Tree of Life - A Reality Even Today!

The Tree Of Life Alive and Well In The Negev!


Old Blog Post from 9/25/11 - One of Soul Mazal's First's!

Read On Afterwards For New Developments With Argan Trees In Israel Today!

Here is my idea: Lets say the Tree of Life was an Olive Tree, which there are opinions saying it was, for the sake of meriting its oil to make Shabbos Light.
Adam using his Wisdom, and supreme knowledge of Nature (he named everything in the Garden), has one problem: how to get olive oil, now.

If the Olive Tree functions like an Argan Tree, then getting the oil would be simple! Employ the goats to process the fruit and make the oil through their digestion in addition with the required manpower which is ready from the efforts of the goats, as it is done in Argan Trees in Morocco. Adam makes a Hekesh, and says perhaps the Argan tree, which makes oil, functions like an Olive Tree that makes oil. Just as goats are used in Argan Oil, so too with Olive Oil. If the Argan Tree functions as the Olive Tree, I would not be eating from the tree at all, I would merit Shabbos and use the fruit as Light!

Enter Adam's command: Do Not touch the tree  (as the work is delicate, goats and all), enter Chavah, Nachash and the story goes from there...Derech Drush...
My Pshat (understanding) is: The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in this scenario, is Adam superimposing the Argan Tree onto the Olive Tree, assuming the comparison is valid; whereas cooperation with Chava would merit a Kosher Garden experience, and the Olive Oil would be allowed to be used in The Great Shabbos that they would have merited, turning any remnant of Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil into an edible/usable Tree of Life, as explained by the Arizal...with the onset of Shabbos, and a perfected world.

Chava represents waiting, for the Olive Oil to produce naturally, thereby not touching or eating from the tree until Shabbos...Adam ventured to produce it in an unnatural way, taking too many steps, and leading Chava to a sin, that came back to Adam himself.

Adam was to wait patiently;We are to fix this by patiently waiting for Moshiach. We can make it complex like Adam did, or we can wait until the time is RIPE, allowing Knowledge of Good and Bad to return to its source of Tov Meod (Very Good) and being a source of Life, within the Delight of Shabbos..as Hashem said, "And Behold, It Was Very Good!"

Click here to learn more about goats and Argan Trees


The argan tree is one of the oldest trees on earth, with scientists stating that genetic evidence points to an age of at least 80 million years (now whether you think the world is that old is another question, but let's just stay with the fact: its old). In Morroco it is called "the tree of life".

Now, let's take a look at something else, a tree called "Etz Shemen" found in the tanach in four places: "I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the shitta tree, and the myrtle and the Etz Shemen; I will set in the arava cypress, maple and box-tree together: that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the holy one of Israel has created it." Isaiah 41:18-20 "And on the second day, the chiefs of the fathers houses of all the people, the priests and the Levites, were gathered to Ezra the scribe, in order to study the words of the Tora. And they found written in the Tora which the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moshe, that the children of Yisrael should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Yerushalayim, saying, Go out to the mountain, and fetch olive branches and branches of Etz Shemen and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written." Nehemiah 8:13-15 "And within the sanctuary he made two keruvim of Etz Shemen..." I KIngs 6:23 "And for the entering of the inner sanctuary he made doors of Etz Shemen" I Kings 6:31

So what is Etz Shemen? We know a few things about it: 1. In the end of days Hashem will plant it in the desert and it will be considered a sign of His handiwork 2. Its branches were one of two varieties that the Israelites should use on the roof of their succahs, together with the olive tree as another variety. (More about this later) 3. It was used for the keruvim and doors to the inner sanctuary of the Temple.

Now, take a look at Sukah 37 from the Daf Yomi where the passage in Nehemiah is discussed. Here are the notes to that daf: http://www.shemayisrael.com/dafyomi2/sukah/backgrnd/su-in-37.htm There and in the Daf we see that the of the five species mentioned by Nehemiah, three were used for the lulav and two were for putting a roof on the succah. The two mentioned for roofing are olive and etz shemen.

Now, the notes there for the daf tells us that there were various opinions as to what etz shemen was: mentioned there are a pine tree and a balsam tree. Yet, in most translations for this passage to Nehemiah we find it translated as a "wild olive". Now, we know that it was not an olive because if so the passage about the sukkah roofing would have just said: go out and get roofing from the olive tree.

The various commentaries state that it may have been a pine tree or a balsam tree. But pine and balsam are not known to produce large amounts of oil!

And lastly, we know that this mysterious tree will have wood suitable for making the keruvim and inner sanctuary doors. Pine? Not likely. Balsam? Hmmm. I believe that argan is the Etz Shemen.

It's time to get planting. We need as much help as we can to get this going. Please, sponsor a tree, or even a part of a tree. Ma'aser funds may be used as this is a huge mitzvah.

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Posted in: Israel