In recent decades, Tu Bishvat has taken on a variety of forms. In major Hasidic sects, it is marked with tishim—festive gatherings around a table laden with fruits. In schools and youth movements, children go out to plant trees. In many homes, different customs are observed to mark the “New Year for Trees,” including holding a Tu Bishvat seder.
Tu Bishvat is recognized as the New Year for Trees since the time of the Mishnah, in Tractate Rosh Hashanah: “There are four new years: On the first of Nisan is the new year for kings and festivals; on the first of Elul is the new year for the tithing of cattle. Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Shimon say: on the first of Tishrei. On the first of Tishrei is the new year for years, Sabbatical years, Jubilees, for planting and for vegetables. On the first of Shevat is the new year for trees, according to Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel say, on the fifteenth thereof” (Rosh Hashanah 1:1).
Each of these dates marks the beginning of a new count for different legal purposes. The first of Tishrei serves as the new year for Sabbatical cycles and begins the religious calendar year. In Nisan, years of kings were counted—if a king ascended the throne even in Adar, the following month of Nisan would already count as the second year of his reign. The New Year for Trees, which was established in halacha (Jewish law) as the 15th of Shevat, determines the beginning of the tree’s year for calculating its age.
During the first years of a tree’s life, its fruit is considered orlah (forbidden to eat), and the years are counted not from the date of planting but from Tu Bishvat. Fruit that begins to grow after this date is considered part of the new year, which also has implications for tithing. According to halacha, in the Land of Israel there is a mitzvah to tithe a portion of the new fruit—to the priests, the Levites, or the poor—allowing the rest to be eaten. Whether fruit is classified as “old” or “new” for this purpose depends on whether it began to grow before or after Tu Bishvat.
The Jerusalem Talmud (Rosh Hashanah) states: “Until now, the trees live from the water of the previous year; from now on, they live from the water of the new year”—meaning, the trees had been nourished by the rains of the past year, and now begin to draw from this year’s rainfall.
The sages of the city of Safed, including the kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Ari), instituted the custom of eating fruits from the Land of Israel and reciting blessings over them on this day. An old work titled "Chemdat Yamim," whose author is unknown, notes: “It is a good custom for the wholehearted to increase their consumption of fruits on the eve of this day, and to recite songs and praises over them.”
In Hasidic tradition, there are stories of rebbes in Europe who went to great lengths to obtain even a single fruit from the Land of Israel so they could make a blessing on it on Tu Bishvat. Rabbi David Biderman of Lelov, one of the first Hasidic leaders to move to the Land of Israel, would host a special Tu Bishvat table for his followers featuring fruits from the land. He would note that the day is “auspicious for salvation, because just as the tree is blessed with its fruit, so too shall a person be praised by his fruits.”
One story tells of Tu Bishvat 1916, during World War I, when many in Jerusalem perished from plague and starvation. The rebbe sat down, as was his custom, to a table of fruits—but due to the fear of disease, no one came. Suddenly, the door opened and a young boy from a Hasidic family entered and told the rebbe that his entire family had fallen ill and was near death. Rabbi David Biderman burst into tears and prayed:
“Master of the Universe, my joy in the holiday of the Land of Israel has been extinguished. Please, say ‘enough’ to our suffering.”
After the prayer, the rebbe composed himself, handed the child a fruit from the table and said: “Take this fruit home. I am certain that in the merit of Tu Bishvat’s fruits, your father will live to see fruit from you.” And indeed, the illness departed from their home.