Parshas Shoftim: Don’t Pray to that Tree!

Recently, Rabbi Ben and I went to Washington, D.C., where we did the usual Smithsonian Museum circuit.  One of our stops was at the famous Hirschhorn Museum for modern art, my personal favorite Smithsonian.  In the sculpture garden outside, I spotted a “wishing tree,” but Rabbi Ben cautioned me that this could be considered avodah zara, idol worship.

Now before you go thinking that worshiping a tree is ridiculous, stop for a moment.  The ancient Canaanites worshiped trees (there’s even a name for a specific type of tree they worshiped, which is brought up several times in the book of Judges in the Tanach).  Other pagans also worship trees.  In fact, Rabbi Ben and I have even seen these “holy” trees in India – where people still worship them.  They even build special walls around some of them, and paint the base of the trees with red and white stripes.  This is going on today, at this very moment.

Now, we learn from this week’s parsha that we are not only not allowed to worship trees, but if a tree is going to be worshiped, then we cannot even plant it, not even if we are not going to worship it ourselves.  “You shall not plant for yourself a tree for idol worship, any tree, near the Altar of Hashem, your G-d, that you shall make for yourself.”  Rashi explains that the word any indicates that this means you should not plant any tree for idol worship, anywhere.  It also indicates that you should not plant any tree near the Altar of Hashem, even if it is not for idol worship.  Interestingly enough, Muslims have planted trees on the Temple Mount for exactly this reason – that Judaism forbids it.

So what about that wishing tree? Is it idol worship or not?

The answer seems to be that it depends. We can look at the example of a wishing well to try to answer this.  If one throws a coin into a fountain, which will eventually be collected for charity, it is permitted to make a wish so long as that wish is directed to G-d.  The Talmud (Tractate Rosh Hashana 4a) indicates that if one gives to charity, one can make a request of G-d because even if G-d does not grant the request, one will not regret having given to charity.  On the other hand, throwing a coin down a well, even if one directs one’s wishes to Hashem, is forbidden because, according to Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, shlita, a renowned Halachic authority, this violates the prohibition again bal tashchit, wasting.  But this doesn’t totally answer our question because, as we can see from the Torah, there was a serious problem with worshiping trees, but apparently pagans don’t generally go around worshiping wells.

As far as planting goes, the tree was just an ordinary tree in the Hirschhorn Sculpture Garden – I’ve been there many times before and it has never previously been a “wishing tree.”  Furthermore, the point of the tree, a plaque nearby explained, was that it is part of an art project by famous artist Yoko Ono to collect “wishes” from people all over the world.  The “wishes” written on pieces of paper and tied to the tree were to be collected and mailed to the artist.  The tree itself seemed to be just a cute or artistic vehicle for her to collect these wishes.  The tree was temporarily turned into part of her art project.  In this case, placing a “wish” on the tree would probably not be considered idol worship so long as the person specifically had in mind to direct his “wish” to Hashem. Also, although it is not charity in a monetary sense, the act of participating in someone else’s art project is a form of giving that one would not regret later.

However, in most cases, a “wishing tree” probably would be forbidden.  Even if one directs one’s wishes to G-d and not to the tree, it still includes a couple of problems.  The first is that, as Rav Scheinberg points out, it could be considered wasting.  Also, it could be considered to be “putting a stumbling block before the blind” – if another Jew sees you, a religious Jew, tying wishes onto a tree, he might think you are doing so in hopes that the tree will grant you the wish, and may think this is a permissible action.  In the case of the wishing tree in the Hirschhorn gardens, I would think this is less of an issue, as a placard explaining its purpose was very prominently displayed in front of the tree and one would not be able to avoid it in picking up the papers that were there to write on.

I guess when it comes to trees we have to be more careful than I first realized.  I am now beginning to wonder how this applies to wishing on other things, like on shooting stars, for instance.  In the meantime, let’s start by all avoiding planting any trees for idol worship!

SHABBAT SHALOM!