OU TORAH Shoftim: Tree-like By Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb
I love metaphors. An apt metaphor can help stimulate boundless creativity and can lead to a deeper and richer understanding of the concept being studied.
Take, for example, the metaphor of a tree as representing a human being. We find this metaphor in this week’s Torah portion, Shoftim, in the following verse:
“When you besiege a city for many days to wage war against it, to seize it; do not destroy its trees, by swinging an ax against it; for from it you will eat, and you shall not cut it down; because man is a tree of the field, to come against you in a siege.” (Deuteronomy 20:19)
I am aware that there are alternative translations of the phrase under consideration, and that some render it as a question, “Is a tree of the field like a man?” But the literal meaning of the phrase is declarative. Man is like a tree of the field.
I love metaphors. An apt metaphor can help stimulate boundless creativity and can lead to a deeper and richer understanding of the concept being studied.
Take, for example, the metaphor of a tree as representing a human being. We find this metaphor in this week’s Torah portion, Shoftim, in the following verse:
“When you besiege a city for many days to wage war against it, to seize it; do not destroy its trees, by swinging an ax against it; for from it you will eat, and you shall not cut it down; because man is a tree of the field, to come against you in a siege.” (Deuteronomy 20:19)
I am aware that there are alternative translations of the phrase under consideration, and that some render it as a question, “Is a tree of the field like a man?” But the literal meaning of the phrase is declarative. Man is like a tree of the field.
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