The Torah [Bible] is called Etz Chaim, the Tree of Life, because it doesn’t stop. Nothing can stop the Torah. Absolutely nothing. People can stop, but not the Torah.
The Torah is growing; the teaching is growing, like a tree. It is so very strong.
There is a difference in Hebrew between chai and chaim. Chai means alive, and chaim means life. A man is alive, but the Torah is life. The teaching is life, not alive.
What is the difference between being alive and life? Very simple. If I’m alive, I am alive, but I cannot bring you to life. But anything that comes in contact with life itself becomes alive.
Teshuva [returning to GYd] is when the Torah touches the deepest depths of my life.
Anything that stops is not living, because if it stops, that means it’s not moving and thus not really alive. If something is really living, it can’t stop.
The tree of knowledge brings about death. Do you know what death is? It means that something will end somewhere. Everything has to end somewhere. Do you know what the tree of life is? No ending, no ending at all.
