{"id":43577,"date":"2017-02-06T17:59:51","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T17:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=43577"},"modified":"2017-02-09T09:08:22","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T09:08:22","slug":"stands-tree-stands-man-singular-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/stands-tree-stands-man-singular-strong\/","title":{"rendered":"As Stands the Tree, So Stands the Man Singular and Strong"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rav Gustman tended a small garden outside his office at the Netzach Yisrael Yeshiva in Jerusalem each and every day.\u00a0 Even while his students were in the Beit Midrash studying, this great gaon, remained outside, tending his garden!\u00a0 His students presumed his behavior was a demonstration of chibat ha-aretz<\/em>, his love for Eretz Yisrael.\u00a0 In truth, it was an act of hakarat hatov<\/em>.\u00a0 Years before, prior to the war, his rebbe, Rav Chaim Ozer, had shown him which vegetation was edible \u2013 a lesson that had saved his life when the Nazis invaded Vilna and he escaped into the forest!<\/p>\n

God created the world to delight and to serve us.\u00a0 Therefore, we must show it care and honor.<\/p>\n

Just as trees provide for our physical existence, they teach us much about who we are as human creatures.\u00a0 After all, we are taught in Parashat Shoftim<\/em>, that, \u201cMan is a tree of the field.\u201d\u00a0 At first glance, this comparison must seem strange to poet and philosopher alike.\u00a0 And yet, on further thought, the comparison is powerfully and profoundly apt.<\/p>\n

Trees are \u2013 and represent \u2013 such a central reality in the world that throughout the Torah \u201ctrees\u201d are referred to in the singular, etz<\/em>.\u00a0 When trees were created on the third day, God ordered the earth to send forth vegetation and \u201cfruit tree forming fruit for its species\u201d.\u00a0 The tree was singularly created and, as Rashi explains, the taste of the tree and the taste of its fruit were to be one \u2013 sheyehe ta\u2019am ha\u2019etz keta\u2019am hapri<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"LonelyBoth trees and man are sources of blessing and potential benefit to society.\u00a0 Both, too often violently cut down.\u00a0 And both share the singularity that is the essence of Jewish experience.\u00a0 God who created the singular, ideal tree \u2013 giving it and its fruit the same taste \u2013 created the singular and ideal Adam.\u00a0 God created Adam in His image; He created Adam and then Eve, both singular, both ideal.\u00a0 He gave them a soul.\u00a0 The ideal man and woman were placed in the ideal place, Gan Eden<\/em>.\u00a0 One man.\u00a0 One woman.\u00a0 One place.<\/p>\n

God is One.<\/p>\n

The Torah is one.<\/p>\n

Adam is one.<\/p>\n

Each is a brilliant singularity.\u00a0 To this fundamental singularity, we add the Jew.\u00a0 In the Talmud, Rabbi Shimeon ben Yochai states, \u201cYou, the Jews, are referred to as Adam, not so the nations of the world.\u201d \u00a0He makes a distinction that, while seeming to denigrate the nations of the world, is an apt and profound one.\u00a0 As my grandfather, Rabbi Bezalel Zev Shafran, z\u201dl, <\/em>the foremost Halachic authority of Rumania and author of Responsa R\u2019Baz, <\/em>explained, \u201cOne of the most basic differences between the Jewish nation and the nations of the world is the value and worth Jews place upon the life of an individual<\/em> human being. We recognize this clearly in the Torah\u2019s exempting of the individual soldier from military duty; the individual soldier who was just married, the individual soldier who recently built a new home, the individual soldier who recently planted a vineyard\u2014they are excused from military service in spite of the fact that the national and collective welfare is at stake. The individual Adam\u2019s feelings, sensitivities, and concerns supersede even the national concern. Therefore, Rabbi Shimeon ben Yochai said, Atem <\/em>kruin adam<\/em> \u2013 only among Jews is the individual life\u2019s concerns of such paramount importance; vein umot ha\u2019olam <\/em>kruin adam \u2013 <\/em>no such value and principle exists amongst the nations of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jewish experience embraces the singularity of individual existence.\u00a0 We are taught that when an individual dies, it is as if all of creation has been destroyed.<\/p>\n

