Planting trees in Israel, in the modern institutional sense, began in 1901 with the founding of the Jewish National Fund, which made tree planting a core part of its land and afforestation work. Sources also note that the practice became tied to Tu BiShvat traditions and later expanded into a much larger national project.

Quick Scoop

  • The earliest widely cited start date is 1901.
  • The Jewish National Fund helped turn tree planting into an organized, ongoing activity rather than just a holiday custom.
  • Tu BiShvat, the “New Year for Trees,” gave the practice a cultural and religious anchor, but the modern campaign is much more recent.

Context

If you mean the broader idea of planting trees in the land of Israel, the custom is much older and tied to Jewish agricultural tradition. If you mean the organized “plant a tree for Israel” campaign, 1901 is the key starting point.

Historical note

There is also a more complicated political history around this practice, because later tree-planting and afforestation projects were used in land policy and territorial control debates. That history is part of why the topic is sometimes discussed very differently depending on the source.