Rest as Revolution Session III Trust Like a Tree Artists Beit Midrash Streicker Center
(יח) וַעֲשִׂיתֶם֙ אֶת־חֻקֹּתַ֔י וְאֶת־מִשְׁפָּטַ֥י תִּשְׁמְר֖וּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֣ם אֹתָ֑ם וִֽישַׁבְתֶּ֥ם עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ לָבֶֽטַח׃ (יט) וְנָתְנָ֤ה הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ פִּרְיָ֔הּ וַאֲכַלְתֶּ֖ם לָשֹׂ֑בַע וִֽישַׁבְתֶּ֥ם לָבֶ֖טַח עָלֶֽיהָ׃ (כ) וְכִ֣י תֹאמְר֔וּ מַה־נֹּאכַ֖ל בַּשָּׁנָ֣ה הַשְּׁבִיעִ֑ת הֵ֚ן לֹ֣א נִזְרָ֔ע וְלֹ֥א נֶאֱסֹ֖ף אֶת־תְּבוּאָתֵֽנוּ׃ (כא) וְצִוִּ֤יתִי אֶת־בִּרְכָתִי֙ לָכֶ֔ם בַּשָּׁנָ֖ה הַשִּׁשִּׁ֑ית וְעָשָׂת֙ אֶת־הַתְּבוּאָ֔ה לִשְׁלֹ֖שׁ הַשָּׁנִֽים׃ (כב) וּזְרַעְתֶּ֗ם אֵ֚ת הַשָּׁנָ֣ה הַשְּׁמִינִ֔ת וַאֲכַלְתֶּ֖ם מִן־הַתְּבוּאָ֣ה יָשָׁ֑ן עַ֣ד ׀ הַשָּׁנָ֣ה הַתְּשִׁיעִ֗ת עַד־בּוֹא֙ תְּב֣וּאָתָ֔הּ תֹּאכְל֖וּ יָשָֽׁן׃ (כג) וְהָאָ֗רֶץ לֹ֤א תִמָּכֵר֙ לִצְמִתֻ֔ת כִּי־לִ֖י הָאָ֑רֶץ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֧ים וְתוֹשָׁבִ֛ים אַתֶּ֖ם עִמָּדִֽי׃ (כד) וּבְכֹ֖ל אֶ֣רֶץ אֲחֻזַּתְכֶ֑ם גְּאֻלָּ֖ה תִּתְּנ֥וּ לָאָֽרֶץ׃ {ס}
(18) You shall observe My laws and faithfully keep My rules, that you may live upon the land in security; (19) the land shall yield its fruit and you shall eat your fill, and you shall live upon it in security. (20) And should you ask, “What are we to eat in the seventh year, if we may neither sow nor gather in our crops?” (21) I will ordain My blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it shall yield a crop sufficient for three years. (22) When you sow in the eighth year, you will still be eating old grain of that crop; you will be eating the old until the ninth year, until its crops come in. (23) But the land must not be sold beyond reclaim, for the land is Mine; you are but strangers resident with Me. (24) Throughout the land that you hold, you must provide for the redemption of the land.
Trust and the Meditating Tree

(ה) כֹּ֣ה ׀ אָמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֗ה

אָר֤וּר הַגֶּ֙בֶר֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יִבְטַ֣ח בָּאָדָ֔ם

וְשָׂ֥ם בָּשָׂ֖ר זְרֹע֑וֹ

וּמִן־יְהֹוָ֖ה יָס֥וּר לִבּֽוֹ׃

(ו) וְהָיָה֙ כְּעַרְעָ֣ר בָּעֲרָבָ֔ה

וְלֹ֥א יִרְאֶ֖ה כִּֽי־יָ֣בוֹא ט֑וֹב

וְשָׁכַ֤ן חֲרֵרִים֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר

אֶ֥רֶץ מְלֵחָ֖ה וְלֹ֥א תֵשֵֽׁב׃ {ס} (ז) בָּר֣וּךְ הַגֶּ֔בֶר אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִבְטַ֖ח בַּיהֹוָ֑ה

וְהָיָ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה מִבְטַחֽוֹ׃

(ח) וְהָיָ֞ה כְּעֵ֣ץ ׀ שָׁת֣וּל עַל־מַ֗יִם

וְעַל־יוּבַל֙ יְשַׁלַּ֣ח שׇׁרָשָׁ֔יו

וְלֹ֤א (ירא) [יִרְאֶה֙] כִּי־יָ֣בֹא חֹ֔ם

וְהָיָ֥ה עָלֵ֖הוּ רַעֲנָ֑ן

וּבִשְׁנַ֤ת בַּצֹּ֙רֶת֙ לֹ֣א יִדְאָ֔ג

וְלֹ֥א יָמִ֖ישׁ מֵעֲשׂ֥וֹת פֶּֽרִי׃

(5) Thus said the LORD:
Cursed is he who trusts in man,
Who makes mere flesh his strength,
And turns his thoughts from the LORD.