My uncle Rav Chanoch Heinich Shafran offered a profound footnote to my grandfather\u2019s explanation when he observed that, with the exception of \u201cAdam\u201d, all Hebrew words denoting man \u2013 ish<\/em>, enosh, gever <\/em>\u2013 are used both in the singular and plural forms.\u00a0 \u201cAdam\u201d can be stated only in the singular. For among all nations and religions of the world, a national of any country can belong to any religion\u2014a French Protestant or a Lebanese Moslem\u2014with the ex\u00adception of the Jewish nation and religion. The Jewish nation and the Jewish religion are one and the same<\/em>. Therefore, atem kruin adam <\/em>\u2013 you Jews are Adam.<\/p>\n

The Jew is singular.<\/p>\n

Adam, the Jew, is singular as is the tree.\u00a0 It is particularly appropriate that we consider the connection between the Jew and the tree as we approach Tu B\u2019Shevat, the New Year for the Trees. As Rabbi Shraga Simmons notes on Aish.com, we can draw a number of lessons from our affinity to the tree.\u00a0 Like the tree we require the same four basic elements to survive \u2013 soil, water, air and fire (the sun).<\/p>\n

A tree must be planted firmly in the earth not only to draw the nutrients from the soil but so that there is room for strong roots to grow.\u00a0 So too man.\u00a0 As the Talmud teaches, A person whose wisdom exceeds his good deeds is likened to a tree whose branches are numerous, but whose roots are few. The wind comes and uproots it and turns it upside down. <\/em><\/p>\n

But a person whose good deeds exceed his wisdom is likened to a tree whose branches are few but whose roots are numerous. Even if all the winds of the world were to come and blow against it, they could not budge it from its place. (Avot 3:22)<\/em><\/p>\n

A man can appear to be successful but if his roots are few or weak, if he has little connection to his community or heritage, then he will be unable to withstand the inevitable challenges life will bring his way.<\/p>\n

Just as the tree needs water to grow, man needs Torah, which is compared to water.\u00a0 \u201cMay my teaching drop like the rain (Deut. 32:2).<\/p>\n

Deprived of water, the tree will die.\u00a0 Deprived of Torah, so too will man wither.<\/p>\n

Just as God breathed life into Adam (Genesis 2:7), a tree needs the breath of life.<\/p>\n

Finally, the tree needs sunlight to grow. We need the warmth of community and friendship to thrive.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the comparison of Adam to the tree is most apt when we see the tree not just as an analogy to the individual himself but as an analogy to the individual and his family.\u00a0\u00a0 Each of us, in our roots and trunk, form the foundation for the many limbs and fruits that extend outward.\u00a0 As Rashi noted, the taste of the tree and the taste of its fruit were to be one.\u00a0 Our families, our children, are recognizable as ours.\u00a0 But\u2026but the tree only appears<\/em> uniform.\u00a0 As we look more closely at the tree, we see that its fruit, though clearly related, each have distinct properties \u2013 different sizes and hues, and indeed, slightly different tastes.\u00a0 Likewise, the tree\u2019s leaves.\u00a0 A cursory glance has each leaf like every other.\u00a0 But on closer examination, we see that each leaf is as distinguishable from the other as one snowflake from another.\u00a0 Related, yes.\u00a0 Familial, absolutely.\u00a0 But unique and special each in its own right.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the greatest lesson of the tree is that not only is the tree singular but its fruit and limbs are singular and unique as well.\u00a0 In the same way, while each family unit is singular so too is each child singular and unique.\u00a0 As such, he or she must be <\/em>respected and loved as an individual and not only as a member of the family.\u00a0 For no more would we want every fruit to conform to the other, to be exactly the same size and have exactly the same shape than to have every child be the same.<\/p>\n

The singularity of each tree is to be celebrated.<\/p>\n

So too, the singularity of each of God\u2019s children, and each one of our own!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rav Gustman tended a small garden outside his office at the Netzach Yisrael Yeshiva in Jerusalem each and every day.\u00a0 Even while his students were in the Beit Midrash studying, this great gaon, remained outside, tending his garden!\u00a0 His students presumed his behavior was a demonstration of chibat ha-aretz, his love for Eretz Yisrael.\u00a0 In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":43578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[346],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tu-bshevat"],"yoast_head":"\nTu B'Shevat: As Stands the Tree, So Stands the Man Singular and Strong<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"God created the world to delight and to serve us; we must show it care & honor. 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