Trees, Miracles, Humans and Torah

Parashat Beshallach is so full of God's wonder; so packed with miracles, that it is sometimes hard to recognize them as such.  A Rod being raised to split a sea, wood making bitter water become sweet, manna from heaven, a rod hitting a rock so water will come from it; All truly miraculous. So many miracles happening at one time and the Israelites do not seem to notice.  They complain at every turn.

But what I want to focus on a specific piece of the Beshallach narrative that intrigued me.  Central to the entire Moshe story is the rod that Moshe carried.  It helps him to perform magic.  .  It was a literal and figurative support; a symbol for him of personal strength and of his connection to God

It is not a great leap to see that Rod, and the piece of wood that sweetened the waters at Mara, as being symbolic of a tree. And since this year Parashat Beshallach is read on Tu B'Shvat, finding a tree is very important.

Before we go any further, I want to tell you a little story.

When I was a young boy I lived in a big house in Monsey, at least to my young mind it was a big house.  I lived with one of my older brothers in a room on the second floor that had a window that looked out over our back yard.  The yard had several big trees scattered over it, but my favorite was a birch tree that was in the middle of the yard in a direct line with the window.  It wasn't the biggest tree, but I liked it because it had two little branches that came out of it on either side that I saw as hands waiving to me. I also saw a face in the bark that looked back at me whenever I peered out that window in my room.  Every morning when I woke up, I had a ritual to stand up on my bed and look out the window and say good morning to my friend the tree.  And every morning, there he was waiving back at me.  As if to say, "I hope you slept well, everything is fine out here. 

In 1967 my younger brother was born and, that summer, at the age of 6, my parents shipped me and my two older brothers off to summer camp in order to bring some peace and quiet to the big house in Monsey.  When I returned from camp, some 8 weeks later, the first thing I did was run upstairs and jump on my bed to look out the window and say hello to my friend the Birch tree.  I hopped on the bed, opened the shutter and, when I looked out, the tree was gone. I ran down to my parents to tell them my tree was missing and they told me that it was not doing well and they had decided to cut it down.  Besides, they said, without that tree the yard would be clear my brothers and I could play ball back there.  I didn't want to play ball back there, I wanted my tree back there.  But it was too late.  I lost a friend. I lost a ritual.  There was nothing there to waive back to me anymore.

That is one little boy's small, sad, story about a short-lived relationship with a tree. It wasn't until much later that I would learn that our tradition had a holiday that celebrated the Birthday of the Trees; A holiday devoted to taking note of the glory of trees and the natural environment God created around us.

And it wasn't until reading Parashat Beshallach this past week that I realized that our tradition has a deeply rooted connection to trees; a connection that has its seeds in the very creation of the world.  I want to delve into this just a bit, and I want to start by pointing out just a few of the many times that trees play a part in our Texts and in our liturgy.  Perhaps you will conclude, as I did, that we have been taking the trees in our Texts for granted (like the Israelites took those miracles for granted).  Indeed, trees often play a key part in a story, even if they are just in the background.  Let's take a look at a few examples of trees being present in key places in Torah.

We know that trees play a pivotal role in the creation narrative, but now let's look at the Text to see just how key.

In Genesis, Chapter 2, we are told that God planted a garden in Eden and that He put the man whom He had formed in the garden. We also learn that God made every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food in the garden including the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In Genesis, Chapter 3, we learn that God actually kicks Adam out of the garden because of a concern that Adam would eat from the Tree of Life and become immortal.

In Genesis, Chapter 18, after Abraham is circumcised, he is visited by three angels while he is sitting outside his tent by the "Terebrinths of Mamre".  According to commentators, Terebrinths large and old trees that marked certain places.  The angels are told to drink water, wash their feet, and sit under a tree.  Then Abraham stood under the tree as the angels ate.

Trees are also treated in a special manner.  In Deuteronomy 20:19-20 the Torah tells the Israelites that when they besiege a city they are forbidden from destroying any tree that is capable of bearing edible fruit for, the Torah asks, "is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged by you?"

