Chapter Three
Song of Plant Lifeאִילָנוֹת שֶׁבַּשָׂרֶה אוֺמְרִים - Trees of the Field Say:
[Olive Trees in Yisrael]
Divrei HaYamim Alef 16:33
אָז יְרַנְּנוּ, עֲצֵי הַיָּעַר: מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה כִּי-בָא, לִשְׁפּוֹט אֶת-הָאָרֶץ
Az yerannu atzei haya'ar milifnei HASHEM ki-va lishpot et-ha'aretz
Then all the trees of the forest will sing with joy, before Hashem -
for He will have come to judge the earth.
All of nature – including the sea, the fields, and the trees of the forest – will rejoice in the messianic age, for Hashem will dispense justice to the earth which has been oppressed by human beings who imagined that they were the sovereigns of the earth. Through the universal recognition of the Divine sovereignty, the earth will no longer be exploited for the selfish gratification of human beings. Instead, all human beings will rededicate themselves to the original Divine mandate regarding the earth: “to serve it and to guard it” (Bereishit 2:15). In such an age, “the earth will rejoice, the sea and its fullness will roar; the field and everything in it will exult; then all the trees of the forest will sing with joy.” (Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen)
Rav Acha says: 'the forest and the trees of the forest' – the forest refers to the trees which bear fruits, while the trees of the forest refer to trees which do not bear fruit. Before whom will they sing with joy? Before Hashem. Why? '… For He will have arrived' - on Rosh Hashana and Yom HaKippurim. What will He do? '… He will have arrived to judge the earth, He will judge the world with righteousness and peoples with his truth'"
Rabbi Nosson Scherman, in the ArtScroll edition of Perek Shirah, offers the following commentary on this song of the trees:
"Where there has been disarray, a judge must restore order and replace chaos with justice. When the world is in turmoil, and justice is perverted, even the trees of the wild suffer, for the earth’s resources are abused and depleted. When the rule of the Ultimate Judge is acknowledged and accepted, even the trees will express their joy by waving their branches ecstatically, because the health of nature will be restored."
An older fellow once explained to me that newspapers are probably here to stay. They are a wonderful medium to publicize news and certainly in the times of Mashiach there will be important information to disseminate. The main difference between today's newspapers and those in the days of Mashiach's is that in the days of Mashiach newspapers will be much thinner. Why? When you take out of the newspaper the Lashon Hara, the lies, and the Shtuyot (nonsense) there isn't much left to it. Since under Mashiach's watchful eye none of these things will make past the editor we will have very small newspapers.
Who will be the big winner from this drastic downsizing of the daily paper? The trees of course. 250 million trees are cut every year just to print newspapers in the United States. One leading newspaper uses an astounding 75,000 trees a week for its Sunday paper alone.
Ilanos ShebaSadeh Oimrim "Az Yerannu Kol Atzei Hayar Milifnei Hashem Ki Va Lishpot Ha'Aretz"; Then (in the time of Mashiach) the trees of the forest will sing before Hashem who will come to judge the land... and you thought that only you wanted Mashiach now! (Revach)
