[Avodah] Tu B'Shevat

[Micha Berger]

I asked on Areivim about the origin of Tu biShvat as a yom tov even before
getting to questions about the Tu biShvat Seder and how kosher is the Seifer
Chemdas Yamim.

Someone emailed me this nice summary in reply. I wanted to share with the
chevrah.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/5009491

Below is the article from after of a discussion of Tu biShvat in Chazal
as a shiur for terumos uma'aseros until they run out of history and talk
about contemporary custom.


About Chemdas Yamim... it's enough that it is a machloqes acharonim whether
the book
    (1) should be treated as Sabbatean,
    (2) is kosher because its acceptance by so many Mequbalim Qedoshim
        that is happens not to contain any of the author's Sabbatean
	heresy (R Chaim Palaggi, Turkey, 19th cent CE), or
    (2) is a holy book written by R Yisrael Yaaqov al-Gazi.

The way academia is structured, particularly what it takes to get published
and publish-or-perish there is a built in bias toward debunking things. Too
much depends on coming up with novella and their Truthiness. I am therefore
skeptical of an academic consensus that shows that the benighted masses
outside their ivory towers are wrong. Could be good scholarship, but there
are negi'os. So I wouldn't just assume their conclusions are authoritative.

(Truthiness, coined by then comedy news editorialist Stephen Colbert, to
describe the things we believe because they sound true because we would
like them to be true.)

There are numerous examples from Middle Eastern history and Biblical
Archeology I can point to, where it seems clear that out of two equally
plausible theories, the author was biased to pick the one that would
dethrone Yeishu. (Like, did the Judean intelligensia captured with
Yechaniah teach them about the idea of a messiah and messianic era,
or did we get it from Zoroastrianism? Well, saying it's not in original
Judaism devalues Oso haIsh, so...)

Even when it comes to some Torah journals, I got tired of picking through
the articles that seem so plausible until I realized I liked them because
of that feeling superiori to the benighted masses or just some clever
and very Truthy.

Anyway, here's the relevant half of the Chabad.org post, back on topic
about Tu biShvat.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

    Who "Invented" the Holiday on 15 Shevat?
    Yehuda Shurpin
    chabad.org

    ... Yet, neither the Mishnah nor the Talmud tell us about any special
    celebrations or commemorations associated with the day.

    Earliest Celebration

    One of the earliest sources for the 15th of Shevat being a celebratory
    day is a pair of ancient liturgical poems that were found in the
    Cairo genizah, a trove of old Torah texts, documents and manuscripts
    discovered in the 19th century. The poems, composed by Rabbi Yehuda
    Ben Hillel Halevi around the 10th century, were meant to be added
    to the prayer service of the day.[9]

    In a response to a community that wished to establish a fast day
    on the 15th Shevat, Rabbeinu Gershom (c. 960-1040) explained that
    just as one does not fast on the other days that are called "the
    beginning of the year" in the Mishnah, so too, one does not fast
    on the 15th of Shevat.[10] Additionally, we find in early sources
    that one doesn't recite penitential prayers on the 15th of Shevat,
    just as one doesn't recite them on other holidays.[11]

    Eating Fruits

    In addition to not fasting and not reciting any penitential prayers,
    there is also a custom to eat fruits on this day. The first to
    mention this custom (although it seems to have already existed in
    his day) was Rabbi Yissachar ben Mordecai ibn Susan (fl. 1539-1572)
    in his work Tikun Yissachar. This custom was popularized by the
    Kabbalists and subsequently cited in many halachic works.[12]

    The somewhat controversial Kabbalistic work of unknown authorship
    Pri Eitz Hadar (first published in Venice in 1728) was also very
    influential in spreading the custom to eat fruits on this day. The
    work includes various texts that one would recite when eating the
    different fruits. However, the common custom is not to recite these
    texts when eating fruits on the 15th of Shevat...

    ...
    [9] Eretz Yisrael, vol. 4, p. 138.

    [10] See Responsa of Rabbi Meir of Rottenbug (Prague ed.) 5.

    [11] See, for example, Maharil, Chilukei Haftorot; Shulchan Aruch,
    Orach Chaim 131:6.

    [12] See Magen Avraham, Orach Chaim 131:16; Hashlamah to Shulchan
    Aruch Harav, Orach Chaim 136:8; Mishnah Berurah 131:31.