Tu B’shevat is a Jewish Holiday celebrating nature, and more
specifically trees! Trees are amazing plants that give us a multitude of
things, oxygen, shelter, shade on a sunny day. Every type of tree has unique
qualities that we should appreciate and celebrate, from the ones you can climb
in your backyard to faraway ones in places you’ve never been. Israel has a variety of different trees that you many not know about. In The Abba Tree, Hannah tries to climb a few of them since she is unable to climb a young carob tree.
Take a peek at the different kinds of trees Hannah climbs:
Carob tree
A carob tree is most known for their banana shaped carob
pods. In Israel, this plant is used often as a chocolate substitute, either
made into a spread or eaten right off the tree!
Eucalyptus tree
Eucalyptus trees are most known to being the preferred food
for Koalas. The oils from the tree have also been used to create essential oils
and a variety of balms and healing ointments.
Pine tree
Pine trees are a type of evergreen tree, which have
needle-like leaves instead of flat leaves like an oak tree. Their seeds are
housed in pine cones, which fall and scatter the seeds to make more trees.
Olive tree
Olive trees live on average between 300 and 600 years old. The
oldest olive tree, though, is more than 2000 years old! The fruit from these
trees have been made into oil for centuries. Today, olives are used for so many
things from oil to toppings on a pizza, yum!