Parshas Shoftim: MAKE LIKE A TREE, AND GROW!

Have you ever wondered why we're drawn to the majestic presence of ancient trees? There's something profound in their silent testimony to growth, resilience, and patient flourishing—qualities we all seek in our own lives.

In this enlightening exploration of Parashas Shoftim, we uncover the Torah's remarkable wisdom hidden within a seemingly mundane instruction about warfare. When the verse states "Ki ha'adam eitz hasadeh" (for man is a tree of the field), it reveals a profound metaphor that illuminates our path to spiritual growth.

Drawing on teachings from Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz and classic Jewish texts, we examine how human development mirrors arboreal growth. Just as a tree requires the right location, proper planting, and patient nurturing before bearing fruit, our spiritual journey demands thoughtful choices about our environment, consistent practice, and the development of strong roots through action.

The wisdom of this metaphor comes alive through the parallel between new students arriving at yeshiva during Elul and freshly planted saplings. Those bright-eyed beginners with new haircuts and eager attitudes must develop perseverance to transform initial enthusiasm into lasting growth. The Mishnah reveals a counterintuitive truth: it's not our knowledge that creates our foundation, but our actions. Someone whose deeds exceed their wisdom resembles a tree with few branches but many roots—unshakable in the face of life's storms.

Whether you're embarking on a new spiritual journey or seeking to deepen existing practices, this timeless wisdom offers practical guidance for authentic growth. Remember that persistence in righteous action, even when emotionally difficult, builds the strong roots from which spiritual fruits will eventually emerge. Share this episode with someone who might benefit from understanding that meaningful growth, like a mighty cedar, develops gradually but endures forever.

Chapters

• 0:00 First Week of Elul: New Beginnings
• 10:13 Unpacking Parashat Shoftim
• 17:37 Man Is a Tree: Unveiling the Metaphor
• 21:39 How Trees Grow: A Spiritual Blueprint
• 28:35 Our Jewish Roots: Legacy of the Ancestors
• 31:51 Actions vs. Wisdom: Building Strong Roots

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This past week was the first week of Elulzman, the first week of the Hebrew month of Elul. It is one of my favorite weeks of the year because I have the pleasure, the good fortune, of being able to work at a yeshiva. I'm employed by a Rosh yeshiva and I get to witness the new crop that comes in every Elul the 12th graders that just graduated high school coming to a real yeshiva where it isn't English in the afternoons, they aren't short class periods, but a full 10-hour day of learning, where a person is by himself, he has to do his own laundry, he has to secure his own meals and he has to really meet himself for the first time, when it's just him alone, with his Gemara. The Bacher will learn a lot about himself and the transformation that goes on between when the Bacher, when the student, arrives until when he graduates, often three years later. There's nothing to compare it to. It's like the birth of a new baby. This past week it always makes me chuckle, the first week of Ellelsman, because everyone shows up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed with their new shoes, their new haircuts, ready to make a good impression, their black sneakers, their Lululemon pants, the perfect haircut. They're all ready to go, ready to take on life and put their best foot forward. I remember those good old days and I feel blessed to still witness them, to still be a part of them, even though I am a nearly 30-year-old, burnt-out old fellow, far away from my tight haircut and youthful vigor that I had when I came through yeshiva. But all of this brought to my attention an idea that Rabbi Yerucham talks about in this week's parasha that I'd like to share with you. That Rabbi Yerucham talks about in this week's Parsha that I'd like to share with you. It's an idea about how a Jew grows, how a Jew steigs, the process that it takes from beginning to end, and to unpack this lesson. I first want to tell you just how brilliant the Parsha is, how action-packed it is, and then we're going to select the topic we're going to discuss and then deliver the idea.

Speaker 1: 2:48

The parasha is parashash shoftim, which outlines the appointment of judges, law enforcement, police officers. We need to make sure that nobody is bribed. There is no favoritism. We need meticulous investigation of crimes. According to halacha, we need to go to Sanhedrin to judge cases, the great Jewish grand court. Our parasha prohibits sorcery, destruction. It commands an appointment of a melech, of a king. We get the laws of war, some laws of karbanos. We get the laws of war, some laws of Karbanos. We learn about cities of refuge where an accidental murder can flee to Before, the very fascinating halacha of the Egl Arufa, where there is a dead body laying in between two cities and we need to figure out who is the culprit. We need to have a sense of communal responsibility towards preventing harm. But I want to focus today about the war and the laws therein.

