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Leading Idea: Tree as Metaphor

Metaphors capture the qualities of one thing through the imagery of another (“He gave a lion’s roar”). It is more than a comparison (“His scream was like a lions roar”) becomes it suggests that the object (the lion) – or some quality of the object – is part of what he is (and expressed in the sound he made). The tree has been an important metaphor in Judaism for both describing the Torah and describing a person.