Jews of Dnepropetrovsk turned out en mass to celebrate Tu B’shvat, otherwise known as the New Year of Trees. The first event, held on January 27 – a few days before Tu B’shvat – involved residents of the Beit Baruch Home for the Elderly. A gala concert featured numerous songs about plants, the Land of Israel, and the coming of spring, which symbolizes victory. The highlight of the evening was a choir performance, directed by Ida Zipkin. On the actual day of Tu B’shvat (Saturday, January 30 this year) following the morning prayers, the residents of Beit Baruch enjoyed a “Kiddush” at which time they all tasted the seven fruit that the Bible associates with the land of Israel.

A separate event took place at the Ohr Avner Levi Yitzchak Schneerson School, where students organized skits in the style of a medieval street theater. Mikhael Livshits, a music and Hebrew teacher at the school, put his heart and soul into this event, while the children put their imaginations to work as well as creating their carnival costumes. Each character told his own story and the children were happy to answer questions about the meaning and significance of the holiday in the past and present, about the seven fruits of Israel, and the inextricable connection of every Jew with the Holy Land.

At the Beit Tzindlicht Children’s Educational Center, youngsters celebrated the New Year of trees in individual classrooms, with each teacher speaking to the kids about the importance of the symbols of the holiday, how Tu B’shvat is celebrated in Israel, and how it is celebrated elsewhere. Some groups took part in developing games dedicated to trees, plants and vegetables, while others learned new songs. The children learned how a tree is structured and why the Torah compares a person to a tree.

While this part of eastern Ukraine is far from the Land of Israel that is seeing the first stirrings of spring, the holiday revealed some green buds even in Dnepropetrovsk! Certainly some of the new growth was physical, while other was in terms of the seeds of knowledge and connection with the Holy Land that these events generated.

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