Each of us would be just the right size to be one letter in such a Torah scroll. Yet being a letter is not enough. Nowhere in the Torah does a single letter stand alone to bear some meaning. So the great Torah scroll, the earth and the society in which we live, begins to burn. Our weave of wisdom that Jewish tradition often calls the Tree of Life, Eitz Chayim, teaches us to plant, water and care for trees as acts of tikkun olam, or world repair.
Redemption is in the very act of planting.
Though few if any of us will climb up a tree in protest, like Butterfly Hill, each of us can do our part in affirming that these trees are God's and should not be wantonly destroyed. This year as you celebrate Tu B'Shevat, eating and enjoying the fruits of eitzim, recommit yourself to the Eitz Chayim, the Tree of Life, for her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths peaceful.