ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Tree of life (Kabbalah)

The Tree of Life is a special symbol in the Jewish tradition called Kabbalah. It's like a big tree with lots of branches and roots that people use to help them understand the world and themselves. The tree helps people to connect with God and learn more about His wisdom.

Imagine if you were a little leaf on the Tree of Life. You would be connected to all the other leaves by little branches, and those branches would be connected to bigger branches, and those to even bigger branches until they reached the trunk of the tree. And the trunk? It connects to the ground and all around in a giant circuit.

Each of those branches has a special meaning, and we can learn something from each one. For example, some of the branches represent curiosity, compassion, or understanding. If we follow those branches back to the trunk, we can learn how these ideas are connected, and we can grow ourselves and our understanding of the world.

The Tree of Life is also divided into ten parts, called "sephirot." Each one represents a different aspect of the world and ourselves, like kindness, strength or wisdom. Just like the branches, each sephirah connects to the others, and they all connect to God, who is at the top of the Tree of Life.

So, in short, the Tree of Life is like a map that helps people learn about themselves, the world around them, and connect with God.