Somehow I managed to totally forget to take pictures, I NEVER do that! I was so sad. Yesterday was Tu B'shevat, which because it is a Jewish Holiday it actually started Sunday at sun down. Tu B'shevat is one of three Jewish Holidays that has a Seder meal that goes with it. I was so excited that my friend accepted my invitation for her family to join my family in this event.
I spent several weeks studying Tu B'shevat, trying to fully understand it. I read multiple Seder scripts before I wrote mine to present for our dinner. Like Always I learned so much!
Before we really even knew anything about Tu B'shevat my sister and I had selected a tree as our logo image for our website, blog and attempt at vlogging, YouTube, or podcasting. We knew that trees were important, but it is only been recently that I realized the true importance of trees.
I do feel as if I should share a little about our podcasting/YouTube videos. I haven't written much about this process. After our Thanksgiving video we decided no one wants to listen to us drone on and on for hours so we decided to cut our videos to 6 minutes or less. We had an AWESOME script for Christmas, attempted to record them and failed. We felt strongly that we were supposed to go in another direction and focus strictly on the Jewish holidays and how they relate to our beliefs. So we started focusing on Tu B'shevat. Recording went a little smother than last time, but we ultimately were unsatisfied and not comfortable posting those ones either. And decided that we need to focus first on the big seven (or eight) however you count that are commanded in the Bible. Starting with Passover. We are excited for that upcoming recording and ask for prayers that it goes smoothly.
But just because we aren't recording on the minor holidays, yet, doesn't stop me from celebrating them and learning from them.
Like Passover the Tu B'shevat Seder includes lots of drinking of grape juice (or wine if you are Jewish). I decided I need to invest in some Kiddush cups before Passover. By the time you are done drinking all the Grape Juice you are completely full and there is not room for the delicious meal that follows. Kiddush is the drinking of wine the evening of the sabbath to welcome in the Sabbath. It is done with small (shot like) glasses. If I got these, you would drink less grape juice, leaving more room for the delicious meal.
Tu B’shevat juices start with a cup of white grape juice, with each cup you add a little more red grape juice until the fourth cup is all red. These four cups represent the four different seasons, and what we can learn from each season. You can see how this is A LOT of juice!
You alternate the drinking of juice with the eating of fruit. The first fruit you eat is one with a hard shell (a nut of some sort). The second is a fruit with a hard pit (cherry, apricot, nectarines… these are exceptionally difficult to find in winter, however I was able to find sone nectarines and they were DELIGHTFUL). The third fruit is entirely edible such as berries or grapes. And the forth is one that has a peel that must be removed to enjoy the sweetness inside. Each fruit also has a lesson to go with it. Then you eat a vegetarian meal… mmm mmm good
Traditionally on Tu B'shevat Jews plant trees in Jerusalem, or donate money to the tree fund, to reforest Jerusalem in fruit trees, to restore it to its original beauty. It is winter here, so it isn't ideal for planting anything. I have ordered at lemon tree, that I am going to plant inside, however it hasn't shown up. But this is also about the time I always plant my garden veggie seeds inside to prepare for my spring gardening. So we did that.
Also Tu B'shevat falls approximately 90 days before the holiday of First Fruits. Which is the holiday that they offer up the sacrifice of the first fruits of their Barley harvest. Barley takes approximately 90 to grow from planting to harvesting. So despite the fact that I can't find anything pairing these two officially together, the Israelites must have planted the barely on or around Tu B'shevat. We planted Barley in a pot, so that we will have some to celebrate First Fruits with.
And then after we were done planting, we sat down for or Seder Meal. The kids were very well behaved. My kids told me it was much better than Passover, shorter, and lots sweeter. We ate some amazing fruit. and I loved the opportunity I had to share my testimony with my friends. And provide the object lessons for them. It was awesome!
Ok So if you want to join in the fun and do a Tu B'Shevat Seder in light of the Restored Gospel feel free to use my Seder Guide, or you can use mine as a starting point and make your own. Here is the link for THE SEDER GUIDE LINK. And if you want to make it a booklet here is THE BOOKLET LINK, you will just need to tell your computer to print two pages per sheet, front to back. If your printer does not have a front to back option then tell it to print all odd pages, then once it is finished printing reseed them in the order they came (so on my printer I have to restock them) and then tell your printer to print all even pages. It might take you a couple times of finagling it to figure it out, but it isn't too bad.
