The Weeping Oak and/or How and Where Do We Hold Our Grief? Bnot Eish, May 2022

Midrash on Alon Bachut, the Weeping Oak, by Penina V. Adelman
In the Garden of Eden, one tree drooped sadly when Adam and Eve were expelled. Unlike the other trees who felt that the first human beings deserved punishment for disobeying the command of God, this tree felt only regret. It had been a dwarf for the first years of its life. Other trees had mocked it with teasing names, "Stumper," "Flower Face," Baby Wood." During those years the tree wept continually, the soil becoming so drenched with it's tears that nothing could grow near it.
One day it heard a voice from heaven, a bat kol, saying, "Do not despair. You have a special purpose. You were placed in the Garden to weep at the death of others (humans, animals and other trees). All that grows and lives must one day die. You will help those who must go on living, listening for the sound of sadness in their hearts, a sound which they cannot utter alone."
Now the tree had a mission: the task of mourning the dead. The trees tears came when one of its sisters or brother decayed and fell; when an animal died of starvation; when rain drowned the insects. All were comforted, for they were not alone in their grief.
This "tree of lamentation" grew from a small, bent sapling into a sturdy sentinel of the Garden. Winds and birds bore it seeds all over the world, carrying the ability to mourn into every garden, field and forest where plants and creatures lived and died.
One of those seeds became the oak under which Deborah, nurse of Rebecca, was buried. The tree mourned long and loud for this beloved member of the family. It came to be known as Alon Bachut, the Weeping Oak, a bearer of strength in times of need.

The next three pieces of art are by Susan Kaplow, an artist and a student in my Artists Beit Midrash and were exhibited recently in an exhibit called Hearts, Broken and Whole at the Ceres Gallery. The first two were inspired by the Weeping Oak and Penina's Midrash.

Chevrutah -- In small groups of four:
1. Create a grief container. You can draw it or just name it.
2. Write your grief in a few words on a piece of paper-- at this moment.
3. Put your grief in a container.
4. Tell the group what your grief is if you can, and allow your group to be a secondary container (if you want).