Tu B'Shevat - 5784

Tu B'Shevat - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller

The fifteenth of the month of Shevat is known as the new year of the trees. We learn this in the

first Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah where we read, "There are four new years. On the first of Nissan

is the new year for kings and for the festivals. On the first of Elul is the new year for tithing of animals.

... On the first of Tishrei is the new year for shemittah and yovel, for the sapling and for the vegetables.

On the first of Shevat is the new year for the tree according to Beit Shammai. Beit Hillel say on the fifteenth.

The halacha follows Beit Hillel. Why are three of them on the first of the month and only this one on the

fifteenth? There does not seem to be a clear answer other than that the Mishnah told us so. Perhaps we

can come up with some thoughts on it.

We begin by looking at each new year and ask what it is for. The first of Nissan is for calculating the reign

of kings. Time used to be tracked by what year in the reign of a given king an event took place, so a system

of standardizing the count was required. This date was also used to calculate the cycle of the three

pilgrimages to Yerushalayim, Pesach-Shavuot-Succot, since someone who made a vow was required to

fulfill it before a complete cycle ran.

The first of Elul is for tithing animals. Some sacrifices were specific as to the age of an animal eligible. When

bringing an annual tithe out of newly born animals, we had to know what was considered in the group to be

tithed.

The first of Tishrei, Rosh Hashanah, is the day mankind is judged for what kind of year he will have upcoming.

It also applies to orlah, shemittah, yovel, and the tithing of grain and vegetables.

Tu B'Shevat applies to the tithing of tree fruit to determine which produce is from which year when setting aside

for the tithe as each year's produce must be tithed from itself, not from a prior or subsequent year. It also has

some applicability in orlah and shemittah, in conjunction with the first of Tishrei.

Thus far, we see nothing that would indicate why Tu B'Shevat is on the fifteenth while the others are on the first.

Each has different purposes, so if it was based solely on purpose, we would not expect three of them to be on the

same day of the month other than by chance. But the Torah doesn't work that way.

Rosh Hashanah [14a-b] has a short paragraph stating, "On the first of Shevat is the new year for the tree.

What is the reason? R'Elazar said in the name of R'Oshaya, because most of the rain of the year has passed

and most of the winter is yet to come." Now we know that, based on Beit Hillel, the halacha is the fifteenth

rather than the first, so the beginning of this paragraph was based on Beit Shammai, but the rest is still considered

relevant. The point is that "most of the rain" has passed. This is explained to mean more than half the rains for

the season have already fallen, saturating the ground and enabling the roots of the trees to grow. If so, we have a

connection between the date of the new year for trees and this point in the annual seasons.

Another analogy is that the major holidays of Pesach and Succot both fall on the fifteenth of their months. Perhaps

there is a tie here. One would be hard pressed, though, to explain from such a tie why the third festival, Shavuot,

which falls on the sixth of Sivan, would not be included in the list of holidays falling on the fifteenth. Maybe looking

at the purposes of these holidays will shed some light on our question.

Pesach falls on the beginning of the Exodus from Egypt, a set date in the year, and it also marks the beginning of the

ripening of the grain. Shavuot falls on the day of the Giving of the Torah, a set date in the year, and it also marks the

beginning of the ripening of tree fruit. Succot does not mark a specific event that would give us a set date, but it does

mark the end of the harvest and also the beginning of the rainy season. Tu B'Shevat also does not mark a specific

event that would give us a set date, but it does mark the beginning of the growing season and the end of the primary

part of the rainy season. Rosh Hashanah falls on the day of the creation of the world, a set date, but does not mark

any agricultural events. Quite a jumble.

Pesach, Shavuot, Succot and Rosh Hashanah all have a prohibition of work, a seudah, rejoicing, special prayers, and

a Torah reading. Tu B'Shevat has none of those. Yet on the latter, we do not say Tachanun, nor do we give eulogies,

just like the other holidays. We eat special foods like on the other holidays.

Rav Hirsch gives us some thoughts that may help us tie this all together. He explains that the winter season brings a

renewal with its early rains. Tu B'Shevat is when the sap begins to flow in the trees, enabling them to blossom and

leaf out at the beginning of spring. He analogizes this to the Jewish people, who are at heart an agrarian society. We

belong in nature in our own fields, not as the wandering traders we have become in the exile. A Jewish farmer knows

that "no seed ripens for the owner alone, no tree blossoms only for the proprietor. With every grain he is reminded of God.

Pesach, while primarily about the Exodus, has a significant component marking an agricultural event, noted by the

counting of the Omer. Succot is heavily about agricultural events. Shavuot much less so, being about the Torah and only

incidentally noting the beginning of the ripening of tree fruit. Rosh Hashanah and the first of Nissan are not related to

agricultural events. The first of Elul is about animals, which while also being agricultural, is not that of the ground as are

Pesach, Succot and Tu B'Shevat. It would seem that Rav Hirsch is telling us that Tu B'Shevat is like a festival a little

more than like a new year. This is a day designed to get us back on track, doing what God intended Jews to do.