(6) He shall be like a bush in the desert,
Which does not sense the coming of good:
It is set in the scorched places of the wilderness,
In a barren land without inhabitant.

(7) Blessed is he who trusts in the LORD,
Whose trust is the LORD alone.

(8) He shall be like a tree planted by waters,
Sending forth its roots by a stream:
It does not sense the coming of heat,
Its leaves are ever fresh;
It has no care in a year of drought,
It does not cease to yield fruit.

Jeremiah was active as a prophet from the thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah (626 BC]), until after the fall of Jerusalemand the destruction of Solomon's Temple in 587 BC.This period spanned the reigns of five kings of Judah: Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah

Does not have the trust necessary to observe smite
אשר יבטח באדם. בחרישו וקצירו לומר אזרע בשביעית ואוכל:
who trusts in man In his plowing and his harvest, saying, “I will sow during the seventh year and I will eat.”
If One Trusts in God They Can Trust in Humans
ומן ה' יסור לבו. כי אם לא יסור לבו מה' אינו רע אם יבטח באדם שיעזרהו ותהיה כונתו כי בעזרת האל יוכל האדם לעזור לא זולתו:

If he does not “turn his heart from God,” he is not wrong in trusting that humans will help him, if his intention is that with God’s help the person can help him.

Translation from this page: https://www.thetorah.com/article/jeremiahs-teaching-of-the-trees by Prof. Rabbi Andrea Weiss

God is the Place of the World

(ט) וַיִּפְגַע בַּמָּקוֹם (בראשית כח, יא), רַב הוּנָא בְּשֵׁם רַבִּי אַמֵּי אָמַר מִפְּנֵי מָה מְכַנִּין שְׁמוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וְקוֹרְאִין אוֹתוֹ מָקוֹם, שֶׁהוּא מְקוֹמוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם וְאֵין עוֹלָמוֹ מְקוֹמוֹ, מִן מַה דִּכְתִיב (שמות לג, כא): הִנֵּה מָקוֹם אִתִּי, הֱוֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מְקוֹמוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם וְאֵין עוֹלָמוֹ מְקוֹמוֹ. ...

And he encountered the place (Gen. 28:11) Rav Huna said, in the name of Rabbi Ami: ‘why do we change the name of the Holy One of Blessing to Place? Because God is the Place of the world, and God’s world is not God’s place, since it’s written “see, there is this place with Me” (Ex. 33:21) - therefore the Holy One of Blessing is the place of the world, and God’s world is not God’s place. ...

Rabbi Moshe Cordovero (1522–1570) was a teacher of the Mystical Tradition in 16th-century Safed, Israel. He is known by the acronym the Ramak (Hebrew: רמ"ק‎).
The essence of Divinity is found in every single thing—nothing but it exists. Since it causes every thing to be, no thing can live by anything else. It enlivens them; its existence exists in each existent. Do not attribute duality to God. Let God be solely God... If you suppose that Ein Sof emanates until a certain point, and that from that point on is outside of it, you have dualized. God forbid! Realize, rather, that Ein Sof exists in each existent. Do not say, “This is a stone and not God.” God forbid! Rather, all existence is God, and the stone is a thing pervaded by divinity. (Shiur Komah 206b)
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Between God and Man, pp. 93-95 ~ adapted
To the Greeks as to many other peoples, the earth is known as Mother Earth. She is the mother who sends up fruits, the giver of children and to her people return at death. Greek drama and poetry exalt the divinity of Earth...
Such a concept is alien to Biblical consciousness. There is only One parent. The earth is one's sister rather than one's mother. Humans and earth are equally the creations of God...
The prophets attacked what may be called the fallacy of isolation. Things and events, humans and the world [are]... inseparable parts of an occasion in which the divine is at stake. ...
To think of God, humans must hear the world. Humans are not alone in celebrating God. To praise God is to join all things in their song to God.
Rebbe Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, (aka Esh Kodesh, 1889–1943)
"Before [the] ability to see the world as souls and essences and consciousness fully emerges in you, you can still impress upon your rational mind the following thought: The whole world and everything in it is divine in origin and substance. It is not visible to my eyes but God is the source of all reality, even I am full of God. The sand under my feet is an articulation of God. The whole world is utterly comprised of, and dependent on, God…When you constantly impress this idea on your mind, you will begin to internalize it…When you remind yourself repeatedly that all the world is divine, your feelings and consciousness inevitably begin to comply with this point of view, which already corresponds with the perspective of the soul…As you observe the world, remind yourself that everything is completely given over to God. Everything is surrounded by the holiness of His Presence. Everything is, essentially, divine." Conscious Community, pp.51-52