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Tonight the holiday of Tu Bubishvat comes to a close. Tu Bishvat, the New Year for the Trees, first appears in the Mishna. The Mishna dates back to about 3rd century CE. It is one of four New Years in the Judaism:
One is for measuring the reigns of kings and determining the holidays, one is for setting livestock tithes, one is for counting the years and religious regulations on plants, and one is the Rosh Hashanah of the Tree, which became what we call Tu Bishvat.
During that time it wasn't a holiday like today, but a tax day. Tu Bishvat, the fifteenth day of Shvat was the time when fruit from trees would be tithed. The primary source in the Mishna is largely an argument about what the official day is- the one that is Tu Bishvat today (the 15th of Shvat), or the 1st of Shvat. Whatever the "correct day", today's current celebration of eating fruits and planting trees, is pretty far flung from the original.
The modern holiday was birthed out of the Kabbalistic movement of the 16th century. It included a Seder where a large variety of fruits were eaten:
The first five fruits are the fig, grape, apple, pear, and quince. These fruits have a thin outer peel that can be eaten along with the fruit. The second set includes dates, olives, and cherries—fruits that don’t have a peel but do have a hard pit inside which cannot be eaten... The final set of five includes the pomegranate, almonds, and walnuts (or hazelnuts). These are fruits which have a tough outer peel or shell that must be broken through to extract the fruit.
Each of these sets of fruits corresponds to one of the four universes or dimensions. The first set corresponds to Beriah, the second set to Yetzirah, and the third set to Asiyah. In order to connect the soul to the highest realm of Atzilut, Rabbi Hagiz says one should smell (and make a blessing on) an etrog.
Beriah, Yetzirah, Asiyah, and Atzilut are Kabbalistic concepts. Further explanation of the four dimensions here.
Eventually, by the 18th century the Tu Bishvat Seder became common practice in Shaphardic Judaism. And then came the Haskalah Movement. The Haskalah was a Jewish movement inspired by the European Enlightenment. Haskalah was driven by an interest in secular scholarship and its synthesis with Jewish thought. There was an increased interest in the natural world, and nationalism. Zionism was born. Newly nationalistic Jews would write contemplations about the natural world on Tu Bishvat, promoting Zionism, and fundraising for their cause.
The current form of Tu Bishvat was born in Nebraska, yes Nebraska, and was inspired by Arbor Day.
when the Hebrew newspaper Hamelitz, published in Saint Petersburg reported on the “new Yankee holiday” in a very positive light. A week later, the newspaper published another article saying that Arbor Day “was not new to us [Jews] and its name is ‘New Year’s of Trees,’ which was an important holiday for our ancestors and is still important to this day.”
The writer claimed that on Tu Bishvat in antiquity Jews planted trees, and called on his Jewish brethren to send money to the Jewish settlers in Palestine so they could plant trees too.
Today Tu Bishvat is an Israeli national holiday resembling Arbor day, and in the diaspora it can include "adopting a tree in Israel", or can take on a more Earth day, environmentalist appearance. I can remember planting a tree in our back yard one year for Tu Bishvat with my father's assistance in Baltimore. There is also an increasing interest in reclaiming the Kabbalistic celebration, and How Tos are readily availabe on the internet.
A common story told on Tu Bishvat is the Midrash tale of Honi the Circle Maker. It is the story of an impatient community leader who prays for rain during a drought. He then questions a man about the utility of planting a tree that he won't be able to reap the benefits from, only to fall asleep and wake up 70 years later to find his grandchild enjoying the tree's fruits.
Here is a short video of the tale: