Trying to Decipher the Olive Tree
While I'm waiting to be released from this place I'm in now, been observing - or attempting to observe the olive trees that sporadically grow around the place I'm renting. Here are some outlines: they seem to be otherworldly and aloof. Of this world, rooted here but they are - unlike the pines - answer directly to a higher order, bypassing the rules other species follow. They seem not to be part of the *families* I've observed in pines. They do not regenerate after cuts or tears as easily or if at all, like the other species I've observed Upstate - they will allow withering, dying to the extent of complete limbs lying dead on a tree. It is a tree of extremes.
The flowers are small and white - 4 petals. They bloom for about 2 weeks then drop off. After this display, tiny nubs will appear in clusters. These will become the fruit. There is a slow pace, but constant and consistent. Not unlike the tortoise. Come what may, unflappably, tenaciously - fruit will yet appear in its time.
Their leaves indicate an opening to the sky/heaven, shape finger like. The movement of the trees is through branches and leaves - the branches sway, bend easily, the leaves rustle stiffly. The trunks remain steadfast and solid. Their bottom parts are very heavy like anchors. There is no bending or yielding. Their statements are little if any. Silent with little to offer in words or assistance. They have no hierarchy and there is little interaction between them and other lifeforms though birds will nest in the high branches. The interactions are brief.
They are here, it would seem for the sole purpose of providing the fruit that provides the oil and little more. And they function at that level in all seriousness. All about the tree seem to bespeak of toughness and hardness, from the branches to the leaves to the trunk. I have yet to see the roots. Through grinding - bearing down - and extraction - the oil. Sun, salt and water - the softening of the fruit and rendering it edible. Its natural bitterness marking it as non edible to any animal other than man who possesses the skills to do so.
I've wondered about a few things - for example - why the olive branch was chosen by the dove? The branches are relatively hard to break off, the taste of the leaves and unpickled fruit - bitter. The seed is hidden in a rock hard outer coating that takes years to disintegrate and allow the hidden seed a chance at taking root. The wood itself is very strong and is smooth, the bark heavy and thick, with some type of anti-fungal and insect deterrent within its molecular structure for there are few diseases that plague it. I would like to have fallen in love with the tree, found a common language but I haven't been able to crack the code. Perhaps in the Hebrew word - I will look into that.
There are sources that state that the tree doesn't shed leaves, but I have seen leaves under the tree that have been released from the tree, for whatever reason. Also - something worthy to note is their age span - longevity - some run to the hundreds and there are ancient ones of a thousand and more years. This would attest to their immunity, steadfastness, servitude and reward given for a job well done. They are also protected from too much exertion by God himself who commanded -
Deuteronomy Chapter 24
20 When thou beatest thine olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
The stranger, the fatherless and the widow would pick off the remaining fruit, or at most shake it, they wouldn't flog it further, lest they risk incurring injury to the tree and forced to pay damages. Energy departs from the giver - the tree - to the receiver - the farmer or the picker and finally to the consumer. When the fruit is blessed it creates a circuit - earth/heaven/earth. When the fruit bearing tree is blessed in Nissan it creates a circuit and a propulsion earth/heaven/earth/heaven - releasing trapped souls in the tree to their heavenly home and continued journey.
In that the olive is one of the 7 species it holds special status as a divinely protected species - blessed both by man and God by sheer virtue of its being a jewel in the crown called the Land of Israel. It holds the colors green and silver - in the harsh landscape of the desert - lifesaving for it gladdens the eye, cools the psyche, offers shade in the heat, gives heat in the cold, feeds, nourishes, annoints and cleanses.
The flowers are small and white - 4 petals. They bloom for about 2 weeks then drop off. After this display, tiny nubs will appear in clusters. These will become the fruit. There is a slow pace, but constant and consistent. Not unlike the tortoise. Come what may, unflappably, tenaciously - fruit will yet appear in its time.
Their leaves indicate an opening to the sky/heaven, shape finger like. The movement of the trees is through branches and leaves - the branches sway, bend easily, the leaves rustle stiffly. The trunks remain steadfast and solid. Their bottom parts are very heavy like anchors. There is no bending or yielding. Their statements are little if any. Silent with little to offer in words or assistance. They have no hierarchy and there is little interaction between them and other lifeforms though birds will nest in the high branches. The interactions are brief.
They are here, it would seem for the sole purpose of providing the fruit that provides the oil and little more. And they function at that level in all seriousness. All about the tree seem to bespeak of toughness and hardness, from the branches to the leaves to the trunk. I have yet to see the roots. Through grinding - bearing down - and extraction - the oil. Sun, salt and water - the softening of the fruit and rendering it edible. Its natural bitterness marking it as non edible to any animal other than man who possesses the skills to do so.
I've wondered about a few things - for example - why the olive branch was chosen by the dove? The branches are relatively hard to break off, the taste of the leaves and unpickled fruit - bitter. The seed is hidden in a rock hard outer coating that takes years to disintegrate and allow the hidden seed a chance at taking root. The wood itself is very strong and is smooth, the bark heavy and thick, with some type of anti-fungal and insect deterrent within its molecular structure for there are few diseases that plague it. I would like to have fallen in love with the tree, found a common language but I haven't been able to crack the code. Perhaps in the Hebrew word - I will look into that.
There are sources that state that the tree doesn't shed leaves, but I have seen leaves under the tree that have been released from the tree, for whatever reason. Also - something worthy to note is their age span - longevity - some run to the hundreds and there are ancient ones of a thousand and more years. This would attest to their immunity, steadfastness, servitude and reward given for a job well done. They are also protected from too much exertion by God himself who commanded -
Deuteronomy Chapter 24
20 When thou beatest thine olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
The stranger, the fatherless and the widow would pick off the remaining fruit, or at most shake it, they wouldn't flog it further, lest they risk incurring injury to the tree and forced to pay damages. Energy departs from the giver - the tree - to the receiver - the farmer or the picker and finally to the consumer. When the fruit is blessed it creates a circuit - earth/heaven/earth. When the fruit bearing tree is blessed in Nissan it creates a circuit and a propulsion earth/heaven/earth/heaven - releasing trapped souls in the tree to their heavenly home and continued journey.
In that the olive is one of the 7 species it holds special status as a divinely protected species - blessed both by man and God by sheer virtue of its being a jewel in the crown called the Land of Israel. It holds the colors green and silver - in the harsh landscape of the desert - lifesaving for it gladdens the eye, cools the psyche, offers shade in the heat, gives heat in the cold, feeds, nourishes, annoints and cleanses.
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