Tree (as metaphor of man), The

The Jewish calendar reserves one day each year for us to contemplate our affinity with the botanical universe.

Some folks think of people much as we think of cars on a highway: Each with its own origin and destination, relating to one other only to negotiate lane changes and left-hand turns. But people are not cars

A look at the various parts of the tree -- roots, trunk, branches, leaves, fruit and seeds -- and their corresponding elements within the human being

Seven areas of our lives represented by the "Seven Kinds": our humanity (wheat), passion (barley), joy (grapes), intimacy (figs), action (pomegranates), struggle (olives) and tranquility (dates)

The whole fruit business is a scam

Then it was haircut time. I squeezed my eyes shut, half expecting the same cries I heard at his bris, which seems like it was just yesterday. But when I looked up, he was grinning.

What does it mean to be indispensable? For most of my life I’ve asked myself that question.

We are trees, living two lives at once. One life breaking through the soil into this world. Where, with all our might, we struggle to rise above it, grapple for its sun and its dew, desperate not to be torn away by the fury of its storms or consumed by ...

Did I grow towards the sun, reaching up higher and higher towards that which I can never grasp, but which nurtures me all the same the more I strive towards it?

Trees don't talk, but they have a great deal to say. And one of the most amazing things a tree says is about survival