The Wisdom of the Sycamore: a photographic essay

The Sycamore, or "Shikma" in Hebrew is an ancient tree, native to Egypt and Israel, and mentioned six times in the Bible and frequently in Egyptian folklore. The tree and its fruit have numerous medicinal attributes. Rebbe Nachman of Breslev explains that each creation of the universe is instilled with its own unique Divine wisdom, so let's see what we can learn from a Sycamore:

1. A Sycamore can grow in the desert where almost no other tree can grow: Even under desert conditions, the Sycamore maintains a handsome stature and thrives. Moral - even though we might live in a spiritual desert, we should still maintain a handsome moral stature. With faith, we too can thrive in a spiritually arid climate. 

2. Sycamores bear an abundance of fruit, even in the desert: It's literally miraculous how Sycamores yield an abundance of small figs not once, but several times a year. Moral - a person in a spiritual desert still has the ability to learn Torah, to pray, and to perform good deeds, thus yielding an abundance of spiritual fruit that literally sustains the universe.

3. Sycamores are impervious to shifting sands. Sometimes, the Negev Desert winds cause a shifting of entire dunes, uprooting the sagebrush, the brushweed, and the other desert flora. The stiffest sandstorms, desert winds, and hifting sands don't affect the Sycamore, because it sends its deep, mighty, and far reaching roots deep into the sand - sometimes hundreds of meters - all the way down to the water table. Moral - If one clings to one's roots, all the upheavals of the world will not harm him or her. Fashions and fads come and go like shifting sands, but Torah and Yiddishkeit with their deep roots - like the Sycamore - have weathered all of history, whereas the mightest of societies and ideologies have not.

 

Comments

[Fat Man]

"Listen to me, you who seek salvation,
you who seek the LORD;
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were taken.
[2] Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for when he was but one I called him,
and I blessed him and made him many.
[3] For the LORD will comfort Zion;
he will comfort all her waste places,
and will make her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the LORD;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.

[FamouslyUnknown]

Etz chaim hee lamachazikim baw ...

As above, so below.