Speaker 1: 3:57

The posse says first, offer some peace terms. The posse tells us how to respond based on how they respond. First, to offer some peace terms, the Pasuk tells us how to respond based on how they respond. There's a certain time where you need to lay siege. God will protect you, the Pasuk. They continue how you should deal with the plunder, with the booty, and with all of the livestock and everything in the town and the spoils. There's further guidelines about how to deal with different cities and there are certain nationalities the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hevites, the Jebusites that we act in war a bit differently than all the other nations Lamana, sharlo, yilam, du'eskem, lasos and all this is in order not to create a society that will possibly learn from the enemies if you allow them to live, and possibly there'll be a cancerous, non-israelite type of root or origin to the sprouting cities in the promised land, which will not be tolerated.

Speaker 1: 5:18

And then here comes our Pesach that we're looking for. When you set siege and you have to set the siege up for a long time surrounding the city, there's a certain law that you must keep in the sieging Do not destroy its trees, wielding the axe against them. Don't destroy the trees. Save. Don't destroy the trees, save the trees, hug the trees. Why? Ki mimenu tochal va'oso lo tichrots From these trees? You can eat them, but you mustn't cut them down. Why? Why are we loving and saving the trees? Ki ha'adam eitz hasadeh Lavo'i miponecha b'matzor. Puzzling words, for the man is a tree of the field that you should come in front of him in the besieged city. That's what that literally translates. And if that doesn't make sense to you, that's because, yeah, that doesn't make sense the translation that we need to come up with here.

Speaker 1: 6:31

We must draw upon the Rishonim to try to make sense of this Pesach. What does it mean? That the man is a tree and therefore you should not come in front of him to kill him. Rashi explains that you reuse the word ki ha'adam etasadeh to mean possibly or perhaps, and you read the pasuk Is the tree a man that it will be able to hide itself away when you come into battle? You read the verse with a certain question, inquisitively. It's a bit me on Hebrew. So the Pesach is telling us don't destroy the trees because they can't fend for themselves. And it seems like you got to take it easy on them. They can't run in to hide. It, got to play fair game.

Speaker 1: 7:25

A very interesting reading of the Pesach the Evan Ezra says you don't need this Pesach and Rashi, there's an easier way to unpack the Pesach for the simplistic approach Don't destroy the trees Because, because you reuse the word ki as the regular, because because a person is a tree of the field. What does that mean? That we need trees to live. Ki chay ben adam hu et ha-sada To live, we need the photosynthesis and the oxygen of the trees and the fruits and the wood. Mankind, human life forms, are supported by trees, so therefore take heed not to destroy the trees. Sounds like an idea of compassion or gratitude, but this Pusik is really a goldmine.

Speaker 1: 8:32

Jewish mystics, spiritual deans across the world and God-thirsty Jews see a powerful lesson in this Pusik. When you read the verse plainly, the Pusik sticks out and there's really no going back. The Pusik never reads the same way again what Rabbi Yerucham L'Vovitz, the spiritual dean, brings to our attention, and so many of the other great Torah educators. They tell us that you need to see that hidden in this Pesach is the growth of a man. The Torah has 70 different levels of wisdom and many different ways to interpret psukim, and one of the things that's sitting out here for us to harp, for us to gather, is that ha'adam etz hasad, that a man is a tree. In the middle of this posse.

Speaker 1: 9:33

In regards to the sieging and the laws of cutting down trees, we are exposed to the way that a Jew is supposed to grow and steig and his own path to Hashem. And how is it? It's to steig like a tree, because a man grows like a tree. Ki ha-adam, the person ets hasadah. You don't read it in the way that Rashi does in this inquisitive question field. Is it possible for the tree to run away? Is he like a man? But rather ki ha-adam ets hasadah? Man and trees are very interconnected. In fact, their growth process mirrors each other. The way a tree grows, extends, widens, thickens, the way that it steigs we should look at and take notes from, because that's the way that we should steig, says the great Mashkiach. So how is it that you actually build a tree? If we can figure that out, then we could figure out, maybe some tips, how to build ourselves into towering timber trees or cedars of Babylon. Cedars of Babylon.

