The Significance of Trees in Judaism

In Judaism, beginning with Genesis, there is the foundational verse:

“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Trees stand at the centre of creation - beautiful, nourishing, and deeply symbolic. The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge anchor the biblical narrative of humanity’s relationship with the divine.

Through the Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 1:1), we can understand the significance of Tu BiShvat, the annual "New Year for Trees" in Judaism. While Beit Shammai placed the date on the first of Shevat, Beit Hillel’s view - the fifteenth of Shevat -became tradition. This date determines agricultural tithes, demonstrating how Jewish law honors the natural cycles of trees within religious practice.

The Zohar reveals trees as spiritual symbols sustaining faith itself: “This world to come cares for this tree all the time, watering it and preparing it through its work, crowning it with crowns, never at any time withholding its streams. Faith depends on this tree.”

According to Gershom Scholem’s interpretation, the Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge are essentially one tree, growing from a common trunk in two directions. Adam’s sin was separating these trees, directing desire only toward knowledge and fracturing the unity that sustains human consciousness and divine connection.

A Hasidic teaching on sacred life is the story of Rebbe Shneur Zalman of Liadi, who chided his son for mindlessly tearing leaves from a tree: “How do you know that your soul is more precious to God than the soul of that tree?”

While acknowledging the human and vegetable domains differ, the Rebbe emphasised both are filled with God’s holy presence. This teaching from Sippurei Hasidim reveals the Hasidic view: every living thing possesses divine vitality and deserves reverence.

In Judaism, blessings transform not objects, but our relationship to them, with the Kadosh/Chol divide:

Kadosh (holy) items are set apart for God, while Chol (ordinary) items are released for human use. Life itself is too holy to consume until properly blessed - a concept parallel to the Islamic understanding of Halal.

In Psalms, there are conflicting verses, with one declaring the Earth belongs to God, while another says it was given to humanity - the Talmudic resolution is that before a blessing (Bracha), taking from the world is theft; after the blessing, the item is released for human use.

Jewish blessings reflect gratitude through specificity:

• Ha’etz: Fruits from trees (grapes)

• Ha’adamah: Produce from the earth (watermelon, strawberries)

• Mezonot/Shehakol: Grains and processed foods (crackers, water)