It has been said that the Torah is like a rose, for it is fragile and beautiful and prized. A rose possesses both delicacy and danger combined.

A rose is delicate and if the petals are handled harshly they will be broken, torn and crushed. And just as a rose has thorns, the stem of the flower that is Torah if handled harshly can and will damage the hand that grasps it.

Torah study and observance can be beautiful but deadly too and very challenging to handle, yet the teachings and beauty of the Torah are precious and valuable, like the view and fragrance of a rose.

There’s a balance between the difficulties and the rewards of engaging with the Torah. And a warning is needed to handle it with care.

The rose is not just a symbol of the Torah alone but of the people of Israel aswell having 13 petals and 5 thorns. The thirteen petals are emblematical of the 13 tribes of Israel and each of the 5 thorns symbolic of one of the five Books of Moses, which keep and guard us and from which we grow.

When the books are handled in haste and haughtiness and cruelty they will damage the one who grasps them. And when the people are handled in like manner they are broken and torn and crushed.

The 13 petals are also said to speak of the 13 attributes of mercy mentioned by Moses growing from the 5 sharp books of Torah to describe the character qualities of YHWH, His compassion proceeding from His justice.

And even in this comparison, of the justice and mercy of the Almighty, the rose still symbolizes ourselves as the people of Israel, and our obligation to be both just and merciful.

The study and attempted observation of Torah is challenging and complex and like roses themselves, many will not appreciate their beauty or recognize their value. They will discard them and trample them underfoot.

Many will be hasty in handling this delicate flower - harsh and harmful both to it and those whom they thrust it upon. They will be callous and cruel crushing the flower and hurting themselves and others on its thorns.

When we see the Torah as a flower we can know that some should not be given it for their own sake and that of the flower itself, not to mention for the sake of others.

For others, they must be given the Torah gently, taught to hold it carefully and to pass it on cautiously, so that the flower is unharmed, the person is unharmed, and anyone else thereafter may be unharmed also.

And when we see ourselves as this rose, we can know that we are to be both beautiful and sharp, to be just and merciful, equally letter and spirit of the Torah, each applied in its proper place.

We and the Torah are truly much more than a mere flower. We are called in scripture a stone and water and fire and more, but to see ourselves and the Instructions as all these other things and not as a simple flower is to misunderstand the Instructions and our own obligations.

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