Israel’s Holiday of Trees Moves Indoors Tara Kavaler
Youth organizations, nonprofits help youth find creative ways to substitute for traditional tree planting
With Israel in a strict lockdown scheduled to end February 1, this Tu b’Shvat will be unlike any other as the distinctively outdoorsy Jewish holiday shifts indoors.
Tu b’Shvat, a minor Jewish holiday marking the “new year of the trees,” has long been celebrated by Israeli schoolchildren taking field trips to plant trees.
The arbor day of sorts that has taken on Earth Day-style activism occurs each year on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Shevat. This year, that coincides with January 28 (the holiday begins at sundown on January 27), less than a month before the one-year anniversary of the first coronavirus case in Israel in late February 2020.