Celebrate Tu BiShvat with JNF
Plant a Tree in Israel.
Sell trees in your school and win prizes! Search for your school’s page here.
Connect to Israel and JNF:
Jewish National Fund provides special opportunities to enhance the way you celebrate Tu BiShvat and connect to the land and people of Israel. We proudly think of Tu BiShvat, the world's first Earth Day, as JNF's holiday, as it embodies our dedication to Israel's environment.
Choose the way you participate:
TU BISHVAT IN THE SCHOOLS PROGRAM (for schools of all types):
JNF has planted over 260 million trees in Israel. While this is an impressive achievement, there is always a need for more, due to natural forest regrowth, forest fires, and arson. We encourage every student to help continue to build up Israel by purchasing one or more trees. This year we are pleased to make ordering and planting your trees in Israel very simple. We have created an online tree ordering platform. In January, you will receive an email with your school’s predesigned page. You can then share the link with your students, families and faculty to make their purchases. Tree certificates will be fulfilled immediately and should be received in homes within two weeks. You will be able to keep track, in real time, how many trees your school has sold, by looking at your page’s thermometer. If you have not received your link by mid-January, please email [email protected] and let us know, or you may search for your school’s link here.
If you are choosing to use the paper tree form, as you did in the past, one tree form, personalized with your school’s VIS number, was included in each box. Feel free to make as many copies of the form as you need and distribute
Send all orders in one large envelope, to:
JNF Tu BiShvat in the Schools Program
78 Randall Avenue
Rockville Centre, NY 11570
Please mail all tree orders to JNF by Friday, February 28,
*All orders must be received by the Friday, February 28, 2020 deadline and winners will be announced by April 1, 2020.
JNF RECOGNIZES STUDENTS AND SCHOOLS FOR PROGRAM PARTICIPATION:
Schools that plant 100 trees or more ($1800+) will receive special recognition listing at American Independence Park in Jerusalem. A certificate will also be sent to the school.
- This year, each school that participates in our annual tree sales competition will be entered for a chance to win two round-trip tickets to Israel. In addition, based on your school’s volume of tree sales, you can earn cash prizes for your school. The more trees you plant, the bigger the prize money.
- Prize levels are based on collective tree purchases for the whole school. Online tree sales and tree forms must be postmarked by Friday, February 28,
2020 to be included in our raffle and to win some great cash prizes!
PRIZE LEVELS:
Level 1*: Every school that plants 50 trees or more will receive $180.
Level 2*: Every school that plants 100 trees or more will receive $360.
Level 3*: Every school that plants 200 trees or more will receive $720.
*Please note that
Nationwide Student Tree Sale Contest: Encourage your students to promote your school’s tree sale campaign and they can win prizes. All they have to do is share your school’s link with their family and friends. When checking out, the buyer should put the
1st place nationwide: iPad Air and a $500 scholarship to Alexander Muss High School in Israel
2nd place nationwide: iPad Mini and a $250 scholarship to Alexander Muss High School in Israel
3rd place nationwide: AirPods and a $100 scholarship to Alexander Muss High School in Israel
**Must have a minimum of 36 trees credited to you.
Download the Student Tree Sale Contest flier.
2020 Tu BiShvat program:
Over 400 schools have received our Tu BiShvat program materials in the mail. If you need additional copies, or if you didn’t receive them via mail, you may download the materials here:
TU BISHVAT ACROSS AMERICA (for synagogues and organizations):
- Request a speaker for your Shabbat services, Tu BiShvat Seder or special program at no cost to you. JNF is proud to offer Makor, a cadre of trained and dedicated speakers. Complete this form.
- Order trees at jnf.org/trees or download this tree order form.
Additional Tu BiShvat Resources are below!
Supplemental materials to Tu BiShvat in the Schools program
As noted in the Facilitators Guide, below you will find additional materials including photographs, articles, and videos to use in the classroom with the program or to help clarify or show examples of the materials.
Article on
Photographs
Yatir Forest
Click here to download this photo.
Arava Institute
Click here to download this photo.
Click here to download this photo.
Kibbutz Lotan
Click here to download this photo.
Click here to download this photo.
Halutza
Click here to download this photo.
Click here to download this photo.
Click here to download this photo.
Click here to download this photo.
Wadi Attir
Click here to download this photo.
David Ben-Gurion
Click here to download this photo.
Videos
Jewish National Fund: Making the Desert Bloom
How to Grow an Avocado Tree from an Avocado Pit
The Trick to Growing Your Own Avocado Plant
How to Grow an Avocado from Seed
Arava Institute: Watercolor Changes
The Celery Experiment and How Plants Absorb Water from Their Roots
The Color-Changing Celery Experiment
Yatir Forest: Growing Trees in the Desert
Science Fair Projects About Growing Beans and the Life Cycle
Does the Type of Soil Affect the Growth Rate of Plants?
Kibbutz Lotan: Making the Desert Sprout
How to Grow Sprouts in Your Kitchen
Halutza: What Lies Beneath the Soil
Science Projects for Kids: Soil Experiments
How to Do Your Own Soil Experiment
Wadi Attir: The Next Milestone
Other Activities
Desalination
Drip Irrigation
Plastic Bottle Drip Water Irrigation System
Composting
10 Reasons Why You Should Compost
Learn about composting with rock musician Steven Van Zandt (for preschool and lower elementary grades): https://bananaslugs.bandcamp.com/track/decomposition
Program Ideas
- Activities for Tu BiShvat Family Fun Event (family - all ages)
- Tu BiShvat Scavenger Challenge (family - all ages)
- Tree Horoscopes (family - all ages)
- Middle School Tu BiShvat Seder (middle school)
- Tu BiShvat Throughout the Ages (middle-high school)
- Eco-Zionism: The Connections are Natural (high school)
- Student Perspectives: Tu BiShvat and Vegetarianism (background information)
- Secure Your Roots From Generation to Generation
Sermons/Divrei Torah
The following is a collection of sermons, compiled over a number of years, appropriate for Tu Bishvat. The sermons were written by rabbis from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives. These sermons were gathers to serve as inspiration in understanding and teaching about the holiday of Tu Bishvat. We hope that they will contribute to making Tu Bishvat 5779 a time of growth and renewal for you and your congregation.
- Rabbi Ilana Berenbaum Grinblat
- Rabbi David Wolpe
- Rabbi David H. Lincoln
- Rabbi Jonathan A. Schnitzer
- Rabbi Shawn Zell
- Rabbi Lester Polonsky
- Rabbi Alfredo Fabio Borodowski
- Rabbi Michael Cohen
- Rabbi Steven Fink
- Rabbi Avraham M. I. Avni
- Rabbi Donald B. Rossoff
- Rabbi James Gibson
Haggadot
JNF offers Branching Out: Your Tu BiShvat Haggadah. This unique Haggadah is a wonderful and fun way to enhance your Tu BiShvat Seder. If you wish to download a black and white copy please click here.
Additional Haggadot:
- Celebrating the Tree of Life by Debra Whitall
- Seder Tu BiShvat, a Celebration of Israel’s Seasons and of Ecology in the Jewish Tradition, written by Beth Uval, Designed by Dorit Daon
- Tu BiShvat Environmental Haggadah: Tu BiShvat Across Campus
- Tu BiShvat Environmental Haggadah: Leader's Guide
- Tu BiShvat: A Sanctification of life- All of It by Rabbi Bonnie Lee Leavy and the American Joint Distribution Committee
Additional resources from JNF-KKL in Israel