Tu Bishvat (Hebrew: ט״ו בשבט) is a minor Jewish holiday in the Hebrew month of Shevat, usually sometime in late January or early February, that marks the "New Year of the Trees" (Hebrew: ראש השנה לאילנות, Rosh HaShanah La'Ilanot). Tu Bishvat is one of four "New Years" mentioned in the Mishnah. Customs include planting trees and eating dried fruits and nuts, especially figs, dates, raisins, carob, and almonds. In Israel, the flowering of the alm...
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Tu Bishvat (Hebrew: ט״ו בשבט) is a minor Jewish holiday in the Hebrew month of Shevat, usually sometime in late January or early February, that marks the "New Year of the Trees" (Hebrew: ראש השנה לאילנות, Rosh HaShanah La'Ilanot). Tu Bishvat is one of four "New Years" mentioned in the Mishnah. Customs include planting trees and eating dried fruits and nuts, especially figs, dates, raisins, carob, and almonds. In Israel, the flowering of the almond tree, which grows wild around the country, coincides with Tu Bishvat.
The name Tu Bishvat is derived from the Hebrew date of the holiday, which occurs on the 15th day of Shevat (שבט). "Tu" stands for the Hebrew numerals "tet vav" which is 15. Until recent decades, it was most often called Ḥamisha Asar BiShvat (חמשה-עשר בשבט), the fifteenth, of Shevat. (Commercial Jewish calendars called it so until about the year 2000.) When representing the number using letters, rabbinic rules forbid using the letter-numerals that represent 10 (י yud, y)...
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