5781 Community Tu B'Shvat Seder: Magical, Mystical and Modern

You may have heard of a Passover seder, but did you know that many people celebrate Tu BiShvat with seders also?

Jewish kabbalists (mystics) in the 16th and 17th centuries created a special ritual, modeled after the Passover seder, which celebrated God’s presence in the natural world. As the rituals and readings for the Tu BiShvat seder developed, they were eventually collected into a book, Pri Eitz Hadar, (The Fruit of the Goodly Tree), which was published in 1753.

What you will need:

WHITE AND RED GRAPE JUICE OR WINE (ENOUGH FOR FOUR SMALL GLASSES PER PERSON)

A Tu BiShvat seder, full of imagery and symbolism, is often divided into four sections that represent the four seasons. As with the Passover seder, the Tu BiShvat seder evolved to include four cups of wine or grape juice, but in varying shades of red, which represent the seasons: white for the bleak time of winter, white with a bit of red to represent the earth’s awakening in early spring, red with a bit of white representing the blossoming of late spring, and dark red to represent the fullness of all the growing plants and vegetation along with the heat of summer.

For adult or older teen participants, the seder are sometimes also divided into four mystical “spheres,” each of which represents a different relationship between humans and the earth: Assiya (Actualization), Yetzira (Formation), Beriah (Creation), and Atzilut (Nobility).

TASTINGS OF THREE CATEGORIES OF FRUITS OR NUTS

1. Those with an inedible outer covering and edible inside: melons, nuts, pomegranates, coconuts, citrus, bananas, etc.
2. Those with an edible outside but inedible pit inside: dates, olives, plums, peaches, apples, avocados, nectarines, pears, etc.
3. Those that are entirely edible: berries, figs, grapes, etc.