Tu Bishvat, the 15th of Shevat on the Jewish calendar, celebrated this year on Wednesday, February 8, 2012, is the day that marks the beginning of a "New Year for Trees." This is the season in which the earliest-blooming trees in the Land of Israel emerge from their winter sleep and begin a new fruit-bearing cycle.

Traditionally, Tu Bishvat marked an important date for Jewish farmers in ancient times. It is written in the Scriptures, "When you enter the land [of Israel] and plant any tree for food, you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden for you, not to be eaten" (Leviticus 19:23). The fruit of the fourth year was to be offered to the priests in the Temple as a gift of gratitude for the bounty of the land, and the fifth-year fruit--and all subsequent fruit--was finally for the farmer. This law, however, raised the question of how farmers were to mark the "birthday" of a tree. The Rabbis therefore established the 15th of the month of Shvat as a general "birthday" for all trees, regardless of when they were actually planted.

Chief Rabbi Yoni Metzger wit

Chanukah ("dedication" in Hebrew) is celebrated this year from sunset Tuesday, December 20, until sunset Wednesday, December 28.  The festival commemorates both the 164 BCE rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem after its desecration by the ruling Seleucid (Syrian Greek) Kingdom, under Antiochus IV - and the re-establishment of religious freedom for the Jewish people after a period of harsh repression.  The success of the popular revolt led by Judah Maccabee and his brothers has, ever since, symbolized the Jewish people's fight for, and achievement of, its liberty and freedom as a nation against overwhelming odds.  Chanukah is not a legal holiday in Israel; offices, shops and public transportation will operate as usual. 

Historical background to Chanukah