What do planting seeds, making granola and tasting wine have in common? These are all ways the Jewish community is marking Tu B’Shvat, the “new year for the trees.”
This year, the holiday begins at sundown on Feb. 1 and runs through Feb. 2. The Jewish DMV is blossoming with celebratory events for all ages. Here are just a few.
On Jan. 24, the Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia’s Growing Jewish Families is set to host a Tu B’Shvat nature walk and playtime in Vienna. Young children explored themes of nature and renewal through hands-on activities.
Families will also gather at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 1 for a “birthday party for the trees.” Children ages 5 to 12 will have the opportunity to decorate a pot and plant parsley seeds in a workshop led by local author Pamela Ehrenberg and a conservationist from the nonprofit Casey Trees.
Attendees will dance and sing along to live music, make their own seder-inspired trail mix, contribute to a “Thank You, Trees” community art build and embark on a conservation-themed scavenger hunt in the museum.
Another planting opportunity is the Feb. 1 Tu B’Shvat Experience for All Abilities at Washington Hebrew Congregation in partnership with Makom. Attendees can participate in a planting and craft project, a seder and an exploration of Israel’s agriculture and the significance of the holiday.
Community members are invited to gather for WHC’s third annual LGBTQ+ Tu B’Shvat seder and vegetarian potluck dinner Feb. 1 at Cantor Suzanne Hamstra’s home.
“Featuring an array of foods harvested directly from the earth, this tradition dates back to the 16th-century Kabbalists,” the event listing reads. “Modeled after the Passover Seder and its four cups of wine, [the Tu B’Shvat seder] celebrates the Divine in nature, in ourselves, and in our relationships with others.”
Keeping with the theme, Sixth & I Historic Synagogue’s Rabbi Jenna Shaw will lead a Tu B’Shvat seder and wine tasting at a bar in Northwest D.C. on Feb. 1. Attendees will “dive into nature-inspired texts, learn about natural wine from the experts, and explore the symbolism behind the fruit, nuts, and the four cups of wine we enjoy on this holiday.”
Also holding Tu B’Shvat seders are the Den Collective — a Jewish community for DMV adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s — and Am Kolel Jewish Renewal Community in Rockville.
Silver Spring Learning Center will also engage in a culinary adventure for Tu B’Shvat. In classroom celebrations that include families, the preschool students will plant seeds, eat dried fruits and taste the shivat haminim — the Seven Species of agricultural products: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates.
Congregation Olam Tikvah is set to host cookbook author Rachel Simons on Feb. 1 for an afternoon focused on Tu B’Shvat. The event will feature cooking demonstrations and tastings of various recipes from her cookbook, “Sesame: Global Recipes + Stories of an Ancient Seed,” which centers on flavors that “highlight the beauty of growing things and the tastes of Israel.”
The Pozez JCC also incorporated the tastebuds for a special Tu B’Shvat session of “Holy Yums!” on Jan. 20. Community shlicha Chen Mordechai led attendees in making homemade granola.
She noted that Tu B’Shvat, unlike many Jewish holidays that center around an event, is more abstract, so she brainstormed ways to make the “new year of the trees” relevant to community members.
“We were like, ‘Let’s cook something that’s connected to nature,’” Mordechai told Washington Jewish Week. “In granola, we are putting a lot of nuts and dried fruits from nature.”
Each attendee customized their granola with ingredients of their choice. As the granola baked, attendees studied a piece of text about the importance of a tree’s roots and paired up to discuss who they feel keeps them “rooted.”
The Edlavitch DCJCC’s JxJ will partner with the DC Environmental Film Festival for a Jan. 31 screening of “Hollow Tree,” a 2022 documentary that follows three teens in their “sinking homeland” of Louisiana. The young women travel along the Mississippi River and engage in dialogue with engineers, activists and community leaders alongside the film’s director and filmmaking team.
“Tu B’Shevat is not only a celebration of trees and fruit; it is an imperative to consider our relationship with our natural environment,” Mardy Shualy, director of JxJ, wrote in a statement to Washington Jewish Week. “This holiday is a moment to consider the physical legacies we leave as individuals and as communities, and those are the themes most powerfully highlighted in ‘Hollow Tree.’”
Director Kira Akerman will discuss the film in a post-screening conversation moderated by environmentalist Susan Crawford.
While many community events will center food, nature and conservation, another is more symbolic.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington is set to host a virtual event Feb. 1 in honor of 20 years of its Roots Society — donors who have supported the Federation at any giving level for the past two decades.
“As we mark Tu BiShvat, we can think of no better group to celebrate the ‘New Year for the Trees’ than Roots Society donors whose enduring commitment has helped shape and sustain Jewish life in Greater Washington,” the event listing reads.
Gil Preuss, the Federation’s CEO, will be in conversation with Nadine Epstein, the CEO and editor-in-chief of Moment Magazine, to reflect upon the past 20 years and discuss their vision for a “thriving Jewish future.”
