Displaying 1 - 6 of 6
Tu BiShvat Fruit and Nut Cups
This dish pays homage to the Seven Species, which we eat on Tu BiShvat.
Galilee Diary: Galilee encounters
Three encounters from a day with 50 students from HUC, spending their first year in Israel before beginning their studies at the stateside campuses.
Tu BiShvat: Customs and Rituals
The Jewish mystics of the 17th century, the Kabbalists, created a special ritual—modeled after the Passover seder—to celebrate God's presence in nature. Today in modern Israel, Tu BiShvat has become a national holiday, a tree planting festivaTu BiShvat is not mentioned in the Torah. Scholars believe the holiday was originally an agricultural festival, corresponding to the beginning of spring in Israel. But a critical historical event helped Tu BiShvat evolve from a simple celebration of spring to a commemoration of our connection to the land of Israel. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. and the exile that followed, many of the exiled Jews felt a need to bind themselves symbolically to their former homeland. Tu BiShvat served in part to fill that spiritual need. Jews used this time each year to eat a variety of fruits and nuts that could be obtained from Israel. The practice, a sort of physical association with the land, continued for many centuries.l for both Israelis and Jews throughout the world
Tu BiShvat: History
Although the celebration of Tu BiShvat has a long and varied history, the theme most commonly ascribed to the holiday today is the environment.
Rosh Chodesh
Throughout history, the Jewish people have had a connection to the moon. Other ancient cultures revered the sun. A smaller nation, we saw ourselves in the small moon. Just like God, the moon would always return providing us with the safety of its protective light.