By Rachel D. Levine
While the world at large recognizes only one New Year – January 1, Judaism celebrates four New Years’ every year.
Most non-Jews are familiar with Rosh Hashanah, which usually falls in September. This is the most commonly celebrated of the four and marks both the birthday of G-d’s creation of the world and the start of the Jewish liturgical year. Those familiar with Exodus 12:2 know that Nissan is therein named the "first month of the year." Since this was the month in which the children of Israel were freed from slavery in Egypt, the first of Nissan is the civil New Year and, in biblical times, was used by the kings in the dating of reigns and other royal events.
The first of Elul was the New Year for tithing cattle. When the Temple was standing in Jerusalem and the system of tithes for the support of the priests was in effect, this meant that any animal born before that date could not be offered as a tithe for any animal born after the first of Elul. The final New Year, and the second one, which is still observed by Jews today, is Tu B’Shevat-the New Year for Trees, which this year falls on January 25.
The holiday falls on the 15th day of the month of Shevat. "Tu" is an acronym consisting of the Hebrew letters "tet" and "vav", which has the combined numerical value of 15. On this day, according to Jewish tradition, the sap begins to rise in the fruit trees in the land of Israel. Tu B’Shevat also was connected to the tithing system. Since fruit was included, the tithe for any given year could only be brought from that year’s crop. Therefore, there had to be an agreed-upon date by which to distinguish one crop year from another.
With the destruction of the Temple and the end of the tithing system, the holiday gradually began to take on a new meaning. Especially for the Jews in the Diaspora, it became a day to remember the land and the close ties they had had to Eretz Israel. Therefore, it became customary to eat those fruits that were native to Israel on that day, like figs, nuts, pomegranates, olives, apples, and especially, the carob.
The carob fruit was favored due to its association with Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who, legend says, hid from the Roman soldiers for 11 years in a cave, living all the while on the fruit of a carob tree which grew at the cave’s mouth.
Other observances that evolved within the Jewish communities included recital of those psalms that talked about the land and its goodness. A ceremony of reciting 15 psalms while eating 15 fruits native to Israel was common in many Sephardic Jewish congregations, and has become widespread today. Modeled after the Passover Seder, the service includes four cups of wine, songs, prayers, and the appropriate fruits and grains in various forms.
During the last century, with the establishment of Jewish agricultural settlements in Israel, another custom arose – planting trees on the holiday. Outside of Israel, people donated money on this day for tree planting in the land.
Even when physically separated from Israel, Jews the world over maintained their close attachment to the land that G-d had given them. Tu B’Shevat is but one example.
