When you come to the land and you plant any tree, you shall treat its fruit as forbidden; for three years it will be forbidden and not eaten. In the fourth year, all of its fruit shall be sanctified to praise the Lord. In the fifth year, you may eat its fruit. -Leviticus 19:23-25Tu B'Shvat is the 15th day of the Jewish month of Shvat. "Tu" is not really a word; it is the number 15 in Hebrew. Each Hebrew letter stands for a number. In the case of this holiday the "T" (tet) equals 9 and the "u" (vov) is 6. Added together they are 15.
Tu B'Shvat is known as the New Year for Trees. There are four new years... the first of Shevat is the new year for trees according to the ruling of Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel, however, places it on the fifteenth of that month. -Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1Tu B'Shevat is the new year for the purpose of calculating the age of trees for tithing. In Leviticus we are directed to tithe the fruit of trees. The fourth year after first producing fruit the tree is then tithed. The way we determine the age of the tree is by using Tu B’Shvat as the calendar year.
There are some meaningful customs that are observed on this holiday. One is to eat a new fruit on this day. This means something we have not eaten for some time. I scour supermarkets for fruits that become ripe only at this time of year. Remember those blue JNF boxes? (If you don’t have one, contact the Jewish National Fund at Jewish National Fund, 78 Randall Ave, Rockville Centre, NY 11570). Tu B’Shvat is the day they are emptied and redeemed. Some people plant trees on this day. (Again contact the JNF to plant in Israel)
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