Trees in the desert? Where would we find the atzei shitim (acacia wood) that Hashem tells us in Parshat Teruma are needed to build the Mishkan in Midbar Sinai, which is not an ordinary desert, but (as a quick glance at Google Earth reveals) a fierce and bleak land? Ibn Ezra (whose analysis of this issue is quite an eye opener) answers from the perspective of peshuto shel mikra, the simple and straightforward reading of the Humash. He argues that acacia wood is readily found in the desert and hence we would not find it difficult to find atzei shittim in Midbar Sinai.
Indeed, during an eye-opening three-day post-Simhat Torah tiyul in the Negev and northern Sinai during the first year I studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion (1981), our extraordinary guide (Arik Halamish) repeatedly pointed out to us the vast natural growth that is present in the desert. Arik was fond of noting the pasuk that appears in the beginning of Yirmiyahu that describes the desert as an “eretz lo zerua” an area where planting is not done. The learned guide noted that the pasuk does not describe the desert as a place of no growth, rather as a place where there is no planting, since there is abundant growth in the midbar.
Rashi, though, quotes a tantalizing Midrash Tanhuma that presents a much different approach. The Midrash states that Yaakov Avinu had brought this acacia wood when he and his family descended to Mitzrayim in anticipation of the building of the Mishkan in the distant future (which Yaakov Avinu perceived with Ruah HaKodesh). Yaakov Avinu subsequently re-planted these trees in Mitzrayim and instructed his descendants to be certain to cut down these trees and bring it with them when they will eventually exit Mitzrayim, since they will need it to build the Mishkan.
A powerful question, though, can be posed on this Midrash. Why was it necessary for Yaakov Avinu to go through the immense trouble of bringing atzei shitim all the way from Eretz Yisrael and then replant them in Mitzrayim? Yaakov Avinu could have ensured the availability of Atzei Shitim for his descendants’ building of the Mishkan, simply by telling them to purchase some acacia wood before they left Mitzrayim!!
The Emet L’Yaakov (Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky) explains that Yaakov Avinu wanted to accomplish far more than simply providing atzei shitim for the Mishkan. His goal was also to give us hope during the dark years of slavery and suffering that we would eventually leave Egypt. The atzei shitim planted by Yaakov Avinu served as a symbol of hope for us during the many years of oppression in Mitzrayim. Whenever we passed these trees it served as a reminder that eventually we would be leaving Mitzrayim and using the wood from these trees to build a Mishkan in which we will serve Hashem as liberated people.
The Kotel HaMa’aravi today serves the same purpose as did the atzei shitim for our ancestors in Mitzrayim. The Kotel has been with us for the past 2,000 years since the Hurban to remind us and to give us hope that the Beit HaMikdash will eventually be restored. Indeed, one could argue that the entire remarkable enterprise of the re-emergence of the State of Israel serves as an irrefutable reminder that every word of our Nevi’im who prophesied of the Yemot HaMashiach will be fulfilled. May we merit soon seeing the full fulfillment of each of these prophecies.
Rabbi Haim (Howard) Jachter is spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck
By Rabbi Haim (Howard) Jachter
