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The
Trees of the Galilee
Milk and honey
The Galilee is one of the
most fertile regions in Israel, “the basket of the country’s bread”
according to the Talmud, which is perhaps the most consistent with the
well-know description of the Promised Land:
| Milk
and honey |
For the Eternal,
your God, brings you into a rich land, a land of water courses,
of springs and torrents that flow in the valleys and the mountains,
a land of wheat and barley, grapes and figs, pomegranates and
olive oil and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without
scarcity and will not lack anything.
Deuteronomy
8: 7 – 9
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Yotam’s Parable
The produce mentioned in this passage symbolizes the
land of Israel. Some of them appear in the parable that Yotam, standing
on Mount Grizim in Samaria, addresses to the people of Shechem to mock
his brother’s claims to the throne: Avimelech had to massacre the descendents
of Gidon in order to be crowned king of Shechem:
| Yotam’s
Parable |
Listen to
me, men of Shechem and God will listen to you!
The trees
went to anoint a king over them. They said to the olive tree:
“Reign over
us.”
The olive tree replied:
“Should I forsake my oil, so highly valued by God and man, to
go and hold sway over the trees?”
The trees
then said to the fig:
“Come, you, and reign over us.”
The fig replied:
“Should I renounce my sweetness and my good fruit to go and
hold sway over the trees?”
And the
trees then said to the vine:
“Come, you, and reign over us.”
The vine replied:
“Should I abandon my wine that gladdens God and men to go and
hold sway over the trees?”
Then all
the trees said to the bramble [atad in Hebrew]:
“Come, you, and reign over us.”
And the bramble replied:
“If in truth you anoint me king over you, then come and take
refuge in my shadow; and if not, then fire will issue from the
bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon!”
Judges
9: 7 – 15
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The properties of
grapes
If today the olive
tree dominates the Galilee, the vine also extends its branches everywhere
for the pleasure of men, their indulgence and their folly:
| The
properties of grapes |
When [after the deluge] Noah decided to plant a vineyard, Satan
came to see him:
- What are you planting? he asked.
- A vine, replied Noah.
- A vine, said Satan with surprise, what kind of plant is that?
- Whether its fruit is ripe or dry, it is always sweet and produces
a liquid that gladdens hearts.
- Would you like us to plant it together? the devil proposed.
Noah agreed and Satan
took a lamb, a lion, a monkey and a pig, slit their throats
and sprinkled the vine-stock with their blood.
For this
reason, a person resembles a lamb, modest and sad, when satisfied
with one glass. But, as soon as he drinks two, he is taken for
a lion, roaring and clamoring: “Who is like me!” When he drinks
three to four glasses, he is like a monkey who gestures in all
directions, plays, dances and unceasingly utters obscenities,
no longer knowing what he says or does. When he drinks more
than four glasses, he gets drunk and resembles a pig that wallows
in sewage.
Midrash Tanhuma, Noah 13
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The atad
The atad obstinately persists
in growing all over Israel. For a long time, it was considered a common
bramble bush and then a thorn bush. It has the particularity of savagely
extending its roots, impeding the growth of the surrounding plants.
Its branches, grouped in bouquets may touch the ground; the thorns on
the stems of the leaves repel the goats. In the summer, small green-yellow
flowers appear that attract bees. The fruit of the atad resembles tiny
apples, sour when green, sweet when they are ripe, succulent when they
fall off the bush. Its wood provides excellent inflammable material,
emitting a great deal of heat without too much smoke.
The reaper of sycamore trees
In the Hebraic texts,
the olive tree is often accompanied by the sycamore tree. The two trees
both have the same knotty trunk, with the same knots and even the same
leaves. According to the texts, the major difference lies in their respective
properties: the olive tree can withstand many days without being planted
in the ground or watered, which makes it easy to transplant; the sycamore
tree, on the other hand, dries out quickly. Also, the olive tree symbolizes
reproduction while the sycamore tree symbolizes regeneration. King Saul,
who did not found a dynasty, would descend from the sycamore tree; King
David from the olive tree.
The sycamore tree’s
capacity to regenerate is impressive: indeed, if the wind uncovers its
roots, it will grow even deeper into the ground, clinging solidly to
it; if the sand covers its branches, they transform themselves into
roots giving rise to new trees. After all, its name in Hebrew – shikma
– is drawn from the root sh. k. m., to restore, regenerate, reestablish.
In ancient times, the shepherds would pierce its tiny fruit and marinate
it in oil to hasten its ripening. In the book of Amos, one of the first
prophets of Israel, the following passage is found:
| The
reaper of sycamore trees |
Then Amaziah, the priest of Beth-el, sent word to Yarovam, the
king of Israel, saying:
“Amos has conspired against you within the house of Israel;
the land cannot bear all his words. For thus says Amos: ‘Jerobam
will die by the sword and Israel will be exiled from its land.’”
