I love Tu Bishvat !! It is a holiday that does not receive the respect it deserves in my opinion.
Tu B’Shvat is also called “the festival of trees.” It was first celebrated from the time of the Mishna, and is called “Rosh Hashanah La ilan”- “New year of the trees”.
The purpose of this holiday is to mark the beginning and renewal of trees and their fruits. In other words, fruits that began to ripen before Tu B’Shvat are considered fruits of last year, and fruits that began to ripen after Tu B’Shvat are considered fruits of the New Year.
Why does it matter whether the fruits are of last year or of the new year? This information is necessary for the fulfillment of all kinds of commends from the Jewish traditions.
Originally, this holiday has a religious purpose, but it was reborn, together with Zionism and the State of Israel, which was in its first stages. The leadership of the the young state wanted to renew nature and connect the settlers to the land and to nature, and decided upone Tu B’Shvat as the most suitable holiday to plant trees.
In 1908, the Teachers Union in Israel (funny to realize that the organization had existed before the establishment of the State of Israel) declared that Tu Bishvat was a planting festival in Israel, and the idea was approved by the leaders of the Zionist movement, and to this day, every school and kindergarten celebrate this holiday by planting trees all over the country.
Then we understood that Tu B’Shvat, had mainly to do with trees and the land of Israel, so it was perceived as a local holiday, so why do Jews around the world celebrate a holiday that characterizes commends that are dependent on or connected to the Land of Israel? And why do we eat dried fruits?
In order to express the connection between the Jewish people scattered in the Diaspora and the land of Israel, various customs related to the fruits of the Land of Israel were created. Eating dried fruits is a remnant of the custom of Diaspora Jewry to eat from the fruits of the holy land. In the past, in order for the fruits to “survive” all the way from Israel to the various places around the world, they used to send dried fruits. It is amusing (or rather the opposite) to think that most of the dried fruits eaten in Israel today, are not made in Israel.
Today, those who do not live in Israel eat dried fruits, just like in the old days in order to maintain a symbolic connection with the homeland.
So, as an absolute patriot who somehow found herself in the United States, I decided to make sure to mark this holiday.
In Israel we would go to my grandmother and eat dried fruit, go to see the tree blossoms, and among other things my mother would (and still does) make Mendelborit cookies. This recipe is easy, can be done in a mixer or manually, it does not really matter.
Ingredients
300 gr. Of chopped almonds and walnuts (not salted)
300 gr. Of chopped dried fruits (I used cranberries, cherries, apricots and dates)
1/3 cup of all purpose white flour
1/3 cup of whole wheat flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 eggs
1/4 tsp of fresh graded ginger
Instructions
1. Mix all the ingredients in a mixer on a slow speed
2. If your loaf pan is nonstick, lubricate it lightly and pour the mixture into it. If it’s not nonstick, arrange a baking sheet in the loaf pan and lubricate it lightly. then pour the mixture into it
3. Place the mixture tightly using wet hands
4. Bake the cake for an hour in an oven preheated to 355 F°
5. Wait util it is cool. Turn the loaf over on a cutting board and slice into thin slices
6. You can put the cookies on a tray and bake it for 15 minutes 300 F° to make them drier (harder). This stage is optional- either way they are delicious
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