Ryan Babel

• The next phase of the trial will focus on sentencing, and whether Robert Bowers should face the death penalty.
• The name of the synagogue, Tree of Life, has almost become shorthand for the tragedy.
• In Jewish Scripture and Jewish thought, the tree of life speaks to fundamental aspects of what it means to be human in the world.

In the beginning

• The tree of life appears in the Book of Genesis, at the very beginning of the Hebrew Bible – what many Christians call the Old Testament.
• In the creation story of chapters 2 and 3, God places man in the Garden of Eden, then creates woman, Eve, from his rib.
• Biblical scholars debate the meaning of the tree’s name: what exactly do “knowledge” or “good and evil” entail?

Two trees

• These two trees, especially the tree of life, have long raised questions for scholars.
• The tree of life does not reappear until the end of the Eden story, when God expels Adam and Eve to prevent them from eating it.
• Some scholars have argued that the two trees in Genesis emerged from two distinct traditions in the ancient Near East.
• Similarly, the two trees in Genesis display how humanity is both like and unlike God.

Living wisdom

• Later in the Bible, however, “a” tree of life appears four times in the Book of Proverbs, a complex anthology that collects many sayings and gems of wisdom from the ancient world.
• Proverbs 3:18, for example, instructs that wisdom “is a tree of life to those who grasp her, and whoever holds on to her is happy.” Jewish tradition frequently pictures God’s teachings and scripture, the Torah, as the tree of life – deepening this connection between life and wisdom.

Reaching up to God

• In the Bible’s wisdom literature, however, it comes to represent how knowledge, wisdom and Torah connect God and Israel.
• These attributes, called “sefirot,” are often drawn as spheres, linked with branchlike lines as though they form a “tree of life” – a tree that connects human experience on Earth to an infinite God above.
• Like the synagogue in Pittsburgh, they can experience tragedy, even as they continue seeking ways to heal a broken world.

• Translation and interpreting are hugely important to the development of human civilization.
• Since China's reform and opening up to the outside world in 1978, translation has become ever more important.
• Platforms such as the Asia-Pacific Translation and Interpreting Forum are good examples of exchange and integration between different civilizations.
• Nowadays, organizations such as the Translators Association of China are leading the development of translation, while upholding a spirit of cooperation and mission of facilitating communication.