In Chapter 18 of the Second Book of Samuel a tree actually plays an active role in helping David achieve ultimate victory.  Absolam was an adversary of David known in large part for his long flowing hair.  That hair got tangled in the branches of an oak tree enabling David's followers to kill Absolam.

 Our liturgy, too, is full of references to trees, often comparing humans, or the Torah, to trees.

For instance look at Psalm 92 which is featured prominently in our Shabbat liturgy:

יג  צַדִּיק, כַּתָּמָר יִפְרָח;    כְּאֶרֶז בַּלְּבָנוֹן יִשְׂגֶּה.	13 The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
יד  שְׁתוּלִים, בְּבֵית יְהוָה;    בְּחַצְרוֹת אֱלֹהֵינוּ יַפְרִיחוּ.	14 Planted in the house of the LORD, they shall flourish in the courts of our God.
טו  עוֹד, יְנוּבוּן בְּשֵׂיבָה;    דְּשֵׁנִים וְרַעֲנַנִּים יִהְיוּ.	15 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and richness;
טז  לְהַגִּיד, כִּי-יָשָׁר יְהוָה;    צוּרִי, וְלֹא-עלתה (עַוְלָתָה) בּוֹ.	16 To declare that the LORD is upright, my Rock, in whom there is no

Or look at the text of Proverbs 3:18 which we recite every time we put the Torah back into the ark after we read it:

 She is a tree of life to those who grasp her, and whoever holds onto her is happy.

   עֵץ-חַיִּים הִיא, לַמַּחֲזִיקִים בָּהּ; וְתֹמְכֶיהָ מְאֻשָּׁר.

 I have only culled out a fraction of what we see in our Text and liturgy, but why such a focus on trees?  And why are humans and the Torah compared to trees?  Is it, perhaps, because trees are incredibly versatile and useful? Let's take a look at just a few of the things that trees do:

They provide shade;
They provide food by means of fruit and leaves;
They provide homes for animals and the Swiss family Robinson;
They provide stability to the earth;
They turn Carbon dioxide into oxygen;
If there is too much water, they can drink it up;
The wood they supply, when felled, can be used to create anything from homes to picture frames; and
When full grown, they can be seen as a connection between earth & heaven.

What we see is that there is something inherently special about trees and their unique place in this world that God created.  So I pose this question:  Is it possible, that just as humans are the highest form of animal God created, that trees are the highest form of flora that God created?   Perhaps the reason that Torah often reminds us our relationship to trees is that we are kindred Kings of our respective flora and fauna realms; God's crowning achievements in different branches of creation?  (I note that Genesis 1:28 specifically places humans as masters over fish, birds and living things that creep, but not over of trees.)

This thought, leads me to another interesting observation.  We call the Torah a "Tree of Life" and fasten the Torah scroll on to wooden poles - also called eitzay chayim, trees of life.  To me, this perpetuates the idea of trees and Torah giving us life. But, we also dress the Torah in human garb.  We give it a crown and a breastplate; we dress it in royal garments.  Is this, perhaps, to acknowledge how intimately connected humans and trees are with one another?  Are we somehow inextricably bound together?  And bound together by Torah?

So Torah gives us miracles; sometimes those miracles are so frequent that we fail to take note of them.  It is sort of a Biblical version of losing the forest for the trees.  When we look outside we see so many trees that, perhaps, we forget how special they are. 

Now back to Moshe's rod.  Why should Moshe need a rod to help him?  As I wrote before, it is not a great stretch to see that rod as symbolic of a tree. Perhaps Moshe's use of the rod is God's way of showing that we should recognize the special place that God intended trees to have in His, and our, world.  If we need trees for shade, or shelter, or food, perhaps it also possible that we need them to help us to perform miracles?  A rod to split the sea; a branch to sweeten the water; A Tree of Life to show us how to live our lives appropriately, in God's image.

One cannot have any discussion about trees without reciting my wife, Sheri's, favorite poem

Written by Joyce Kilmer, Trees:

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Shalom - Michael S. Jay

1/29/2010