# לא רואים את היער



## dukaine

I read this in a MaKo article about home decorating:

ספרים מעוררים בנו רגשות עמוקים ואנחנו אוהבים לראות אותם, אבל לפעמים מרוב ספרים לא רואים את היער

I don't quite get what לא רואים את היער means here. I know the literal translation is "don't see the forest". I thought something along the lines of "never see the light of day"? However, that doesn't make much sense, since the article goes on to suggest separating out the books you'll never read again from the books you enjoy or are emotionally attached to. If they never see the light of day, the implication would be that you've never read them, or that they're hidden, which in this article they are not.

I hope I'm making sense.

Thanks!


----------



## Drink

Do you know the expression "not to see the forest for the trees"?


----------



## dukaine

Drink said:


> Do you know the expression "not to see the forest for the trees"?



I do, but I don't see how that works, unless I'm mistaken about what the subject is. I thought the subject was מרוב ספרים.


----------



## Drink

Oh I see the confusion. מרוב is מ-רוב, not a single word. The subject is a generic "we".


----------



## dukaine

Drink said:


> Oh I see the confusion. מרוב is מ-רוב, not a single word. The subject is a generic "we".


So, it's saying something like "We can't see the forest for all the books", playing on the idiom?


----------



## Drink

dukaine said:


> So, it's saying something like "We can't see the forest for all the books", playing on the idiom?



I'm not sure exactly. Probably either that or it's saying that in the majority of books, we don't see the forest for the deep feelings.


----------



## amikama

dukaine said:


> So, it's saying something like "We can't see the forest for all the books", playing on the idiom?


Yes, that's how I understand it.

Too many books look too busy ("can't see the forest"). Get rid of the books you never read and you gain more room to decorate.


----------



## dukaine

amikama said:


> Yes, that's how I understand it.
> 
> Too many books look too busy ("can't see the forest"). Get rid of the books you never read and you gain more room to decorate.


Thanks so much, both of you!


----------



## shalom00

Not the best use of the expression. Like mixing metaphors, the result is unclear.
I don't know whether the author had this in mind, but note that books are made of paper, which comes from trees, so in a sense, you could say that books represent trees.


----------



## bazq

shalom00 said:


> Not the best use of the expression. Like mixing metaphors, the result is unclear.
> I don't know whether the author had this in mind, but note that books are made of paper, which comes from trees, so in a sense, you could say that books represent trees.



That was my guess when I first read the sentence.
"There are so many books, we sometimes forget the forest behind those books" (the trees that were cut to make the paper).

But the article is about decorating, so I guess the writer meant that sometimes we crowd our places with books, and it can overshadow the greater design of the room.


----------

