Title: Jewish Tree Huggers
Product review: Trees, Earth and Torah is a delectable melange of scholarly works, history, songs, recipes, poetry--even a graphic novelette. I loved editor Ari Elon's rehabilitation of that old curmudgeon R Shimon bar Yohai, who said, "One who is walking along studying and interrupts his study to say 'how lovely that tree is,' or 'how lovely that field is,'Scripture considers such a one to have forfeited his life." This quote inspired Cynthia Ozick to write The Pagan Rabbi, but Elon takes the story to its Talmudic conclusion in which the humbled and chastened bar Yohai said, "Since a miracle happened to me, let me go and repair something." Elon helps us to experience the natural world as a miracle and to see our resulting obligation to repair something.The book concludes with one of the loveliest Tu b'Shvat seders I have ever read. I plan to use it in my 9th grade religious school class next year.
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