Speaker 1: 10:54

Well, to plant a tree is a very arduous and specific process, as you may have guessed. It takes planning, it takes preparation, it takes research to figure out the native trees and where they are well-suited to the local climate. It takes knowledge of the soil type, the sunlight conditions, it takes understanding the days and the sunlight when the dormant season hits. All of this is happening long before you even plant the seed. And once you do plant the seed, there's untangling the roots, girdling the roots. Girdling the roots, backfilling the hole, eliminating air pockets, applying mulch organic mulch, according to some watering generously, providing slow, deep watering, encouraging the roots to grow downward. Staking is needed sometimes.

Speaker 1: 12:03

But enough about the trees, and what I want to show you is that to build a person, we need many of the same steps, but we don't need to make them up. What's fascinating is that when you look throughout the oral and written law, you'll find countless of references to how a person in Judaism grows like a tree, and you actually get clued into how to do these steps, which is, first, you know what you do, know what you do. After you've figured out your location, which already we are well aware that location, location, location where you choose to plant yourself as a Jew, will have long-lasting ramifications. We know that not all places are created equal. There is spiritual sunlight in some cities that shines a whole lot brighter than in other cities. We know that if you plant yourself next to some sort of oil rig, some sort of immoral bystander, it can send spiritual cancer into the seeds that you're trying to plant. So the location that you choose, trying to plant, so the location that you choose to plant yourself, is of utmost importance.

Speaker 1: 13:19

Bava Kama 17a shows us that teaches that happy are you that sow beside all waters that send forth the feet of the ox and the donkey. The Gemara explains to us how do you do? How do you do? How do you do planting? The way that you begin your process? It sounds like you do planting, ain't Zaria Ela Tzedaka? The way that you begin your process, it sounds like, is. You build it on righteousness, you build it on kindness, you build it on straightness and charity. You don't need to guess the Zaria. You know how the song goes. The way that you plant also needs to be taken into account. Hazarim bedimah, berinah yikzayru. We have a mishnah, a mishnah, a posik. You'll say it Hazarim bedina berinah berinah, berinah yikzayru.

Speaker 1: 14:29

The way that you plant yourself, if you plant yourself with tears, well then you will gather what you have planted with happiness. This screams at us that when it's your first week in Elulzman and you show up bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and ready to go. But the Zman gets hard, the times get tough, the planting process sometimes causes tears. Hazo yirim bedima. When you work yourself hard, with discipline, to put in the time, the work and the effort, that causes tears. It's painful, it's arduous. It's a construction zone, in a yeshiva or wherever you choose to plant yourself. Don't give up and don't be discouraged from the tears because, barina Yitzhoru, when you plant it with tears, meaning you're doing it right, it's those people that will gather what they have planted with merriment, with happiness, with joy, with song.

Speaker 1: 15:44

After you've planted yourself, you've figured out where you're to call home where you're going to plant your spiritual edifice. You've picked your location, you've also put in the effort to start planting yourself and now takes step number two. You need Kalita, you need absorption, you need this very unique process where the seed begins to undergo a critical process which involves the sprouting of the seed after a period of dormancy. There is a process of some complex steps triggered by what scientists call specific environmental cues, by what scientists call specific environmental cues, which is short for Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the Holy One. Blessed Be he, the Omnipresent. But this klita process is when those first buds start to show.

Speaker 1: 16:48

Tzadik katomer yifrach the righteous. They bloom like a date palm. Tzadik katomer yifrach the righteous, they bloom like a date palm. Ke'eres, balvonon, yizke, tehillim 92.14. They thrive like a cedar in Lebanon. The germination has begun.

Speaker 1: 17:03

Shesulim beveis, hashem. Shesulim means germination, that's how the great ones explain it. You start to flourish in the courts of our God, you begin to keep yourself in the right place and your heart begins to not despise having to wake up early to go to find your seat, to go to find your Gemara, but begins a whole new chapter of where you can kind of see some light, some clarity. You kind of start to enjoy things. The seeds have begun to percolate, percolate and sprout. Your soul has begun to germinate. Steiging is happening.

