The Story behind KKL-JNF’s 2018 Tu Bishvat Poster
(Written by the Public Relations Division, Publication unit, Jerusalem)
This year’s (2018-5778) Tu Bishvat poster honors the majestic cypress that stands in Kibbutz Degania - the first tree to be planted after the UN proclaimed the departure of the British Mandate.
This year’s Tu Bishvat poster commemorates the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel and is based on the “Tree of the State”– the first tree planted after the announcement of the UN partition plan for Palestine in November 1947.
Tu Bishvat (15th day of the Hebrew month of Sh’vat) 5708, which took place after the United Nations declared that the British mandate in the land of Israel had come to an end, was a very special holiday. Kibbutz Degania in northern Israel - the first Kibbutz ever to be established - received a received a unique request from KKL-JNF – to plant the Tree of the State, which recalls the tree planted by visionary Theodor Herzl at Arza, in the mountains surrounding Jerusalem.
The planting ceremony on January 26, 1948 was launched with the festive and moving singing of the new Israeli anthem “Hatikva”, which implanted a sense of the significance of the hour in the hearts of all those present.
Yaakov Palmoni, one of the Kibbutz’s men of letters and the founder of the Beit Gordon Museum, spoke about the planting of the tree and the responsibility for the fate of the “new seedling”, which would take root as a symbol of the fate of the state.
In the February 1948 kibbutz newsletter, it was written that “the Jewish state will certainly be born. The cypress tree that was planted is a witness that we are determined to realize our decision, that our will is unshakable and absolute, and that nothing can stand in our way. During the bloody war that our enemies forced upon us, we have planted the Tree of the State. We have planted it, and we will plant many trees anew.”
A small bench was installed in the shade of the tree, next to a plaque with an inscription. The inscription immortalizes the text of the scroll that was placed in a bottle and placed in the earth next to the tree’s roots when it was planted. Yaakov Palmoni wrote the text, which was comprised of lofty and flowery words worthy of the occasion of the first Tu Bishvat heralding the establishment of the state of Israel:
“This day, the fifteenth of the month of Shvat, is the new year of the trees, the 5708th year since Creation, the 1878th year since Israel was exiled, the Jubilee year of the Zionist Federation, the 38th year since the founding of Kvutzat Degania, and the 57th day since the General Assembly of the United Nations decided on the re-establishment of the Jewish state and the return of the remnant of Israel to part of its homeland.
“In days of wrath and rage, when our enemies darken the dawn of our history, when our sons and daughters stand up bravely to face our foes, who rise up against us to destroy the last hope of our redemption – on this day, we plant in our land, the land of our people, on the banks of the Jordan and the Kinneret, a cypress that shall be known as theTree of the State. May this tree be a sign of the covenant between us and our land, and the rooting of our deep belief that the Hebrew state must be born, a state in which justice and kindness will always dwell, a state in which the remainder of our people will be ingathered and see the return of its power and its grandeur, a state that will be a fortress of strength for the glory of Israel and its splendor for now and for all time, Amen.”