She is our Tree of Life

Prv 3:17-18

Gotta hold on to this wise old tree trunk in the middle of the storm.

Wisdom is depicted in this chapter with a metaphor that has become a well known song and prime time prayer. Every time Jews hold up the Torah scroll in synagogues and open up the curtains of the ark to bring the Torah back into its shrine, we sing these words: 

דְּרָכֶ֥יהָ דַרְכֵי־נֹ֑עַם וְֽכׇל־נְתִ֖יבוֹתֶ֣יהָ שָׁלֽוֹם׃ עֵץ־חַיִּ֣ים הִ֭יא לַמַּחֲזִיקִ֣ים בָּ֑הּ וְֽתֹמְכֶ֥יהָ מְאֻשָּֽׁר׃

Her ways are pleasant ways,

And all her paths, peaceful.

She is a tree of life to those who grasp her,

And whoever holds on to her is happy.

Prv 3:17-18

And although it is rarely mentioned or acknowledged - these Hebrew words are sung in the feminine, a rare occasion in a mostly male-dominated liturgy that refers to all things sacred and divine as ‘he’ and ‘his’. 

So who is this tree of life and what is her wisdom teaching us today? 

Moshe Sokolow frames this question through a traditional approach:

“You may recall the primordial “Tree of Life” from the Garden of Eden. Indeed, it may surprise you to learn that “tree of life” appears more times in Proverbs (4) than in Genesis (3) and you might surmise, correctly, that its use here was intended to call the earlier references to mind. That being the case, what is the connection between them?

The wisdom that is celebrated in our chapter is, of course, the wisdom acquired through Torah study; thus it is designated the “tree of life” to signify its indispensability for proper living. When Adam and Eve ate from the “Tree of Knowledge,” God banished them from Eden, lest “he should stretch out his hand and take also from the Tree of Life and eat and live forever” (3:22).  To prevent that, He “stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the Tree of Life”.

An ordinary sword, in the ancient Near East, was sharpened on one side and blunt on the other. Therefore, an “ever-turning” sword exposes the blade but 50% of the time; for the remaining 50%, only the blunt edge is exposed. God, then, did not put an impenetrable barrier before the return to Eden; if one but knows how to time the sword’s rotations, one can pass by unscathed.

The key to the ultimate return, then, is to follow the sometimes difficult path of the proverbial “tree of life:” the Torah.”

Sokolow’s fascinating reading of the tree of life is the one that many of us grew up with -- equating ‘the tree of life’ with the body of knowledge known as Torah. Why else would we be singing these verses from today’s chapter as we cradle and honor the object that is the closest thing in Jewish life to the revered icon of a god - or a goddess? 

But the Tree of Life is not just a body of knowledge or the scroll on which the Torah of Moses is inscribed. 

The ancient goddess was often worshiped as a tree.  The Hebrew Bible contains many violent depictions of how the trees were cut down and Her worship was forbidden. 

So who is She who’s growing tall and stately here? What’s the secret of the Tree of Life? 

My teacher and friend Rabbi Jill Hammer is a lover of trees, and a scholar of the Goddess and has a lot to say about that:

“This divine mother, according to Raphael Patai (author ofThe Hebrew Goddess) and other scholars, has her roots among the earliest Israelites, who worshiped the divine mother Asherah along with the God of Israel.  The mysterious female figure of Proverbs, Lady Wisdom, may be a version of Asherah, since she is called “happy” (asher) and described as a tree, as Asherah was depicted as a tree.”

There’s much more to say about this powerful image, the tree that was cut down but insists and persists to grow in the midst of our liturgy and in our hearts and minds. 

She is the tree of life, her paths are peace and it’s on us to save the trees and help her visions, celebrate the courage of the ancient ways and dance in circles with the Torah of our mothers and fathers and all who honor the ancient and sacred ways of this earth. 

Beware of those who discard trees and put down women, walk away from those who prioritize power over love.  

The sacred trees were cut down once but the legacy lives on, and we who love all ways of loving in the world will make our way past the revolving sword of fire to hold on, dance with, eat from, and protect the tree of life.

Hold on to the tree trunk, come what may and we’ll weather the storms.

She has done so for ages.

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