Ag-ga-dot (plural of Aggadah). Legends, fables, myths. Refers to the homiletic and non-legalistic exegetical texts in classical rabbinic literature - particularly as recorded in the Talmud and Midrash. In general, the aggadot are presented as folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, business and medical advice, and often refer to mythical creatures, and incredible historical events.

Eric T. Freyfogle, legal scholar and author, once noted that we have an indispensable need for stories: "stories about how people and land come together, about present generations joining hands with past and future ones, about people regaining intimacy and friendship with other species, about nature’s inherent mystique and the limits of human knowledge, about the joys of communal life, and about the resettlement of the American land."

It's a tall order. But all of us at Melaver, Inc. seem to gravitate toward stories. They help put a face on more abstract concepts like creating a land-community ethic and sustainability and the like. They serve as a lens to see other things more clearly and as a mirror to reflect back on our actions. They provide a human dimension to purpose, enable us to step back and see our mistakes and laugh at some of our more pompous pronouncements and give us the chance to dust ourselves off and try again.

Stories enable us to envelop a sense of what we as a company are trying to do in the larger fabric of what we as a society need to do. Stories are us, written small, hopefully resonating outward