This ritual was created as a ritual of kavannahLit. Intention Refers both to one’s intention when performing a mitzvah or when focusing for prayer. Kavanah also refers to specific readings to help focus one's attention prior to performing an act., intention, for the Tu B’ShvatThe new year of the trees, celebrated with a mystical seder (first created by the Kabbalists) at which four cups of wine are drunk and different kinds of fruit are eaten. In the State of Israel, Tu B'Shvat is Arbor Day, marked with the planting of trees. Tu B’Shvat also has become a modern holiday of the environment, with new seders and haggadot written to reflect this interest.nsederLit. Order. The festive meal conducted on Passover night, in a specific order with specific rituals to symbolize aspects of the Exodus from Egypt. It is conducted following the haggadah, a book for this purpose. Additionally, there an ancient tradition to have a seder on Rosh Hashanah, which has been practiced in particular by Sephardi communities. This seder involves the blessing and eating of simanim, or symbolic foods. The mystics of Sefat also created a seder for Tu B'shvat, the new year of the trees.hope to occupy: assiyah, the physical domain of action, yetzirah, the emotional domain of formation, b’riyah, the intellectual domain of creation, and atzilut, the spiritual domain of emanation. To symbolize these four domains, at the Tu B’Shvat seder we enjoy four types of fruit: fruits that have a hard, inedible exterior but a soft, edible interior; fruits that have soft, edible exteriors, but hard inedible pits; fruits that are fully edible, without hard shells or pits; and fruits that aren’t edible but are fragrant and beautiful nevertheless. At the beginning of a Tu B’Shvat seder, we can engage our bodies and connect to the worlds around us by mindfully considering the four elements: earth, water, fire, and air.
earth / assiyah
water / yetzirah
The seder leader passes around a small pitcher of water, a plastic basin, and a handtowel. Everyone washes their hands in silence. The sShekhinahThe feminine name of God, expounded upon in the rabbinic era and then by the Kabbalists in extensive literature on the feminine attributes of the divine.er reads:
:וּשְׁאַבְתֶּם־מַ֖יִם בְּשָׂשׂ֑וֹן מִמַּֽעַיְנֵ֖י הַיְשׁוּעָֽה
Ushavtem mayim be-sasson mi-mainey ha-yeshu’ah.
And you shall draw water with joy from the wells of redemption.
Everyone reads the following brakhah together:
:בְּרוּכָה אַתְּ שֶׁחִינָּה, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְותָיה וְצִוָּנוּ עַל נְטִילַת יָדַיִם
Brukhah at Shekhinah, asher kid’shanu be-mitzvoteha vetzivanbrakhahA blessingtilat yadayim.
Blessed is the One who brings us holiness when we wash our hands.
