02/02/2026
Today is Tu Bishvat, the Jewish new year for the trees. By all measures, this is a minor holiday — mentioned nowhere in the Torah, and as a date for calculating agricultural taxes in the Mishnah. But over the centuries, Tu Bishvat has evolved. The medieval mystics saw in it a series of metaphors for human spiritual growth and designed a seder (analogous to the Passover seder) that highlights them. The early Zionists saw in Tu Bishvat an echo of their project to make the desert bloom by planting trees in Israel. And more recently, Jewish environmentalists have embraced the holiday as a mark of Judaism’s deep commitment to ecology and stewardship of the earth. However, you relate to this day, we wish you a holiday of sweetness and joy and peeking beneath the surface. Happy Tu Bishvat!
-from Rachel Scheinerman of “My Jewish Learning” 💉💊
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