Amaziah then said
to Amos:
“ Amos, seer of Israel, flee the camp and go quickly to the
land of Judea; eat your bread there and prophesy there, but
do not prophesy again in Beth-el for it is the king’s sanctuary
and it is a royal house.”
Amos replied to Amaziah:
“I am neither a prophet
nor a prophet’s son, but I am a simple herdsman and a reaper
of sycamore trees; the Eternal took me as I tended His flock
saying to me: ’Go and prophesy to my people Israel!’”
Amos
7: 10 – 15
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The cedar and
the hyssop
When King Solomon
wanted to build the Temple in Jerusalem, he preferred the cedar to the
sycamore tree. Since then, the former symbolizes power, dignity and
glory. It is often compared with hyssop as in the following passage
in Leviticus that deals with the ceremony of the purification of the
lepers:
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The cedar and the hyssop |
And the Eternal spoke
to Moses saying: “This will be the law to which the leper is
subject on the day of his cleansing: He will be brought to the
priest. The priest will be brought out of the camp to verify
that one afflicted with leprosy is healed. The priest will command
that two healthy and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop
be brought for the one to be cleansed. The priest will command
that one of the birds be slaughtered in an earthen vessel over
running water. He will then take the live bird, the cedar wood,
the scarlet and the hyssop and dip them together with the live
bird in the blood of the bird killed over the running water.
And he will sprinkle it seven times upon the one to be cleansed
of the leprosy and will pronounce him clean and will set the
live bird free in the open field.”
Leviticus
14: 1 – 7
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The Rabbis question the strange nature of this ritual as follows:
Rabbi Isaac
bar Tavlai said: “What is the relation between the cedar and
hyssop on one hand…, and leprosy on the other hand?” The reply
was: “In general, we are proud like the cedar, and the Holy
One, Blessed Be He, makes us humble like the hyssop that we
tread upon with our feet.”
Midrash
ha-Gadol, Metzora 14
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The hyssop is so
humble that it is difficult to say if it is lichen or a bush. Its leaves
and its flowers are distinguished by their bouquet. They are used in
the preparation of medicine and spices, like the Arab zaarta that is
made up of ground leaves to which salt, pepper, sesame seeds and sumac
are added. In rabbinic literature, the cedar evokes the powerful, the
hyssop small people: “If the cedars themselves catch fire, what will
the hyssop that grows on the rocks say” (Moed Katan 25b)? In this way,
the cedar becomes the symbol of the luxury of the dignitaries who adore
strange gods and only think of becoming rich. The prophet Jeremiah rages
against the king Jehoahaz of Judea (609 B.C.) in the following passage:
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The prophet’s word |
Woe to him who builds his house through unrighteousness
and his chambers through injustice, who uses his neighbor’s
services without payment, without paying his wages and declares:
I will build myself a large house with large upper chambers,
pierced with large windows and covered with rafters of cedar
and painted in bright red.”
Jeremiah
22: 13 - 15
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The disgrace of the
cedar is even more irreparable in certain commentaries by the Talmudic
sages:
| The
cedar and the reed |
Rabbi Shmuel
bar Nahmani said in the name of Rabbi Jonathan: “How should
the following verse be understood: “ Faithful are the wounds
of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Proverbs
27: 6)
The curse
that Ahijah of Shilo heaps upon Israel is preferable to the
blessings that Bilam lavishes upon it. In his curse, the former
compares the children of Israel to a reed saying: “The Eternal
will strike Israel until it resembles a reed in the water.”
Because it grows at the edge of water, the reed unceasingly
produces new shoots (and when it is cut, it grows quickly).
Its roots are so numerous that all the winds in the universe
would not tear it out; it prefers to lean [under the force of
the wind], straightening itself as soon as the danger has passed.
In his blessing,
however, Bilam the wicked compares the children of Israel to
the cedar… The cedar does not grow at the edge of water and
its trunk does not regenerate when it is cut. It has few roots
and even if all the winds in the universe do not displace it,
that of the south succeeds in uprooting it and casting on the
ground.
Furthermore,
the reed merits participating in the fabrication of the pens
with which the Scrolls of the Law are written.
For all
that, our masters have taught: “We should be flexible like the
reed and under no circumstances, not rigid like the cedar.”
TB
Taanit 20a
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The south winds are
particularly virulent in the Galilee: in the winter, they bring the
clouds that spill bursts of water; at the beginning of the summer, they
bring the hamsine that makes trees and men groggy…
To
the top
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