Speaker 1: 18:00

These Mishalim, these Demionim, these parables that Ha'adam Eitz HaSadda, that man grows like a tree. It isn't just for one man, but also for man and collectively, as a Jewish nation, we also sprout. We grow like a tree and Hashem gives us trees to learn from, to build our Jewish nation. We build strong roots and we build on righteousness. Shir Hashirim, the Jewish people.

Speaker 1: 18:37

We learn all about how Avroham, yitzchak and Yaakov they had foresight in building the Jewish people and where they selected to travel and to live and where, with divine providence, did Hashem send them? Shir Hashirim, imchoimohi Nivneh Oleh HaTiras Kesev. If she were a wall, we would build upon it a silver battlement. We learn all about how the roots of the Jewish people. They have a strong root and foundation. Their walls are ironclad because we are built on a foundation of kindness, of rum, of truth. That would be Yaakov, that would be our wholesomeness, that would be Ishtam, our truth, and Yitzchak, our gevura, our strength. The Jewish people build skyscrapers these days. They build skyscrapers and the learning sprouting that you see around the world, the spiritual massive structures. They all stand healthily because of our forefathers, because of what they created and the deep roots and foundation stones that they planted.

Speaker 1: 20:10

Jeremiah 17.8 continues the whole parable. He shall be like a tree planted by water, sending forth its roots by a stream, not weary of the coming heat. Its leaves are ever fresh. Aren't Cutler ever fresh building seeds of Tyre in America that could so easily flourish? Because it's built upon a long-standing legacy and foundation of such organic, thick, healthy soil. That's all built by Avram, yitzhak and Yaakov. It's organic soil, built of truth, strength and kindness.

Speaker 1: 20:52

Balak saw this parable and Balak saw this truth. My apologies, balak heard this truth, but Balaam preached it. Balaam, the rotten Balaam, when he was tasked, hired to curse the Jews and he failed. Well, he actually succeeded, if you ask us. But 23.9, he says. You ask us, but 23.9, he says.

Speaker 1: 21:28

I see them from the mountaintops, gaze onto them from the heights. There is a people that dwells apart, not reckoned among the nations. If you put the Shweki song aside and look down and see Rashi, what is it that Balaam saw that he was gazing upon? I look at their origin, their rations and the beginning of their root, their descent, their inception. I see them strongly founded as yonder rocks, like large mountains. They were planted strongly founded by their ancestors and ancestresses, by Avram Yitzchak, yaakov, sarah, rivka, rachel and Leah. This is a Medrash Tanchuma in Balak 12 Balaam saw this, that Kiha'adam Eitz Asada, the way health, fruit, peros and the Jewish people and a Jew for that matter.

Speaker 1: 22:55

Any person grows. It happens like a tree that you need proper seeding, proper germination and absorption of the materials and the elements and minerals that you need, and on that you start to build roots. Roots is what comes next. Roots are what Avram, yitzchak and Yaakov built, that we get to have the peros and further blossoming now. But roots is what I want to talk about, is what we need to create in our lives.

Speaker 1: 23:29

The final step in our parable For mankind. A person Is hailing the righteous and enjoying seeing that he should eat the fruits of their work. That's what the prophet said. How does that happen? Well, we have to build strong roots. It's a Mishnah. We need to build strong roots. It's a Mishnah. We need to build strong a foundation. We need to burrow deep in the ground so we're unshakable, no matter what spiritual winds will blow. It's a Mishnah.

Speaker 1: 24:12

In Avosper, gimel, pasach, yetzayim Hu, hayah Omer. You'll see something novel here and a new way to see clearly how to plant strong roots. It's not what you think. Anyone whose wisdom is larger weighs more than his actions. What is he similar to? What is he similar to Le'ilon sh'anof of meruben?

