The 15th day of the Jewish month of Shevat - January 30, 2010 this year - is the day on which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel begin to blossom, and a new fruit-bearing cycle is begun. In Jewish law, this cycle is important for calculating when a fruit of a young tree may be eaten (fruits may not be eaten from trees younger than 3 years old), and when fruits are considered produce of the shmittah year (the seventh year during which land must lie fallow).

In the 17th century, celebrated mystic Rabbi Yitzhak Luria of Tzfat instituted the practice of making a Tu b'Shevat seder (ritual meal) in which the fruits and trees of the Land of Israel were praised for their special intrinsic qualities and symbolism. The seder includes the drinking of four cups of wine (a parallel of the Passover seder) and the eating of various kinds of fruits - especially the seven mentioned in the Torah.

"For Hashem, your G-d, is bringing you to a good Land: a Land with streams of water, of springs and underground water coming forth in valley and mountain; a Land of wheat, barley, grape, fig, and pomegranate; a Land of oil-olives and date-honey; a Land where you will eat bread without poverty - you will lack nothing there." (Deut. 8:7-9)