Tu B'Shvat

🎉 🇮🇱 Israel • January 27, 2026

Days off: 1 days • Falls on Tuesday

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Tu B'Shvat — holiday, Israel (January 27, 2026)

Tu B'Shvat Description

The Jewish New Year for Trees, originally an agricultural date for calculating tithes, now celebrated as an ecological awareness day and celebration of the Land of Israel's natural heritage. Schools and communities organize tree-planting ceremonies across the country, continuing a tradition that has transformed Israel's landscape over the past century. Seder Tu B'Shvat meals feature the seven biblical species: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates, along with other fruits and nuts. Government offices and banks close, while schools often take children on nature field trips. The holiday has gained new significance with growing environmental consciousness in Israeli society.

📜 History & Origins

Tu B'Shvat (the 15th of Shvat) is first mentioned in the Mishnah (c. 200 CE) as one of four 'new years' in the Jewish calendar, serving as the cut-off date for tithing the fruit of trees — produce that budded before this date belonged to the previous tax year. With the destruction of the Temple and exile, the agricultural tithes lapsed, and the day faded. It was revived by 16th-century Kabbalists in Safed, who composed a Tu B'Shvat Seder modeled on the Passover Seder, and Zionist pioneers later transformed it into a tree-planting festival.

🎉 How It's Celebrated

Schools nationwide close and children are taken on nature outings and tree-planting ceremonies organized by the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet LeIsrael), which has planted hundreds of millions of trees across Israel since 1901. Families and communities hold a Tu B'Shvat Seder, reciting blessings over and tasting a succession of fruits, ideally including the seven species of the Land of Israel. The day is widely marked as a Jewish Earth Day, with lectures, hikes, and environmental projects.

🍽️ Traditional Foods

Tables groan with fruit, especially the shivat haminim — the seven species named in Deuteronomy: wheat, barley, grapes (and wine), figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates. Almonds, carob, and dried fruits such as apricots and prunes are traditional, and many try a fruit they have not eaten all year so they can say the Shehechiyanu blessing over it.

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