Speaker 1: 24:40

V'sharash of mu'atim you are somebody that has anof of meruben, tons of branches, endless leafy, fruity branches, v'sharash of ma'atin, but you don't have actions. Then you have very small, flimsy, pathetic-looking roots V'haruach bo'av oykartoy Small, flimsy, pathetic-looking roots. And the wind will come and knock it over and flip it over on its head. Anyone whose actions, whose maisav are more they outweigh your wisdom, l'ma hudaymet. What is this? Compared to Le'ilon sha'anof av mu'otim? V'sharash av merubin, you are like a tree that has small fruits, because you don't have much wisdom, but you have deeply burrowing, healthy, happy, robust roots because you have actions. And when you have actions, you have roots. And I feel you call our Ruchos Sheba Olam Bo'os. V'no Shavos Bo'o. Any winds that will come your way, ein mei zizan, oso mi mekomo. You will not budge.

Speaker 1: 26:04

We see a powerful new idea here that your roots are not your predetermined ideas. Your roots, the very roots of the Jewish people, weren't just the concepts of chesed and the ideologies of truth of Abraham, isaac and Jacob, but the actions that they committed, the actions that they engaged in, it was the maisov, their actions that created the foundation. And for us, we see that it doesn't take wisdom. You don't need to be bright to build strong roots, you need to do.

Speaker 1: 26:52

It's a remarkable piece of chachma, don't you think that wisdom is less rooting, less grounding than action? It seems that action is what we're after. Action is the goal. The succulent fruits will all come when you start to do what you need to do. You start even with a heart that is turned off to Judaism, not very interested, but you choose a good locale, you start to open up to ideas and then you start to engage in practices of mitzvos.

Speaker 1: 27:38

You're building something that is a deeply rooted and will be a healthy, prosperous bastion of Torah, growth and spirituality that will give off delicious, effervescent, succulent, fresh fruit. And the roots it's from action. Isn't that fascinating. There are so many branches no pun intended of this idea. This big seems like discipline.

Speaker 1: 28:17

A whole sefer of Chachma about trees. A whole sefer of chachma about trees. That's all beneath the surface, planted in this pasuk Ki ha'adam etz hasadah that we grow like a tree, this goldmine here, that action, roots and not wisdom, unbelievable. It's remarkable how Hashem made the human body and he interconnected it with our souls and that if you want to create something, you don't need to be smart, you just need to do. You start running to Sheol even though you have no interest in Sheol. Eventually, eventually good will come Because you're building strong roots, even if you aren't interested in what the rabbi is discussing, a Torah concept that seems complex, but if you put in the actions, you put in the work to go after it, you have strong roots.

Speaker 1: 29:15

You have strong actions and you're ready to build on that. Mysav Actions is what we're after Deeds and every person needs strong roots Because the winds powerful winds, impure winds they blow, Life, humbles. If you have strong actions, then, even if God forbid war should come your way, if you have strong actions, even if poverty or divorce should come your way, you can remain solid in what's important and you can rework and re-decide how to go forward and you won't just get totally pulled out of the ground and uprooted. And you won't just get totally pulled out of the ground and uprooted, but everything comes when you have strong roots, and roots are made by action. So the call to action, this Elul, is to engage in actions that, even if you do not feel great about and your heart is still turned off to them, but do not give up on those actions and continue to go about your obligations.

Speaker 1: 30:27

If the daf yomi doesn't light your heart up yet, keep going. If your learning schedule with your chavrusa doesn't excite you yet. You're building roots and it's paying into. Hazayrim bedima Barina yitzayru. You're putting in the work. Hazayrim bedima Barina yitzayru. You're putting in the work. You're burrowing towards the surface and you're about to burst through the top and have gushing geysers of H2O, well of wood and trunks and branches and holiness and fruits and peros. So keep going, k'yadam et keep going.

Speaker 1: 31:04

A profound takeaway that the growth that we so badly crave and need. Hashem has put a million examples of them in the world and they're called trees. When you walk past it, re-notice them. Let it be a reminder to you that Zaria Klita, building of Shuroshim and eventually Peros, the seeding, the absorption, the germination, the sprouting, the burrowing of roots. We grow the same way. Grow smartly, grow with foresight, put in the necessary work early, keep banging on the job and keep beating on your craft and eventually, we too will have large standing cedars of Babylon, cedars of Lebanon, with deliciously plump fruits. What an important lesson and fascinating takeaway from an unassuming Pasig about the laws of war Never forget, always remember and build smartly, because Ki Ha'adam Eitz Ha'Sadeh, man grows and stags like a tree.