They are two wooden pillars to which the card of the Torah scroll is attached with a thread and are used to scroll the Torah scroll from beginning to end without having to touch it. In the Sephardic communities it is customary to connect the wooden pillars into a decorated box built especially for a Torah scroll. In Ashkenazi communities it is customary to add additions on the stick and the book itself to cover with a curtain.

The reason for this is due to the halakhic prohibition to touch the card of the Torah scroll in the hands and even with the person taking his hands before me. The trees of life are used to scroll a book from beginning to end without having to touch it.

The origin of the name “Trees of Life” comes from the verse in Proverbs 3, chapter 18: Usually the donor of the Torah scroll is the one who also buys the trees of life, or is chosen together by the synagogue audience and depending on the character, sometimes there are cases where the trees of life are donated on their own to serve as a reminder of the deceased person’s soul. His soul was donated to the trees of life.

The parchment of the books of the prophets and the scrolls is allowed to be touched directly, but there is a custom in the communities of Israel to make them also trees of life and in some communities only one tree of life is made and around it the card is wrapped. One of the great advantages of making trees of life for scrolls and books of prophets is that they are preserved longer over time