Celebrating Tu be-Shevat

The Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 1:1) quotes Bet Hillel that the new year for trees is Tu be-Shevat, the fifteenth of Shevat. The need for a new year for trees is in order to determine the beginning and ending of the agricultural year with regard to taking tithes (see R. Zevin, Moadim be-Halakhah, pp.182-185). From the Mishnah, it seems that Tu be-Shevat had no special celebrations other than that one day must be chosen as the beginning of the agricultural year with regard to tithes.

Avaraham Yaari (1970) in a fascinating essay tracks the development of celebrations on Tu be-Shevat. The first allusions to any special aspect of the day, other than marking the new year with regard to tithes, are piyyutim that were found in the Genizah in Cairo. These piyyutim were written by R. Yehuda ha-Levi the son of R. Hillel who lived in Israel, probably in the tenth century. The piyyutim were prayers to be recited as part of the Shemoneh Esrei on Tu be-Shevat, which indicate some level of celebration on the day. They reflect the practice of the Jews who lived in the land of Israel in the post-Talmudic period, though Yaari notes that maybe these prayers were even said in the Talmudic period in the land of Israel.

The next reference to celebrations on Tu be-Shevat is in the medieval period. Rabbeinu Gershom (960-1040, France, Germany) wrote that one should not fast on the day, and the Maharil (1365-1427, Germany) records that some communities did not recite tachanun on Tu be-Shevat. While both of these references are not to act, still they indicate that the day had some festive character that precluded fasting or reciting tachanun. Yaari notes that these references are from the Ashkenazi community, as in the Middle Ages there is no mention at all by Sefardim to any type of celebrations on Tu be-Shevat. This is another example of the close connection between the Jewry in Israel in the first millennium and Medieval Ashkenazic Jewry, that Ashkenazic Jewry was continuing the tradition from Israel to treat Tu be-Shevat as a special day.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, there are more references to Ashkenazim celebrating Tu be-Shevat. In the 16th century, R. Yissacher Susan (?) of Sefat and Shimon b. Yehuda ha-Levi Ginzberg of Venice recorded a custom of Ashkenazim to eat different types of fruit on Tu be-Shevat. In the 17th century, a R. Yozpa records that even though in Worms, Germany, tachanun was said on Tu be-Shevat, still the day was a vacation day from school. Towards the end of the 17th century, the Magen Avraham (1637-1683, Poland, Orah Chayyim 131:16) quotes the custom of eating different types of fruit on Tu be-Shevat, and specifically writes that this custom was for Ashkenazim. While this custom of eating fruit is first mentioned in the 16th century, Yaari argues that it must have had an earlier source. Yosef Rut Rotam (Mechkeri Chag 1, pp.57-60) suggests that eating fruit would be a way to mark the approaching end of winter, and hence maybe this was the custom of the Jews of Israel in the first millennium.

In any event, R. Zevin (1890-1978, Moadim be-Halakhah, p.187) is puzzled that the Magen Avraham wrote that the eating of fruits on Tu be-Shevat is an Ashkenazic custom, while R. Zevin notes that in 19th and 20th centuries the custom of celebrating Tu be-Shevat is adhered to more by Sefardim than Ashkenazim.

Many people believe that the source for the present day celebrations of Tu be-Shevat is from the Ari (1534-1572), but as Yaari points out this is erroneous. In the writings of the Ari and his followers there is no mention of celebrating Tu be-Shevat. As mentioned above, R. Yissacher Susan (?) who lived in Sefat around the time of the Ari, refers to the custom of eating fruit on Tu be-Shevat but he specifically stated that the custom was only for Ashkenazim and not for Sefardim.

The major change in the celebration of Tu be-Shevat was with the publication of the book Hemdat Yamim. The author who is unknown, created a special meal on Tu be-Shevat where one eats 30 different fruit and recites various prayers. (The section of the book that relates to Tu be-Shevat is now published as a separate book called Pri Etz Hadar.) It appears that the author combined the Ashkenazic custom of eating fruits with kabalistic ideas from R. Chayyim Vital concerning 30 fruit that grow in Israel.
Why would a new custom be created? The answer depends on who is the author of Hemdat Yamim. Yaari writes that he thinks that the author was a R. Binyamin from Sefat who lived in the end of the 17th century. However, it is now generally thought that the author was a Shabbatean (Encyclopedia Judaica 8:320-322), and Hemdat Yamim was published in the 18th century in Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey), Shabbetai Tziv’s hometown. The meal of Tu be-Shevat as described in Hemdat Yamim is celebrated with great festivity and is similar to the Seder of Pesach. It would seem that the creation of this new custom to celebrate Tu be-Shevat was to mark the new redemption, which the followers of Shabbateanism believed to have started with the appearance of Shabbetai Tzvi.

The new custom spread quickly. The book Hemdat Yamim was very popular, especially with Hasidim and Sefardim since it incorporated many Kabalistic ideas. Yaari describes the festivities of the meal in various places, and one of the most prominent descriptions is for Salonika, Greece, which is near Smyrna and was a hotbed of Shabbateanism.

We can now answer R. Zevin’s question why did the Magen Avraham state that the custom of eating fruit was only for Ashkenazim. The Magen Avraham lived before Hemdat Yamim was published, and until that point the Sefardim had no festivities on Tu be-Shevat. However, R. Zevin, who lived in the 20th century, noted that Sefardim now celebrate Tu be-Shevat more than Ashkenazim, and this is due to the influence of the book Hemdat Yamim.

In the end of the 19th century with the first Aliyah, there was another development with regard to Tu be-Shevat, the planting of trees. Yosef Rut Rotam (source above) states that the first time a connection was made between Tu be-Shevat and planting trees was in Sefat in 1884. However, this appears to have been a onetime occurrence, and instead the modern custom was started by Ze’ev Jawitz (1847-1923) who lived in Israel from 1888-1894. In 1890, he was the principal of the school in Zichron Yaakov, and he took all the students of the school to plant trees in the village. This custom was quickly followed in the other farming villages of the first Aliyah, and in 1908, the teachers organization agreed to institute this custom in Mikveh Israel, which was then the foremost agricultural school in Israel. The custom then spread throughout the land and there was a further development that people go on hikes on Tu be-Shevat

Most likely the enthusiasm of the villagers of the first Aliyah for agriculture endeavors was the basis for this new custom, as any reason to work the land would be jumped on. Yet, it is interesting that Jawitz (quoted by Yosef Rut Rotam) writes that he was copying the custom of planting trees that existed in Europe on May 1. (There appears to be a confusion between May Day and Arbor Day. May Day, May 1, was celebrated (as a pagan holiday) with dancing around a tree (May pole), but it did not involve planting trees. Instead, in 1872, in Nebraska there began the idea of planting trees on Arbor Day and in 1885 this became a legal holiday in Nebraska, which was to be celebrated annually on April 22, the birthday of Julius Sterling Morton, the person who developed the idea of Arbor Day.)

From this review we see that Tu be-Shevat has undergone four different stages of development. Initially it was a day for determining halakhic issues with no known festivities. Afterwards, there began some minor celebrations of the day in Israel and this low-level of celebrations continued with Medieval Ashkenazic Jewry. In the third stage, due to Shabbateanism the day was celebrated with great festivity and finally the last stage is that due to Zionism the day developed into a day of planting trees and nature.