LOS ANGELES — After closing its doors due to the Palisades Fire, the Skirball Cultural Center is scheduled to reopen Sunday with a free event to honor trees and foster community.

What You Need To Know

  • Inspired by the traditions of Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees, the center invites visitors back on site for a special event with artist- led talks, food samples, guided tours, panel discussion, art making and more activities

  • Tu B’Shevat is a minor Jewish holiday, celebrating nature waking up from its winter slumber, according to the center

  • FromSoil2Soul founder Devorah Brous will lead a Tu B’Shevat experience. She will offer locally-sourced fruit, nuts, seeds, herbs and juices as a way to explore Jewish wisdom of the “Four Worlds”

  • For more information on planned activities, visit here

Inspired by the traditions of Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees, the center invites visitors back on site for a special event with artist-led talks, food samples, guided tours, panel discussion, art making and more activities.

“Two weeks ago, as flames raged across Los Angeles, I wrote wishing you a moment of peace and rest, despite the terror of growing fires,” Jessie Kornberg, president and CEO of the Skirball, wrote in a social media post Jan. 27.

“The Skirball was built as a refuge, an oasis, an escape. On Feb. 2, we will reopen and be that once again,” the message continued.

Tu B’Shevat is a minor Jewish holiday, celebrating nature waking up from its winter slumber, according to the center.

“Before it was considered a festival recognizing one of four new years throughout the Jewish calendar, the holiday was used by ancient Jewish farmers as a marker for a tree’s birthday to know when fruit was ready to be eaten,” according to the center’s website. “Perhaps most importantly, Tu B’Shevat reminds us that we’re all rooted together, and just like trees, we grow stronger when we care for the earth — and each other.”

FromSoil2Soul founder Devorah Brous will lead a Tu B’Shevat experience. She will offer locally-sourced fruit, nuts, seeds, herbs and juices as a way to explore Jewish wisdom of the “Four Worlds.”

Shemesh Farms will also lead a community craft table with seed paper while Mary MacVean, a former LA Times editor, will organize jar pickling.

Participants can also make compost with Steven Wynbrandt.

For more information on planned activities, visit https://www.skirball.org/programs/roots-and-renewal-honoring-new-year-trees.

On Jan. 7, the Palisades Fire erupted in the Pacific Palisades, one of Los Angeles’ coastal neighborhoods. Over a span of two weeks, It scorched nearly 24,000 acres.

As a result of dangerous wind conditions, the fire threatened the Brentwood area and the western San Fernando Valley. Fire officials established a mandatory evacuation zone that stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the west, the San Diego (450) Freeway to the east, San Vicente Boulevard to the south and the Encino Reservoir to the north.

Authorities closed several off-ramps to the 405 Freeway to limit traffic in the West Los Angeles area, including Getty Center Drive, Skirball Center Drive, Sunset, Wilshire, Santa Monica and Olympic boulevards.

Video footage showed firefighters battling steep terrain in an attempt to protect homes from encroaching flames in Mandeville Canyon northwest of the Getty Center and west of the 405 Freeway and in Brentwood.

The northbound 405 Freeway had been closed at Sepulveda Boulevard while the southbound freeway was closed at Skirball Center Drive. Other road closures were in effect in the Palisades and Malibu areas, including a stretch of Sunset Boulevard, Pacific Coast Highway and Topanga Canyon Boulevard.