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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>From: "Liron Kopinsky" <A
href="mailto:liron.kopinsky@gmail.com">liron.kopinsky@gmail.com</A><BR><BR>>From
http://www.hillel.org/jewish/holidays/tubshevat/default<BR><BR>"...you will need
to purchase both red and white wine and 15 different types<BR>of fruits and
nuts; five from each of the following three categories:<BR><BR>1) fruits or nuts
with an inedible outer shell and an edible inner core:<BR>pineapple... banana,
....<BR><BR><BR>3) fruits which are edible throughout...<BR>and include:
strawberry,... raspberry, blueberry,<BR>cranberry....<BR>Does anyone know a
source for needing 15 fruits specifically?
<< <BR></FONT></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV>The URL you gave was to Hillel, which is a non-Orthodox organization,
officially non-sectarian but defacto Conservative. The post sounds like
made-up Conservative minhag to me. Tu B'Shvat is the new year for /trees/
so any fruit whose bracha is "ha'adamah" seems to me to be
irrelevant. Out go the pineapples, bananas, and berries. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Many people do not realize, BTW, that "fruits and vegetables" are culinary
but /not/ scientific categories of plants. Scientifically the categories
are "fruits, seeds, stems, leaves, and roots." Whoever made this
Hillel list, with bananas and pineapple, didn't realize that they could
just as easily have included in their Tu B'Shvat seder tomatoes, cucumbers, and
pumpkins, which are all scientific fruits. Growing on trees or the
ground BTW is not relevant to whether something is a fruit, but IS relevant
to what bracha you make and whether it's suitable for Tu
B'Shvat.<BR></DIV></FONT>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><STRONG></STRONG><BR><B>--Toby
Katz<BR>=============</B></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Start the year off right. <A title="http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489" href="http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489" target="_blank">Easy ways to stay in shape</A> in the new year. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>