Tu B’Shvat

“If the Torah had not been given, we would still have learned modesty from the cat, industriousness from the ant…” and many important instructions-by-example from the plant kingdom. [TB Eruvin [...]

Tu B’Shvat teachings over the years (2007-present).

The Still Small VoiceTu B'Shvat Hagada, fifteen years in the making, is finally available for public enjoyment.

Tu B’Shvat, 5778 / 2018 Sarah Yehudit Schneider All the trees of the field (שִֹיחַ הַשָּׂדֶה) did not yet exist on the earth, and all the wild plants had not yet sprouted. This was because God [...]

Tu B’Shvat, 5777 / 2017 Sarah Yehudit Schneider God made grow out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to look at and good to eat, [including] the Tree of Life in the middle of the garden, [...]

By Sarah Yehudit Schneider The first of Shevat is the New Year for trees, says the School of Shammai. Beth Hillel disputes this and rules that it falls on the fifteenth of the month. [Mishna RH [...]

Sarah Yehudit Schneider It is customary to eat fruits and drink wine in celebration of Tu B’Shvat, the Rosh HaShana of fruit trees. And it is fitting to admire each fruit and speak its praises [...]

It is customary to eat fruits and drink wine in celebration of TuB’Shvat, the Rosh HaShana of fruit trees. And it is fitting to admire each fruit and speak its praises before you eat it. In that [...]

People who are accustomed to follow the kabbalistic Seder of fruits and wine on Tu B’Shvat organize their (thirty) fruits according to certain criteria. There are three intersecting (and somewhat [...]

Tu B’Shvat, 5771 / 2011 Sarah Yehudit Schneider The Mishna informs us that there are actually four New Year’s days in the Jewish calendar as well as four Judgment Days[1]. It then proceeds to [...]

This Tu Bi’Shvat teaching is dedicated to the complete and speedy recovery of Shoshana bat Sarah and was sponsored by some of her friends. Tu Bi’Shvat is the New Year’s day for fruit trees [...]

Countdown to Perfection: Meditations on the Sefirot From the second day of Passover until the harvest festival of Shavuot there are seven weeks, each of seven days. Jews commemorate these [...]

A Short Torah on Eating, 5769 / 2009 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Rafael Moshe Luria (shlita) in Bet Ganzi brings an amazing teaching from the Ari. R. Luria (shlita) is exploring the question of [...]

Tu B’Shvat, 5767 / 2007 A Still Small Voice   המליק אות צדיק בלעיטה…שבט בשנה וקורקבן בנפש HaShem made the letter tsadik rule over fressing (indulgent eating), Shvat in the year and the [...]