What is Tu B'Shevat?
—Rabbi Jay Heyman
Each year on the 15th of Shevat we celebrate the New Year of the Trees. There is a little known practice, developed by the Kabbalists of Safed in the 16th century of having a Tu B’shevat seder. During the seder, aspects of the four elements of the universe, as understood by the medieval mind, were taken and compared to the various kabbalistic understandings of reality.
During the seder, the fruits and nuts of the “Holy Land” would be eaten and cups of various wines would be tasted. In modern practice, participants begin with a cup of white wine and gradually increase the amount of red, until there is only a drop of white. The fruits of three types of fruits grown in Israel would be eaten: those that we cannot eat the seeds thereof, those that we cannot eat the skins thereof, and those that we can eat in their entirety. More...
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