Tu B'Shvat

Today is Tu B'Shvat, the official "birthday" of the trees. In America, we didn't really do anything for it aside from the PTA handing out bags of dried fruit and "buksar" (carob) to the kids in school. That was until a few years ago, when the Kollel Torah MiZion in Detroit started doing a Seder Tu B'Shvat for women, which was very nice. We sat around a table, ate the different fruits from the 7 species (and other fruits as well), read relevant passages and sang relevant songs. Like I said - very nice. Then we moved to Israel.

We live in what could best be described as a cul-de-sac. The addresses are all Slav 32, with the first 8 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. For example, we are 32a, the neighbors we share a building with are 32b, and our neighbors directly across from us are 32g and h. Eight houses (four buildings - each is a side-by-side two family house) surround a common parking area. This is so great because not only do the kids have a place to play, but they also have other kids to play with. So, on any given afternoon starting around 4pm, the parking area is crawling with kids.

Last night we had a Slav 32 Seder Tu B'Shvat. It was really fun. We started with going through the seven species and other foods, trying to cover as many brachot as we could. Then we brought out supper - falafel, of course. Everyone brought something. It was really amazing. Each family also brought out a folding table, which we arranged as one long table and covered with a cloth. The kids sang, ate, and played, and the adults ate and talked. It was a very heartwarming experience to spend with our neighbors.

Tu B'Shvat Sameach!