Tu B'Shevat Audio & VIdeo

On Tu B’Shevat, the 15th of Shevat, we celebrate the New Year for Trees. It falls in the middle of the winter, when the sap is just beginning to flow. If the fruit is not yet growing, why do we celebrate the occasion by eating fruit?

G-d created plants and animals with the ability to procreate – to perpetuate themselves and reflect G-d’s own Infinitude. Man, too, was granted the remarkable ability to reproduce, but was additionally blessed with the ability to harness and expand the infinite powers hidden within the rest of nature.

“Man is a tree of the field.” The Sages of the Talmud apply this verse to the Jew. Torah is the core of a Jew’s being, and Torah must effect his actions so that he bears good fruits — good deeds. But when we say that a Jew must be “fruitful,” first and foremost he must reproduce his own essence.

“Bosi L’Gani – I have come to My garden.” G-d created this world to be a glorious Divine orchard for His presence. Man is charged with planting and tending this orchard by creating a “fruit-bearing tree” out of his own portion of the world.

On the third day of creation, when G-d created plant life, all the nourishing produce of the fields sprouted forth, and every single tree bore fruit, becoming a source of delectable pleasure.

Life isn’t just a bowl of peaches--there are coconuts in there too. That’s where all the challenges begin.

The Talmud compares man to a fruit tree; what is the inner connection between the two?

This class explains the special significance of Tu B’shvat – the New Year for the trees.

Wheat and barley are from the 'seven kinds' that are specifically attributed to the holy land; discover their deeper dimension as related in our service of G-d.

Three advanced Torah classes that provide in-depth insights into Tu B'Shevat.