An important esoteric symbol in Judaism, representing secrets. The “garden of nuts” mentioned in the Song of Songs (6:11) becomes the focus of considerable mystical speculation. Some understand it as a symbol of the secret Torah concealed beneath the plain sense of the words. Others see it as illustrating the spiritual reality of the divine sparks trapped in husks of evil that characterize the lower worlds…Eleazer of Worms understood it as a symbol of the divine chariot. It is customary to abstain from eating nuts in the weeks leading up to the High Holidays because the gematria [numerological] value of egoz [nut] is the same as chet, the word for sin.