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Getting to the Root of Tu B’Shevat

JL;DR SUMMARY Tu B'Shevat, often misunderstood as a day of judgment, is a halachic New Year specifically for fruit trees, delineating their tithing cycle in Jewish agricultural law. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Spiritual GrowthEretz YisraelTzedakahHalachaShemitahTu B'shevatTithingMaaserFruitsRainfall

Places mentioned

Israel
"The Gemara explains that by the middle of Shevat, most of the rain in Eretz Yisrael has already fallen."
New York, United States
"Even Jews living far from the landwhether in New York, Europe or South Americaare bound to its rhythms."
Yerushalayim, Jerusalem, Palestinian Territories
"In years one, two, four and five of Shemitah, farmers separate maaser sheini, a second tenth that must be brought to Yerushalayim and eaten there."
This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 73567
Cairo Source ID 6
Retrieved 2026-01-27 05:31:17 UTC
Curated 2026-01-27 08:30:47 UTC