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The month of Shevat is the eleventh month in the Jewish calendar when we start with Nisan. Typically, Shevat falls between the months of January and February. There is but one holiday that falls during this month--Tu b'Shevat. It means the "Fifteenth of Shevat". The Hebrew letters of the first name, tov and vov, equal 15 and it is on the 15th day of Shevat (January 18, 2003) that we celebrate the holiday. And probably no other observance/celebration of a Jewish holiday has changed as much over the centuries as has that of Tu b'Shevat. This holiday has changed from being a national "tax day" for tree produce to a day of celebration -- of trees, of Israel and of nature. Shevat comes in the middle of winter. In much of the United States, this means below freezing temperatures and possibly snow-covered lands. In Israel, the heart of winter is much wetter, but only somewhat colder than during the rest of the year. Shevat is the rainy season in Israel (and the Zodiac sign for this month is the water carrier). It is the time when trees begin to form buds that will eventually blossom and lead to the growth of fruit. And so it was that our rabbis at the time of Second Temple decreed that the fifteenth day of the month of Shevat would be called the New Year of Trees. It was really more of a New Year for the tax collector. It was the date used to determine how much a person's tithe would be. Farmers and landowners were to give one tenth of their trees' produce. After the destruction of the Second Temple, the holiday was forgotten for centuries. Without a Temple, tithing could not take place. Over a thousand years would pass before the holiday would re-emerge in Jewish life. Resurrected by the Kabbalists who moved to the hills of Tzvat in Israel in the 1500s, Shevat became a celebration of the gift of trees and abundance of God's gifts of nature. | |||||||||
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CREDITS: The JCC Association would like to thank the following individuals for their contributions to the Shevat portion of the "This New Month" Project.
© 2002 - 2006 JCC Association 'This New Month' Project | |||||||||