Tu BiSh’vat in the home
January 17, 2012 
3 Comments
by Melanie Cole Goldberg
The Jewish New Year of the Trees or Tu BiSh’vat lends itself to many home observations and activities. Here are a few suggestions and resources for you to try. This year, Tu BiSh’vat falls on February 8, 2012.
Planting Activities:
- Plant parsley seeds in sod pots by a sunny window. Harvest the parsley for your Pesach Seder.
- Plant a flowering bulb kit for a sunny window. In the middle of winter this is a wonderful hint of the spring season to come soon.
- If you live in a location where planting outside will work this time of year—plant a sampling in your yard!
- Plant trees in Israelthrough your donations to the Jewish National Fund.
Crafts Activities:
- Make leaf prints for paper placemats and use the placemats at a Tu BiSh’vat Seder.
- Take photos of beautiful trees and frame them.
- Make an edible bird/animal feeder with birdseed or plain popped popcorn and leave it in the branches of a tree.
Quiet Activities:
- Read a Tu BiSh’vat related book. Check your congregation’s library or the URJ Books and Music website URJ Books And Music
- Find information on Tu BiSh’vat on the web.
Food Activities:
- Prepare a Tu BiSh’vat Seder and invite friends to join you. Use this URJ resource for samples. For an additional connection to Israel, adults can use special Israeli wines that correspond to the different cups used at the seder.
- Prepare recipes for Tu BiSh’vat from around the world.
Miscellaneous Activities:
- Listen to or sing songs for Tu BiSh’vat.
- Give tzedakah to an environmental organization.
- Learn about the history of Tu BiSh’vat.
- Participate in an environmental clean up project in your community.
Melanie Cole Goldberg, RJE is a URJ Education Specialist.
Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah.
I wanted to offer my newly published book, the 4th in the Rabbi Rocketpower series of Jewish children’s books featuring the first-ever female rabbi superhero, as a new Tu Bishvat resource.
Rabbi Rocketpower in a Tooty Fruity Tale For Tu Bishvat not only teaches kids and adults about the traditions and history of Tu Bishvat and the Tu Bishvat seder, but the values of environmentalism. http://bit.ly/tlAxec
Oy vay! Up, up and away!
I don’t think parsley planted now will be ready for harvest by Passover this year.
Actually, parsley planted on Tu BiSh’vat the way Melanie Goldberg suggests (indoors, in a sunny place) usually is ready for Pesach. A popular Religious School craft and we use the parsley at the seder.