Parshat Teruma-Where did the wood come from for the Mishkan?

There is a famous question as to the problem of where the acacia wood came from for the Mishkan, as described in this week’s parsha.

וְעֹרֹת אֵילִם מְאָדָּמִים וְעֹרֹת תְּחָשִׁים, וַעֲצֵי שִׁטִּים. 5 and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia-wood;

Rashi raises the question we have asked:

ועצי שטים. וּמֵאַיִן הָיוּ לָהֶם בַּמִּדְבָּר? פֵּרֵשׁ רַבִּי תַּנְחוּמָא: יַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ צָפָה בְּרוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ שֶׁעֲתִידִין יִשְׂרָאֵל לִבְנוֹת מִשְׁכָּן בַּמִּדְבָּר, וְהֵבִיא אֲרָזִים לְמִצְרַיִם וּנְטָעָם, וְצִוָּה לְבָנָיו לִטְּלָם עִמָּהֶם כְּשֶׁיֵּצְאוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם:

ועצי שטים AND SHITTIM WOOD — But from where did they get this in the wilderness? Rabbi Tanchuma explained it thus: Our father Jacob foresaw by the gift of the Holy Spirit that Israel would once build a Tabernacle in the wilderness: he therefore brought cedars to Egypt and planted them there, and bade his children take these with them when they would leave Egypt (Midrash Tanchuma, Terumah 9; cf. Bereishit Rabbah 94 and Rashi on Exodus 26:15).

Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetsky zal explains the significance of the comment of Rashi. Yaakov knew that we would go to Egypt and he went to Beer Sheva and cut the wood trees planted there by Avraham many years before. Yaakov had a specific intention in what he did in Beer Sheva. Yaakov was afraid to go down to Egypt and God said to him:

ג  וַיֹּאמֶר, אָנֹכִי הָאֵל אֱלֹהֵי אָבִיךָ; אַל-תִּירָא מֵרְדָה מִצְרַיְמָה, כִּי-לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל אֲשִׂימְךָ שָׁם. 3 And He said: 'I am God, the God of thy father; fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation.

He was afraid that his descendants would assimilate in Egypt and never come out. Therefore God assured him that they would come out and to this end he took down to Egypt the acacia wood from Beer Sheva. This was to create a link to  the Avot and to Eretz Yisrael which would never be broken, and these trees should be with them from generation to generation in Egypt to assure them that the link and promise to return to Israel one day will never be forgotten. From these trees the wood would be made for the Mishkan which would be made at the time when the Jews return to Israel. The trees became a source of strength for the slaves in their darkest moments.

I would just add that this may be a reason for the custom (brought in Shulchan Aruch) to leave a corner of the wall near the entrance of the house unfinished (or as I have seen in Israel today finished with Jerusalem stone, as opposed to the rest of the house).

לעשות זכר לחורבן ובו ה סעיפים:

משחרב בית המקדש תקנו חכמים שהיו באותו הדור שאין בונין לעולם בנין מסוייד ומכוייר [פי' מצוייר] כבנין המלכים אלא טח ביתו בטיט וסד בסיד ומשייר מקום אמה על אמה כנגד הפתח בלא סיד והלוקח חצר מסויידת ומכויירת הרי זו בחזקת' ואין מחייבים אותו לקלוף בכותלים:

At the time when the Temple was destroyed, the sages of that generation decreed that one should not paint and mold one's house like the house of kings, but rather one should plaster one's house with mortar and whitewash it with lime. And one should leave a place, a square cubit in size, opposite the entrance, without whitewash. And if one acquires a painted and molded courtyard, this is permitted as it is already like that, and one is not obligated to peel away what is on the walls.

Wherever we have gone we have always decorated our homes with motif’s of Israel (the Germanic custom was to make a ‘mizrach’ sign to put on the eastern wall of one’s home to remember Jerusalem) Every reminder is there to give us hope and strength that even in the times of greatest darkness our salvation is at hand and Eretz Yisrael is always in our hearts. From a small gesture comes a tremendous source of strength and purpose.

Let us hope and pray that we fulfil this wonderful future speedily in our days.

Rabbi Ian Shaffer SCW/Cherry Hill NJ Feb 2019