Tu B’Shevat 58 articles

Jewish Holidays

What are We Celebrating on Tu B’Shevat?
What are We Celebrating on Tu B’Shevat?
In both the list of four new years and the four times a year when the world is judged trees feature prominently. The Torah prohibits cutting down fruit trees because man...
Jan 9, 2019
By Rabbi Reuven Taragin
The Unusual Ancient Tu B’shevat Custom of Worms Reveals the Essence of the Day
The Unusual Ancient Tu B’shevat Custom of Worms Reveals...
In Worms, the custom on Tu B’Shevat was that yeshivot were closed. Why? How does the custom reveal the essence of the day? Shiur provided courtesy of Torah Anytime
Jan 31, 2018
By Rabbi Daniel Glatstein
Tu B’Shevat: Eating Fruits, Rectifying the Sin of the Forbidden Fruit
Tu B’Shevat: Eating Fruits, Rectifying the Sin of the...
Tu B’Shevat is the time of year by which ]most of the rain has fallen. Why does that make it the new year for trees? The mishna (Rosh Hashana 1:1) calls...
Jan 30, 2018
By Rabbi Daniel Glatstein
Tu B’Shvat: The Tree as a Metaphor for Reality
Tu B’Shvat: The Tree as a Metaphor for Reality
Why is there a new year for trees? What is the connection between the word עץ (tree) and עצה (advice)? The connection to the 2 trees in Gan Eden – the...
Jan 26, 2018
By Rabbi Yochanan Bechhofer
Of God and Goats: Tales of Faith and Farming
Of God and Goats: Tales of Faith and Farming
How farming and spirituality go hand in hand. Miriam Shechter, a Chabad farmer from Moshav Sdei Trumot shares how working the land made her realize how much we all really depend...
Jan 18, 2018
By OU Staff
Checking Dried Fruit for Insects: A Hands-On Overview and Presentation
Checking Dried Fruit for Insects: A Hands-On Overview and...
OU Kosher and OU Israel present this practical hands-on seminar on checking dried fruit for insect infestation that will prove useful on Tu b’Shevat and throughout the year. Recorded at OU...
Jan 18, 2018
By Rabbi Y. Dov Krakowski
As Stands the Tree, So Stands the Man Singular and Strong
As Stands the Tree, So Stands the Man Singular...
Rav Gustman tended a small garden outside his office at the Netzach Yisrael Yeshiva in Jerusalem each and every day.  Even while his students were in the Beit Midrash studying, this...
Feb 6, 2017
By Rabbi Eliyahu Safran
Feeling Taste During the Process
Feeling Taste During the Process
Why is Tu B’Shevat the new year for trees, not for the fruit itself? A tree is the most efficient “machine” – it yields virtually no waste; it is also one...
Jan 30, 2017
By Rabbi Yochanan Bechhofer
The Tree as a Model for Reality
The Tree as a Model for Reality
Tu b’Shevat tells us what in year a tree’s produce falls. This has legal ramifications but what does the holiday mean for mankind?
Jan 30, 2017
By Rabbi Yochanan Bechhofer
5 Things You May Not Have Known About Tu B’Shevat
5 Things You May Not Have Known About Tu...
You know that guy you saw on the way to work shouting “Happy New Year!” to a tree? He wasn’t crazy. Well, he might have been, but not for being kind...
Feb 4, 2015
By OU Staff

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