Hello, Kveller folks. Just a friendly reminder that Tu Bishvat, the Birthday of the Trees, starts tonight at sundown. If you need some last minute ideas for food, crafts, and activities, we’ve got you covered.

To Eat

A common way to celebrate Tu Bishvat is to eat foods that contain the seven species from the Bible: figs, dates, pomegranates, olives, grapes, wheat and barley. That means you could make stuffed dates or fig and goat cheese sandwiches. Or you could make this fruity dinner for Tu Bishvat featuring orange and maple baked tofu and persimmon and pistachio cupcakes.

To keep up with the fruit theme, this orange salad is light and refreshing. And what better way to eat fruit then dipped in chocolate? Here comes in the chocolate fondue with fruit. Lastly, a little adult fun can be had with some homemade sangria using any of your favorite fruits. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: activities, crafts, featured, jewish holidays, recipesa, Tu Bishvat

Two months prior to my birth, according to the date on the inside cover in my mother’s handwriting, my parents received a copy of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree. A gift that, based on an unscientific survey of people in my demographic, was a very popular birth gift in the late 1960s/early 1970s.

When I was growing up, Tu Bishvat included an annual reading of The Giving Tree. It was a tradition that I dreaded. A rather unpopular reaction at the time and one that I learned to keep to myself. After all, it takes a certain kind of crazy to publicly decry a beloved children’s book. Although I wasn’t yet able to articulate it, there was something about the relationship between the boy and the tree that greatly troubled me. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: featured, jewish children's books, shel silverstein, Tu Bishvat

Tu Bishvat begins this Friday. For some, this holiday will only register because a child enrolled in Hebrew school (or Jewish Day School) will come home with a sandwich bag full of dried fruits and nuts or with a story about the Tu Bishvat Seder she participated in at school.

But for most of us, this admittedly minor Jewish holiday will pass without much (any?) fanfare. The concept is great: a New Year for the trees. The winter rains in Israel are on their way out; its time to welcome spring, to honor the earth in all of its life-sustaining glory, to get our fingernails dirty and plant something. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: death, featured, Grandparents, jewish holidays, Tu Bishvat

In case you didn’t know, there’s a minor Jewish holiday coming up on January 25th called Tu Bishvat, and it’s all about trees.

Oftentimes referred to as the “New Year for Trees” or the “Birthday of the Trees,” Tu Bishvat comes as the trees in Israel just start to blossom (we know, we know, there’s still snow on the ground in many places right now, including Israel, but an early springtime celebration never hurts).

Anyways, back to the trees: many families celebrate Tu Bishvat by planting trees and celebrating all that they have to offer. This month, PJ Library, an organization that sends out free Jewish books to families each month, offered up a true gem, just in time for Tu Bishvat: A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry, illustrated by Marc Simont. Originally published in 1956 and winner of the Caldecott Medal, this charming picture book is a throwback to a simpler time, and a reminder to soak in the wonder of nature all around us. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: Books, featured, PJ Library, pj library corner, Tu Bishvat

So you’re looking for a way to celebrate Tu Bishvat with your kids? Don’t feel like just drawing a tree on paper and sticking it up on the wall? Well, you’re in luck. We’ve done some research and found some of the best Tu Bishvat crafts out there. Read on…

1. Here at Kveller, we have some fun tree-based crafts. If you haven’t seen this amazing Tree of Life wall hanging that’s made out of recycled toilet paper rolls, check it out above. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Activities, Parenting
• Tags: crafts, trees, Tu Bishvat

It’s Tu Bishvat time! Do you know what to do, eat, drink and feel on this Jewish holiday? It starts at sundown tonight, so use this time to brush up on your Tu Bishvat street smarts, take the quiz, and let us know how you do.

Take the QUIZ now!

• Posted in Traditions
• Tags: jewish holidays, quiz, Tu Bishvat

No time to plan a 15-course fruit seder for Tu Bishvat? Try candy.

