Tu B'Shevat with Solomon and the Trees

Did you know that there is a birthday celebration for trees?  Similar to Arbor Day, Tu B'Shevat is a minor Jewish holiday known as the New Year for Trees.  This environmental holiday is the perfect opportunity for connecting with the earth...

In ancient times, Tu Bishvat was not a holiday.  It was simply a date on the calendar that told Jewish farmers when they should bring their produce of fruit from recently planted trees to the Temple as first-fruit offerings.  It was prohibited to eat fruit from trees during the first three years of production (Leviticus 19), and so they brought forth the crops on the fourth year.

Tu B’Shevat is a great holiday for connecting to the environment. In Israel the holiday arrives on the fifteenth of Shevat, along with the first signs of spring. This is perfect timing as the trees are beginning to blossom for the coming year.  The timing is not quite as fortuitous in the United States.

For this unit, we are using Solomon and the Trees as our spine read.

Access the complete unit study in the Jewish Holidays in Literature Bundle!

Each of the ten unit studies in this year-long bundle centers around a book for middle school level and includes videos, cooking projects, hands-on activities, writing assignments, and more.  There are also resources for younger children in eight of the ten units (not in *).

• Introduction to Judaism
• Solomon and the Trees + Tu B’Shevat unit
• The Queen of Persia + Purim unit study (sample)
• Devil’s Arithmetic + Passover unit study
• The Secret Shofar of Barcelona + Rosh Hashana unit study
• The Yom Kippur Shortstop + Yom Kippur unit study
• The Mysterious Guests + Sukkot unit study
• All-of-a-Kind Family Hannukah + Chanukah unit study
• Broken Strings + Fiddler on the Roof + Persecution unit study*
• The Golem & the Jinni + Kabbalah unit*