustainably grown products. Down south, Great River Milling offers whole wheat, organic flours perfect for baking a Tu B’Shvat challah. If finding a local grain coop isn’t an option, try to buy organic wheat flour or barley from artisanal companies such as Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour.
Grapes. Though grapes are not available seasonally in the winter, grapes come in many forms! Try serving an organic wine at your seder, in addition to grape jellies and raisins.
Figs, Pomegranates, and Dates. For most people in the United States, figs and pomegranates aren’t available locally in the winter. Instead of offering fresh varieties of figs and pomegranates, opt for jam, jellied, or dried forms. If you can get your hands on some fresh figs, try preparing this “fig newton” recipe that is a healthier alternative to the store bought version. For United States grown dates, check out Sun Date’s offerings, which are grown locally in California. Negev Nectars offers a variety of products, including pomegranate jam and dried dates that will help to enhance your Tu B’Shvat celebration.
Olives. Believe it or not, the peak of the olive season in the United States is during the winter! Olives are harvested from November to January in California. In California, The California Olive offers a wide variety of oils featured at local farmer’s markets. For a great, kosher olive oil and other olive products, we recommend supporting Negev Nectars.
