Tu B'Shevat Blessings for the Earth

Winter seems like a funny time to celebrate Tu B'Shevat, our Jewish Arbor Day or Earth Day. It’s a new year for the trees and a time to celebrate the fruit of the earth. In Israel, the rainy season has passed, and the first buds begin to appear around Tu B'Shevat, the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat, which falls on February 13 this year.

Here in New York, bare branches silhouette the sky, and the earth seems to shiver instead of blossom. In Los Angeles, fire has devastated so much of what we hold dear. In Israel, our hostages have begun to come home, but the destruction Hamas sowed before, on, and after October 7 continues to traumatize us.

Several years ago, in the middle of the pandemic, I was privileged to interview Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, who founded Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, to mobilize the Jewish community to confront the climate crisis on a systemic level. You can read the interview here. Tu B’Shevat, she said, is an opportunity to connect spiritually both to the severity of the climate crisis as well as to the beauty of our earth and humanity. Please read about Dayenu's new endeavors to combat the climate crisis.

One of the most tangible ways to remind ourselves of our obligation to repair our world is to hold a Tu B'Shevat seder. Originally a kabbalistic ritual that combines both the tangible and mystical, it honors the most wondrous of birthdays—the earth’s. A Tu B'Shevat seder is an appropriate way to bless the land, pray for its regeneration, and take action.

Four cups of wine or grape juice represent the changes in the season—white, pink, light red, dark red. Fruits and nuts mentioned in the Bible make a tasty and colorful array, ranging from those with coverings on the outside, like oranges; those with pits, like peaches and olives, and those that can be eaten both inside and outside, like figs and raisins. In India, we loaded our table with over 50 varieties of fruits and nuts! A contemporary seder could pair each fruit we choose with an act of climate change or hesed.

Ladonai haartez um'lo'ah. The earth and its fullness are God’s.
--Psalms 24:1

We are caretakers of the earth. It is up to us to protect and preserve its beauty.