(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's blog: http://blog.bjen.org/ dated February 26, 2012)
Once upon a time, we knew, deep inside, the magic of fruit trees.
The trees of life and the knowledge of good and evil in the Book of Genesis were not pine or poplar or cypress. They were fruit trees. The dove did not bring back an ash leaf or elm bough but an olive branch.
The laws of the Torah that urge us to avoid waste and limit what we disturb in the process of building, come from the command not to destroy fruit trees in the pursuit of war. Other ...
