Tu B’Shevat – The New Year for Trees

Tu B’Shevat falls on the 15th of Shevat, being the 11th month on the Jewish, God’s calendar.

Tu B’ Shevat – this year falls on Wednesday, 31st of January 2018— is the day that marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees.

This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.

We mark the day of Tu B’Shevat by eating fruit, particularly from the kinds that are singled out by the Torah in its praise of the bounty of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.

Scriptures to recite or read:

Psalm 1:3  (NKJV)

He shall be like the trees planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth it’s fruits in it’s seasons , whose leaf also shall not wither and what ever he does shall prosper….

Leviticus 26:4

then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

Deuteronomy 6:11

Give houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full—

¹² then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 

¹³ You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. 

¹⁴ You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you

Leviticus 26:4

then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

⁵ Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing;

you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

Revelation 22:2:

In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Galatians 5:22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Deuteronomy 8:7-10 (NKJV)

⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; 

⁸ a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 

⁹ a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 

¹⁰ When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

Ephesians 5:9

(for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),

Watch a short 2 minutes video about Tu b’shevat: