His Friend the
Tree
Ilan sat on the grass crying. This was where his friend had lived,
and every day Ilan came to remember him. They were born on the same
day, Tu Bishvat - well actually, as soon as Ilan’s father heard that
he had a son, he planted an apple tree in the garden. Ilan and the
tree became the best of friends. He often climbed it, and once he
even fell off and had to wear a cast. When he came back from the doctor,
he ran straight to the tree to tell it about his adventures. A swing
was hanging from one of its branches. “Until you get better,” his
father warned him, “I don’t want you climbing that tree. You can play
on the swing instead.”
When Ilan got older, he courted his girlfriend in the shade of the
tree. Sometimes he even gave her apples. “These are love apples,”
he joked, “from my friend the tree to you.” A few months later, when
Ilan got married, twigs and leaves from the tree were woven into his
huppa. Years later, on a stormy night, Ilan’s son came down with a
fever. To keep him warm, Ilan put some dry branches from the tree
in the fireplace. In a few days, his son was better. On Shabbat, Ilan
held a party to celebrate his son’s recovery. Everyone ate apple cake,
made of apples from his friend, the tree.
Ilan was already old and wrinkled, just like his friend the tree.
It was difficult to move around, and the tree had very few apples
left. One cold autumn night, in the middle of a thunder storm, a bolt
of lightning struck his friend. The tree toppled to the ground. “Goodbye,
my friend,” he whispered, as he piled the burnt branches outside his
house.
Today, however, he noticed a leaf poking through the grass. The next
day there were two and even a tiny stalk. After a few days, Ilan took
his grandchildren to visit the sapling. “My friend is gone,” he told
them, “but his child has come to keep me company. Promise me that
you will always take care of him.” And they did.
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