Tu - Bishvat

Today was Tu Bishvat (the 15th day of the Jewish month of Shevat). Just as we have a "Rosh Hashana" a day on which G-d decides our future for the upcoming year, trees also have a Rosh Hashana: one day a year when G-d decides how tall each tree will grow, if and how much fruit they will bear, etc. We use the term "The birthday of the trees" as a rough explanation to describe the beginning of the new year for trees when talking to children.
We  celebrate by eating fruit and specifically "the seven species" of fruits which the land of Israel was blessed with. These include wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.


In celebration of this day, we joined in a school assembly in the shule! We saw all the seven special fruits/foods that grow in the land of Israel. We even watched a short video about these. We then had a fruit party, where we were each able to try each of these fruits. We ended off with a delicious tree birthday cake (as you can see in the pictures).

 looking at the "7 fruits"

 The tree birthday cake

manya enjoying grapes

 

olives!

pomegranate seeds

dates

       Tova Leah eating barley! (she even asked for seconds :) :) )

Birthday cake