Did you know that Israel’s trees have their own New Year? It’s called Tu Bishvat!
Tu Bishvat is an important date in Israel’s agricultural calendar. Knowing when the agricultural year begins enabled the farmers to correctly observe the sabbatical laws of the land! Like everything in Israel, there are rules and laws to follow! In agriculture, we observe the laws of Shmitta. We follow an agricultural cycle of seven years, the last of which is called the Shmitta year (sabbatical) in which are instructed to leave our fields and let the land rest, unworked, for the entire year. During Temple times, in the first, second, fourth, and fifth years of the cycle, farmers were required...