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Torah Flora

Plants and nature in Bible and Jewish tradition

Author: Jon

Chanukah and the Rosh HaShanah of the Chasidim

(Chanukah and 19 Kislev: Two opportunities to move from conflict to unity; December 2024)

Published December 28, 2024
Categorized as Chanukah Tagged olive

Words over Wine

(Why do people make declarations over wine? February 2021)

Published February 28, 2021
Categorized as Blessings, Holidays, Passover, Sabbath Tagged Kiddush, wine

Fine Linen on Simchat Torah—A Symbol of Social Change

Why does it matter that Rachav hid Joshua’s spies under piles of flax? August 2020

Published August 20, 2020
Categorized as Holidays, Nature in Biblical Metaphor, Simchat Torah Tagged flax, Joshua

Wormwood and Self-Examination

Self justification can lead us down the road from chet to zadon, from carelessness to willful defiance, from rosh to la’anah.

Published September 14, 2018
Categorized as Holidays, Nature in Biblical Metaphor, Yom Kippur

Jonah and the Castor Bean

Jonah’s shade plant provides a graphic metaphor for the message of this Biblical book.

Published August 24, 2015
Categorized as Nature in Biblical Metaphor, Yom Kippur Tagged Castor bean, Jonah, Ricinus, Yom Kippur

Achashverosh–Bumbling King or Agricultural Pest Insect?

(The king of Persia in the book of Esther, the legend of The Wandering Jew, and entomology; February 2010)

Published February 24, 2010
Categorized as Purim Tagged Purim

Botany, Prophecy, and Theology

(Botany determines Jeremiah’s theology; August 2009)

Published August 17, 2009
Categorized as Land of Israel, Nature in Biblical Metaphor

Charoset for health

(Possible health benefits of cinnamon; August 2007)

Published August 20, 2008
Categorized as Passover Tagged charoset, cinnamon, Passover, seder

The US Postal Service and a Jerusalem impostor

(The sunflower and the Jerusalem artichoke; August 2007)

Published August 20, 2008
Categorized as Land of Israel Tagged Jerusalem, land of Israel, sunflower

How was your olive day? Tales and confusion of the white squill

(Identity and symbolism of ‘chatzav’; August 2007, revised September 2024)

Published August 20, 2008
Categorized as Land of Israel Tagged chatzav, land of Israel, olive, rockrose, white squill

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Recent Essays

  • Chanukah and the Rosh HaShanah of the Chasidim
  • Words over Wine
  • Fine Linen on Simchat Torah—A Symbol of Social Change
  • Wormwood and Self-Examination
  • Jonah and the Castor Bean

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