The holiday of Tu Bishvat, a.k.a. the birthday of the trees, starts at sundown tomorrow. Tu Bishvat is a field day for all environmentally-conscious families: an ideal ground from which to explore, celebrate and protect all things ecological. Kabbalists gave it a 15-course fruit seder of its own back in the 16th century, which is still observed in some fashion today. But if you want to make this tradition more tangible for your kids, we have some candy recommendations for you.

To read the rest of Joanna’s piece, click here.

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: candy, featured, kosher, seder, snacks, trees, Tu Bishvat

Well, it’s that time of year again: the birthday of the trees. My 2.5-year-old loves celebrating birthdays, so I think we’ll have to do something special for all those trees. As usual, I look to the internet for my inspiration–and oh man, am I inspired! So inspired that I can’t decide where to start… but I’m determined that one of these (or more, maybe) will land on my Shabbat dinner table tonight. Nothing like starting the celebration early, right? (Tu Bishvat officially begins on Tuesday night, Feb 7.)

First of all, here at Kveller we have some delicious new ways to celebrate trees. Like these date-orange muffins from Ronnie Fein:

Or this chocolate and fruit fondue from Leah Schapira at CookKosher.com–easy and kid-friendly.

There’s also lemon-almond-semolina cake, persimmon and pistachio cupcakes, and lemon-lavender cake. In case you needed more sweets, that is. For a walk on the savory side, try these fig and goat cheese sandwiches with caramelized onions. Dee-lish.

Oh, and did I mention that sangria is VERY Tu Bishvat-friendly? There’s a lot of fruit in that wine.

Our friend Tori Avey over at The Shiksa in the Kitchen made these Seven Species muffins, using all of the “seven species” mentioned in the Torah: barley, wheat, grapes, figs, pomegranates, dates, and olives. I’m kind of impressed that she got all of those into one muffin–and knowing her, it’s got to be scrumptious!

Joy of Kosher reminds us that you actually can make Tu Bishvat recipes not just from fruit, but from trees themselves when you use ingredients like cinnamon. I’m a little bit excited about this cinnamon chocolate cake:

And just in case you needed more Tu Bishvat deliciousness, over at The Jew and the Carrot they’re using almonds to celebrate the birthday of the trees, with a pomegranate and sour cherry mandelbrot (like a biscotti) and a quinoa pilaf. Enjoy!

• Posted in Activities, Recipes, Traditions
• Tags: birthday of trees, recipes, seven species, Tu Bishvat

The beginnings of what will eventually be our apples.

Years ago my husband and I volunteered on Kibbutz Sde Eliahu in Israel, working in an organic vineyard and vegetable garden. On Tu Bishvat, kibbutzniks we had never seen in the fields came to help in the garden for a few hours. When we left the kibbutz, the leader of the vineyard gave us a little farewell blessing. We didn’t understand it all but he definitely said to “have children” and “plant trees with real roots, not just tomatoes.”

So, we returned home and pretty much got to work following his instructions. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Traditions
• Tags: Israel, kibbutz, On the farm, Tu Bishvat

Serving bowl not included.

Tu Bishvat is all about the trees and fruit. And while it would be difficult to give away a whole tree, we are offering up some yummy fruit, and by that we mean a box of dates.

Here at Kveller, we’re partnering with our contributor Tanya Tolchin, who has a farm in Maryland and runs an organization called Israeli Harvest. The organization supports farming in Israel by offering Israeli farm products in the United States.

So if you win this contest, you’ll get a package of delicious, giant, and amazing medjool dates, straight from Israel. (Note: we can only deliver to people within the continental U.S, unfortunately.) A great way to celebrate Tu Bishvat, for sure! Oh, and if you don’t win, you can always order your own package of deliciousness right here.

To enter? Just name your favorite fruit below and we’ll select a reader at random by Friday at 5 pm. Good luck!

(Tu Bishvat, often called the birthday of the trees, starts on Tuesday night, February 7. The holiday is celebrated by eating new fruit, drinking some wine, and appreciating trees and the environment in all their glory.)

• Posted in Activities, Traditions
• Tags: contest, dates, featured, giveaway, Tu Bishvat