Tu B'Shvat

Tu B'shvatis here...

The festival of trees.

Six Fun Facts!

Fact #1

Tu B’Shvat is the day that marks the beginning of a ‘new year for the trees’ and is celebrated on 15th of Shevat – Tu B’Shvat.

Fact #2

The custom on Tu B’Shvat is to eat fruits from the seven species - "wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates" (Deuteronomy). Some people make a fruit salad of 15 different types of fruit - 15th Shvat.

Draw a line from the word to the picture.

• strawberry
• plums
• bananas
• kiwi
• pears
• apple
• peaches
• dates
• raisins
• figs
• grapes
• melon
• lemons
• orange

Fact #3

Why do trees celebrate their New Year so much later than ours? It has to do with the rainy season in Israel, which begins with the festival of Sukkot. It takes four months for the rain to saturate the soil, nurture the trees and produce the fruit.

Fact #4

The word “Shevat” (שבט) has exactly the same numerical value as “ilan” (אילן), the Hebrew word for “tree.” Shevat adds up to - 311 (300+9+2). Now take every letter of the word 'Ilan' and spell it out in full: א אלף 111 י יוד 20 ל למד 74 ן נון 106 Now add up 111+20+74+106, and you arrive at 311, exactly the same value as the month of Shevat.

Can you match the numbers in the Tu B'shvat tree?

20

300

three hundred

twenty

nine

seven

one hundred and six

two

111

one hundred and eleven

106

Fact #5

Tu Bishvat is actually one of four new years on the Hebrew calendar. HEAD OF THE YEAR NEW YEAR FOR TREES NEW YEAR FOR ANIMALS NEW YEAR OF KINGS

Fact #6

Many popular Hebrew names are tree-related. These include Tamar (a date tree) Erez (a cedar tree) Alon (an oak tree) Ilan/Ilana (tree)

Choose the correct word - Look at the picture. Check your answers -

• palm tree
• rose
• cedar tree

• olive tree
• oak tree
• elm tree

I am a .

I am an .

• fig tree
• palm tree
• oak tree

• cedar tree
• oak tree
• date tree

I am a .

I am a .

• pine tree
• cedar tree
• palm tree

• oak tree
• cedar tree
• olive tree

I am an .

I am a .

I hope you enjoyed the activities.

For more Freebies, click here.

Thank you -www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3264/jewish/15-Shevat.htm