Virtual Tu B’iShvat Seder, Sunday, January 16, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. (EST) With Erica Schulz Yakovetz Sign up to receive the link by adding your name to https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iFW_DLcgpWdvn48AQGfIEvLcNrLioBsyigTUW7sEPH4/edit#gid=0 Tu BiShvat, the 15th of the month of Shvat, is called the New Year of the Trees. This date was originally used to calculate the agricultural cycle and the tithing of the produce of the trees for the Temple in Jerusalem. The Kabbalists took this minor agricultural holiday and gave it new significance by inventing a ritual celebration, modeled on the Passover Seder and invoking such powerful imagery as the turning seasons of the year. Throughout the centuries, the tree has served as a kabbalistic metaphor for God's relationship to the spiritual and physical worlds. Join us on a mystical journey through the kabbalistic Four Worlds of Asiyah (Action), Yetzirah (Formation), Beriah (Creation), and Atzilut (Emanation), as we eat from four kinds of fruit and experience the renewing of life in the year. Special guest speaker, joining us remotely from greater Chicagoland, is longtime TBS member Erica Schultz Yakovetz. List of Seder fruits: There are four categories of tree fruit. The greater the variety at a seder the more festive, but some representation from each category is all you need. Edible interior—Inedible exterior Pomegranate Any citrus fruit Banana Lychee Shell nuts: Pistachios, Walnuts, Almonds etc. Coconut Edible exterior—Inedible interior Dates Olives (with pits!) Mango any other pit fruit (not ideal season) or mango Edible all the way through Any berry or mix Figs Star fruit Apples Kiwi Kumquats Fragrance: Bark, leaves or fruit used as spice or cooked Cinnamon sticks Bay leaves Havdalah spice mix Etrog Quince White Wine or Grape Juice Red Wine or Grape Juice