Wisdom Grows in My Garden: a book review by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen
If the writings of Rabbi Paul Plotkin were anything like the sermons he gave, then people would be flocking to hear him.
Unfortunately, it is nearly a decade since he retired from the active pulpit, although between his work supervising and educating about Kosher food products and spending time in his garden- I doubt if he is any less busy than he was in his over 40 years serving congregations primarily in Florida.
The first question any reader could, or even should ask, is, “So what’s Jewish about Gardening?”. Realistically, it goes back to the creation narrative where Adam and Eve toiled in the Garden of Eden. Gardening, and by way of extension farming, are biblically ordained.
What I enjoyed about this book was how Plotkin took everyday events in his gardening and matched them with life lessons. Take his chapter entitled “A Definition of Insanity” where he makes the following observation: “If repeated failure was a sign of insanity, then all gardeners should be in deep therapy or institutionalised.” To close this chapter by discussing the miracle of the Maccabees and the Temple oil, he offers a powerful insight “it is not that the oil lasted for eight days, but the people had enough hope they bothered to light the menorah in the first place.” In a sense it puts pay to the popular modern adage defining insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Gardening is a reflection of the theological dilemma about Good and Evil. “When gardening is doing well, it is the ascendancy of good in the garden, and when it struggles, it is because evil is in the ascendant.” It is both a practical and a theological question which has faced people for millennia. He does not offer a solution to the question, but he does put it in terms each and every one of us can understand. Right after this, he offers an insight: “Blessings rarely come in multiples; curses also seem to.” As he goes on to observe “Jewish Mystics taught that when God created the world and put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the world was in perfect harmony.” Unfortunately, everything went wrong and whether one is discussing climate change or politics or most other things in the world the one thing we are sure of is that it is not in harmony.
Spread throughout this book are 25 rules or thoughts- Plotkin calls them Life’s Lesson (and he places them as a list at the back of the book). They are not in every one of the chapters (there are 33 chapters in total), and a couple of chapters have more than one of Life’s Lessons. They are short and pithy- almost like the 10 commandments!
One thing that has become common with many books offering life’s lessons is a page (or so) of discussion points for Book Clubs. It is as if someone leading such a group is incapable of discerning topics/ideas to lead such a group.
In the Foreword, Plotkin offers the following: “It is the conceit of Wisdom Grows in My Garden that the garden has much to teach us about life and how better to live and manage it.”
Clearly, the garden is a METAPHOR for life and living. Plotkin has helped us realise this and offered us thoughts and ideas of not only toiling in the garden but improving our lives.
By Rabbi Paul Plotkin
AIA Publishing
Reviewed by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen
Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen is associated with Notre Dame Australia’s School of Medicine and St. Vincent’s Private Hospital, Sydney. Previously he was associated with UNSWMedicine; University of Ballarat (now Federation University); and St. Louis University. He served as CEO of the Sydney Jewish Museum for 5 years.
