Cedars of Hope – Parshas Terumah 5772
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The building of the Mishkan required many raw materials such as gold, silver, copper, wool and precious stones. The Jews donated more than enough of their personal wealth in a unified effort to build a dwelling place for Hashem on earth. One item that did not need to be donated was the Atzei Shittim, the cedar wood, used for making the Aron, Shulchan and walls of the Mishkan. Rashi (Shemos 25:5) tells us that there were certainly no cedar trees available in the desert, how then did they have the wood which was so vital for the construction of the Mishkan?
Rashi (Ibid.) quotes Chazal who say that when Yaakov left Eretz Yisrael to go down to Egypt (to be united with Yosef), he foresaw through Ruach HaKodesh that the Jews would build a Mishkan in the desert and so he brought down cedar trees with him. He planted them there in Egypt and he commanded his children to carry them out with them when they would leave Egypt.
This Midrash is fascinating in many ways. I have always imagined the Jews leaving Egypt at the Exodus carrying their children, their Matza on their shoulders and leading their camels loaded with all sorts of treasures. What is missing from the picture is the men carrying the huge cedar trees out with them to the . Is there a deeper meaning behind the fact that Yaakov brought them down to Egypt and is it significant to note the fact that they were replanted in Egypt and later used in the desert?
A deep lesson of faith and resilience is being expressed through the cedar wood. Yaakov knew that the he and his sons had to go down to Egypt to begin their exile. He knew that things would get rough and hard for them. The Egyptian oppression would become overwhelming. Yaakov wanted to make sure that his children would always know that Hashem would redeem them. They would look up from their troubles and see the tall cedars. They knew that the cedar trees represented their eventual freedom and salvation. One day they would carry those cedars to the desert and act as a freed nation in subservience to Hashem alone.
The cedars took root and grew taller in Egypt, just as the Jewish nation was purified and grew in Egypt. Devarim (4:20) describes Egypt as the place where the Jews went through a purification process (“Kor HaBarsel, purification furnace”). The furnace burns and can be painful, but from that burning comes forth the purification and cleanliness of the precious materiel. Just as the cedars grew in Egypt, so did the Jewish nation flourish in exile.
Yaakov’s foresight gave his children a stronghold and a focal point with which to align themselves and stay strong in their faith. The cedar wood reminded them to hold strong to the hope and knowledge that Hashem promised to redeem them. The cedar was used for the construction of the walls of the Mishkan and the Aron and Shulchan. It became a deep foundation for the entire Mishkan because of the importance of its lesson. So too, in this current exile, we remain strong in our hope and conviction that Hashem will redeem us and restore the nation to its great glory as the Nation of Hashem.
Categories: Parshas Terumah
