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Celebrate Tu Bishvat with Shalom Sesame: Honoring the Trees
Watch these Shalom Sesame videos with your children to learn about Tu Bishvat, then try some of the fun discussion ideas and activities recommended by Reform Jewish educators.
Celebrate Tu Bishvat with Shalom Sesame: Tikkun Olam
Watch these Shalom Sesame videos with your children to learn about Tu Bishvat, then try some of the fun discussion ideas and activities recommended by Reform Jewish educators.
Aromatic Clementine Lanterns - Bundles of Bounty and Beauty
I’ve always been fascinated and inspired by things that spoon, nestle and stack... from measuring spoons to matrushka dolls, husk tomatoes and garden-fresh peas in a pod.
A Mountain of Blintzes
As Shavuot approaches, Sarah, Max and their five children begin to save money to purchase the ingredients for Sarah’s fabulous blintzes, so they can make a mountain of blintzes as big as Mount Sinai! Mother, father and the children each try to bring something to the table to make the blintzes.
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.
Counting of the Omer: Blessings for Each Day
The period between Passover and Shavuot is called the “Counting of the Omer” ( Sefirat Ha'omer).
S’firat HaOmer
Hebrew Spelling
סְפִירַת הָעֹמֶר
"Counting of the omer;" An omer is a biblical measurement of grain. The counting of the omer is 49-day period that begins on the second night of Passover during which each day is counted with a blessing. On the 50th day, the Festival of Shavuot is observed.
Tikkun Leil Shavuot
Hebrew Spelling
תִּקּוּן לֵיל שָׁבוּעוֹת
A celebration specific to the holiday of Shavuot, it includes a late-night – or even all-night – study of Torah and Jewish texts that commemorates receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai.
Z’man Matan Torateinu
Hebrew Spelling
זְמַן מַתַּן תּוֹרָה
Literally, “the time of the giving of our Torah.” This refers to the holiday of Shavuot.