Connect to Israel and JNF:

Planting a tree in Israel is a wonderful experience no matter how many times you do it. It is also the quintessential way to celebrate Tu BiShvat and connect to the land and people of Israel. By participating, your child will receive a beautiful JNF Tree Certificate and make a personal connection to the land of Israel that will last a lifetime.

Choose The Way You Participate:

1) Encourage each student to fulfill the mitzvah of tree planting and set a goal for 100% participation from your class and school!

2) Pick a goal of how many trees your entire school will plant and encourage everyone to help make it happen. All it takes is 100 trees to receive special recognition in Israel!

3) This year Jewish National Fund is offering our participating schools to go green for Tu Bishvat. Instead of sending home paper copies of the tree buying form, parents, teachers, and all of our participants can visit www.jnf.org/trees to purchase trees directly. In order to ensure that your school is credited with the trees bought, please email [email protected] to receive your unique promotion code!

Raffle Prizes

There are six levels of raffle prizes available for participating schools. The more trees you sell the more chances you have to win!

Send all sealed orders, in one large envelope, to:
JNF Tu BiShvat in the Schools Program
78 Randall Ave • Rockville Centre, NY 11570

Please mail all tree orders to JNF by February 16th, 2018 so you may receive your tree certificates in a timely manner and be entered into our raffles.

Upon our receipt of your school’s tree orders, an email confirmation will be sent to the e-mail address provided on your program registration. If you do not receive an email from us within two weeks of sending the order, please contact our office directly.

*You can ask families to mail tree envelopes directly to JNF and students’ certificates will be mailed directly to their home. Families will not receive an e-mail confirmation of their order.   Please note: bulk orders from schools are generally processed faster – if this system has worked for you in the past, we encourage you to continue to participate in this manner. Certificates take 3-4 weeks to process. Only this year’s JNF tree order forms will be accepted. 

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.

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 5778 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
• JNF Environmental Haggadah
• Tu BiShvat: A Sanctification of life- All of It by Rabbi Bonnie Lee Leavy and the American Joint Distribution Committee