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Resource Category: Tu B'Shvat

Tu B’Shvat, also called the New Year for the Trees, is a Jewish holiday focused on nature and humankind’s stewardship of Earth, and serves as a time to reflect on personal growth and practice gratitude by appreciating the things in our lives we so often take for granted.

Like all living things, we are constantly growing and bettering ourselves. Just as we care for the trees, we also must care for ourselves. Just as we water a garden, we must nourish ourselves. When used as part of our own self-care, gratitude can play a large role in healing, both physically and mentally.

Learning to Love Your Tree

By Jaime Glazerman | The Torah compares the human body to a tree and writes that "For man is a tree of the field” (Deuteronomy 20:19). Just like we love and appreciate trees of all shapes and sizes, we must learn to love and appreciate our own unique "trees".
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Love Your Tree – Tu B’Shvat and Body Positivity

The month of February is set aside as Eating Disorders and Body Image Awareness Month. It is a time when we call attention to people who are struggling with all kinds of eating and body image-related challenges and a time to celebrate people of all shapes and forms. Tu B’Shvat and body positivity are surprisingly related within Jewish tradition.
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Planting a Gratitude Tree

The midrash in Kohelet Rabbah teaches: “When God created the first man he took him and showed him all the trees of the Garden of Eden and said to him, ‘See my works, how beautiful and praiseworthy they are. And everything that I created, I created it for you. Be careful not to spoil or destroy my world–for if you do, there will be nobody after you to repair it.'” Trees, in this text, are the tool used to teach the first human beings to feel gratitude for the world around them.
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Mental Health and Climate Change

Given the reality of climate change and its accompanying consequences on our collective mental health, we need to start thinking about how we can make sure our mental health is stable as we try to figure out how to save the world at large.
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