"And there are four new year dates: - The first of Nissan - new year for kings and festivals - The first of Ellul - new year for animal tithes. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say: the first of Tishrei. - The first of Tishrei- new year for calculation of the calendar, sabbatical years and jubilees, for planting and sowing - The first of Shvat - new year for trees, according to the school of Shamai; The school of Hillel say: the fifteenth of Shvat." Mishna "Rosh Hashana", Ch.1, Mishna 1

Tu B'Shvat is the festival which most visibly demonstrates the Jewish people's link to Eretz Israel. It is the festival when everyone experiences their love to the land and for the commandments which relate to the land. It is the festival of agriculture and nature's renewal; the festival of love for trees which reaches back to our distant roots as a people in the land of Israel.

This festival was born in the country of Israel, where its main customs and traditions developed. When the country was conquered and the Jewish people went into exile, they took with them their customs, including the festival of Tu B'Shvat. Taking it with them, they symbolically carried with them throughout their wanderings Eretz Israel itself and the memory of its fruits and trees.

In ancient times, the land of Israel was covered with forest. During the years which the Jews spent in exile, the forests were cut down by the land's new inhabitants and the soil became dry and yellow desert. Only towards the end of the nineteenth century, with the beginnings of Zionism, did Jews start returning to the land of their forefathers. The representatives of the Zionist movement considered reforestation a sacred duty, the symbol of the arrival of the era of renewal. With scant regard for the effort required, the enthusiasts cleared the hills of stones and planted forests. In the mosquito infested swamps they planted eucalyptus trees. The first tree-planting Tu B'Shvat ceremony of modern times was performed by the inhabitants of the Galilee moshav of "Yessod HaMa'alah" in 1884. On that day, hundreds of trees were planted, including 770 citrus trees.

In 1908, the Teachers' Union declared Tu B'Shvat a day of tree-planting. The city of Tel Aviv had not yet been founded, so the students from the Jewish schools of Yaffo [Jaffa] planted trees on the agricultural allotments of the college at Mikve Yisrael, not far from Yaffo. In 1913, fifteen hundred Jerusalem school students went out to the settlement of Motza, near the city entrance, where they fulfilled the precept of planting trees. During the First World War [1914-18], the Jewish population of the country lived in constant danger. The inhabitants of Tel Aviv fled the city and the tree-planting tradition stopped, only to be renewed during the British mandate period - since when it has continued uninterrupted.

Since the establishment of the State of Israel, all afforestation has been transferred to the "Keren Kayemet leYisrael" [Jewish National Fund], and thousands of dunams of forest have been planted. The JNF is the largest foundation within the Zionist movement and has been responsible for purchasing land in Israel for settlement and afforestation since 1905.