By Rabbi Meir Feldman
Friends of Siach Shalom Cofounder
Meir harvests oranges on Kibbutz Re’im.
Siach Shalom cofounder Dr. Alick Isaacs recently shared a teaching with our Gen Z Cohort #3, in which he made a subtle but deep connection between the Garden of Eden and the holiday of Purim. Using Alick’s beautiful insight, I want to connect the Etz Chayim (Tree of Life) to Pesach, which is right around the corner.
Think about the two trees in the Garden of Eden—the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. The Tree of Knowledge, for many, is about mastery, expertise, the ability to influence, even dominate, our surroundings. It’s about our desire to convince others to agree, to see what we see.
The Tree of Life is about, well, something else. It’s about the multiplicity of ideas, insights, values and experiences that define every person. Alick points out that the word “life” is singular in English; while, in Hebrew, chayim is plural. We human beings are a mass and mix of truths and feelings and formative experiences. Each of us contains multitudes. None of us is one thing.
Clearly, a core task of our time is to fill North American Gen Zers with the fruits of our Tree of Knowledge. Gen Z has lost their story, our story. So many inspired organizations are working to infuse them with knowledge, with a deep sense of our sacred story and, then—voilà—God-willing, problem solved.
Yes, it is true that many Gen Zers are cut off from the Jewish Tree of Knowledge, from the Jewish story. But our Siach Shalom efforts are directed even more to the Tree of Life than to the Tree of Knowledge. The fruit of the Etz Chayim, Tree of Life, is the fruit of relationship. Harvesting the Tree of Life is the sacred work of learning about ourselves and revealing ourselves to others.
The question is asked: What is the opposite of knowledge? Hiddenness, concealment, is the opposite of knowledge. Discovering what has been concealed is the fruit of the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is the revealing of what is hidden. And that’s our work with young people—helping them discover their hidden, sacred story. Our work is to help Gen Zers unlock within themselves the insights that reveal how and why they feel the way they feel—about Israelis and Palestinians, Zionism and Palestinianism, about Jews and all human beings. Revealing what is concealed is a bridge that will bind Israeli Gen Zers and their American and European cousins.
Pesach, the holiday that is approaching, contains a similar insight. Pesach has a meaning beyond what we learn as children. Yes, G-d pe’sach, skipped over, passed over, the Jewish homes on the night that G-d “smote the Egyptians.” But pe’sach has another meaning. Sach means “to speak” and pe means “a mouth.” So pe-sach means “a mouth that speaks,” that reveals multiple dimensions and inner depths.
Pe-sach is a kind of Tree of Life. It’s the mouth that can no longer conceal, hide or cover up—who we are and what we are called to fight for. Pe-sach is a Tree of Life reminding us that freedom means a pride in and a love of our past and our future. Pe-sach is not just the speaking, but the hearing, of the divine charge to Avraham—היה ברכה—be a blessing.
May this journey to Pesach remind us of the Tree of Life, inspire us to reveal what has been concealed and enable our young people to see themselves and each other in new and deeper ways. May these relationships enliven the roots of our sacred garden and ensure a future of security and peace in our ancestral home, in Israel, for Jews and for and all peoples.