{"id":79930,"date":"2020-09-13T17:18:17","date_gmt":"2020-09-13T14:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=79930"},"modified":"2020-09-13T17:18:17","modified_gmt":"2020-09-13T14:18:17","slug":"of-well-planted-trees-and-transient-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/of-well-planted-trees-and-transient-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Of Well-Planted Trees And Transient Advice\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"79930","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64450,"related_cahpter":"568","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Are they related? I woodn\u2019t think so...\r\n\r\n","content":"

The first psalm opens with an allegory:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHappy is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, or taken the path of sinners, or joined the company of the insolent; rather, the teaching of the LORD is his delight, and he studies that teaching day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, whose foliage never fades, and whatever it produces thrives. Not so the wicked; rather, they are like chaff that wind blows away. \u201c (Psalms 1:1-4)<\/span><\/p>\n

On the one hand there is a contrast between those who follow the \u201ccounsel of the wicked\u201d and those who find delight in the teaching of God. And those two kinds of people are likened to two types of plants: the chaff that blows away in the wind, and \u201ca tree planted besides streams of water.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Two Hebrew words, used in each half of the allegory, look rather similar. The word for counsel is <\/span>etza<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(also meaning \u201cadvice\u201d), and the word for tree (and wood) is e<\/em><\/span>tz<\/span><\/em>. Are they related?<\/span><\/p>\n

Both words appear frequently in the Bible, and over the generations many midrashim, commentaries and kabbalistic works have associated the two. For example, in Exodus 15:25, God showed Moses a piece of wood <\/span>etz<\/span><\/em>, and the mystical work, the Zohar, says God showed him counsel <\/span>etza<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, the medieval commentator Ibn Ezra objected to this approach. Ecclesiastes 11:3 also mentions trees, and here too, there are midrashim that explain that <\/span>etz<\/span><\/em>\u00a0refers to <\/span>etza<\/span><\/em>. In his commentary on the verse, Ibn Ezra quips, \u201cwhoever can say this never ate from the Tree of Knowledge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In more recent times, the debate over the connection between <\/span>etz<\/span><\/em> and <\/span>etza<\/span><\/em>\u00a0continues. In the late 19<\/span>th<\/span> century, the linguist Yehoshua Steinberg wrote that both words come from a common root meaning \u201cto bind, attach, strengthen.\u201d He claimed that other Hebrew words that derive from that root are <\/span>atzam<\/span><\/em>\u00a0–<\/span><\/i> \u201cto be strong,\u201d and <\/span>itzev<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 \u201cgive form, shape.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But in the 20<\/span>th<\/span> century, another linguist, Ernest Klein, disagreed. By comparing the forms of <\/span>etz<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and <\/span>etza<\/span><\/em> in other Semitic languages, like Aramaic and Arabic, he concluded that they do not have a common root.<\/span><\/p>\n

From a linguistic perspective, these are interesting discussions. But ultimately, they don\u2019t shed light on the intention of the Psalmist. Whether or not the two words share an etymological root, it seems reasonable that they were used in proximity so the reader would make an association. We are meant to think about what is more enduring \u2013 the fleeting <\/span>etza<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>of the wicked or the <\/span>etz<\/span><\/em>–<\/span><\/i>like stability of the righteous?<\/span><\/p>\n

We should keep these considerations at heart when reading any book of the Bible, and all the more so as we begin reading the beautiful poetry of the Psalms.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":79931,"id":79931,"title":"ps1-tree-felix-vallotton","filename":"ps1-tree-felix-vallotton.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-tree-felix-vallotton.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/of-well-planted-trees-and-transient-advice\/ps1-tree-felix-vallotton\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps1-tree-felix-vallotton","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":79930,"date":"2020-09-13 14:16:24","modified":"2020-09-13 14:16:36","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1504,"height":1771,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-tree-felix-vallotton-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-tree-felix-vallotton-255x300.jpg","medium-width":255,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-tree-felix-vallotton-768x904.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":904,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-tree-felix-vallotton-870x1024.jpg","large-width":870,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-tree-felix-vallotton.jpg","1536x1536-width":1304,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-tree-felix-vallotton.jpg","2048x2048-width":1504,"2048x2048-height":1771,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-tree-felix-vallotton-1019x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1019,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps1-tree-felix-vallotton-357x420.jpg","home_baner-width":357,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Of Well-Planted Trees And Transient Advice\u00a0","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Are they related? 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