Beaming – Truma
וְעָשִׂיתָ אֶת הַקְּרָשִׁים לַמִּשְׁכָּן עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים עֹמְדִים (שמות כו, טו).
The two parshiyot of Truma and Tetzaveh describe the various components of the Mishkan. Each component is first named and then described in detail.
Rashi’s and Rabbeinu Bachyei’s sharp eyes notice that one component of the Mishkan differs from all the others in the way it is described in the psukkim. All the others are written as follows ועשו ארון, ועשית שלחן, ועשית מנורת זהב, ועשית יריעות, etc. However, when it gets to the part of the קרשים, the “beams” of the Mishkan (that made up the outer perimeter of the Azarah), it does not say ועשית קרשים, instead it says וְעָשִׂיתָ אֶת הַקְּרָשִׁים, it adds the letter “Heh”. It is not like the other components where it says “Make an Aron, a Shulchan, a Menorah, etc.” With the beams it says “Make the beams”. These are not just any beams, they are the (specific) beams. Rashi and R’ Bachyei go on to explain that these beams were of wood from trees that Yaakov Avinu planted when he descended to Egypt.
In this shiur we will discuss these beams in more detail and bring an amazing chiddush from the 2nd edition of Meir Panim (soon to be released).
The קְּרָשִׁים were made from עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים. What kind of tree is the Shitta? Rashi and R’ Bachyei say that it is a cedar tree, עֵץ אֶרֶז and that the Shitta, שיטה, is the most prestigious of all the types of cedar trees.
From where did Yaakov Avinu get the Shitta saplings/seeds that he planted in Egypt?
Meir Panim (2nd ed., pg. 159) brings a chiddush that they originated in Gan Eden and reveals numerous hints from the psukkim to show that the עץ החיים in Gan Eden was in fact an עץ ארז.
It was from the saplings/seeds of the עץ החיים that Noach built the ark. Rashi (Breishit 6, 14) bringing the Midrash (Tanchuma, Breishit 6, Siman 5) says that it took Noach 120 years to build the ark. Does it really take 120 years to build an ark? Chazal say that the construction only took 5 years, but that Noach planted cedar trees and it took 115 years to grow them to the required size.
Why plant trees and wait for them to grow? Why not go to the nearest home supply depot and simply buy the beams ready cut? Sefer ברוך יאמרו says that Noach could not buy existing cedar wood because at that time, the generation of the Flood used cedar trees for avodah zarah. The ark Noach built was equivalent to a Mishkan (see my shiur on Noach) and you cannot use raw materials that had been used for idol worship. So Noach had to go back to “grassroots” and find uncontaminated cedar tree saplings/seeds to grow and he found these in Gan Eden.
How could he get gardening “supplies” from Gan Eden, you may ask? The Yalkut Shimoni (Breishit 9, 20) says that the vine that Noach planted after the Flood was a sapling from Gan Eden and the same day he planted it gave forth grapes, which instantly turned to wine from which Noach became intoxicated. So Noach did have access to Gan Eden and its flora!
The cedars that Noach planted grew exceptionally high as we will see later. Noach took saplings of these cedar trees with him on the ark and they were subsequently passed down to his son Shem.
Skip forward ten generations.
The Midrash (Tehilim, 37) tells how Avraham was "chatting" with Malkitzedek the king of Shalem (who in fact was Shem the son of Noach). Avraham asked Shem by what zchut did they merit being saved from the Flood and exiting the ark alive? Shem replied “It was because of the tzedaka we did in the ark”. Avraham asked “Tzedaka in the ark? Were there poor people in the ark?” It was just Noach and his family. Shem replied “The tzedaka was not for people but for the animals! The entire time we were in the ark, we never slept a wink. We were up the whole night, every night, feeding the lions, the bears, the duck-billed platypuses, etc.” Avraham thought to himself “If they received such enormous zchut for feeding animals, then I will go one better. I will feed humans and receive even bigger zchut”.
It was this discussion that prompted Avraham to open an אשל in Be’er Sheva. Chazal and the Mefarshim ask what is an אשל? The Gemara (Sota 10a) brings two opinions - one that it was an orchard of fruit trees from which to feed guests, the other says it was an inn. The Ibn Ezra and Rabbeinu Bachyei say that אשל is a type of tree. What kind of tree was it? Shir Hashirim Rabba (1, 1) says it was a cedar tree. Where did Avraham get the sapling/seeds to plant a cedar tree? Most likely from Shem, from the cedar saplings they took with them on the ark.
Chazal say that it was under this tree that Avraham taught Torah and attracted vast numbers of converts. Not surprising, since this tree was offspring of the עץ החיים (symbolizing the Torah) in Gan Eden! They also say that this tree had a mind of its own. It would only cast shade if those sitting under it were not worshippers of avodah zarah. It was under this tree Avraham hosted the three angels who told Sarah she was to have a son, Yitzchak. It was from this tree Avraham chopped branches for the Akeida. It was under this tree Yitzchak was davening tefilat Mincha when he first met Rivka. יצחק in gematriya is ארז.
When Yaakov was on his way to reunite with his son Yosef in Egypt, he had to make a pit-stop on the way, וַיִּסַּע יִשְׂרָאֵל וְכל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ וַיָּבֹא בְּאֵרָה שָּׁבַע (בראשית מו, א). Yaakov had not seen Yosef for 22 years, you would think he would make a beeline straight for Cairo, but no, he first had to stop in Be’er Sheva. Why? Shir HaShirim Rabba says it was because Yaakov needed to pick something up on the way, something that it was imperative to take with him down to Egypt. Cedar trees! the same cedar (or saplings/seeds) of Avraham’s אשל tree, the descendant tree of the עץ החיים from Gan Eden.
When Yaakov reached Goshen, one of the first things he did was plant a grove of these cedar trees. They would be necessary for when Am Yisrael left Egypt, 210 years later.
The morning of the Exodus all of Am Yisrael were busy gathering loot. They were visiting the Egyptian houses and taking all the valuables that they had reconnoitered during the Plague of Darkness. Well, not exactly “all” of Am Yisrael…… Moshe was not gathering gold and silver, he was looking for Yosef’s coffin, to fulfill the promise and take Yosef’s bones with them when they left Egypt. But it was not only Moshe. The Mefarshim say that the other tribes also took the remains of the eleven Tribes, Yosef’s brothers, with them, so some of them must have been busy digging those remains up as well. But not all the tzaddikim were involved with exhuming remains, they were busy chopping down trees. Moshe sent a group of tzaddikim to Goshen to chop down the cedar trees Yaakov had planted.
This is where they obtained the wood specified in the passuk –
וְזֹאת הַתְּרוּמָה אֲשֶׁר תִּקְחוּ מֵאִתָּם זָהָב וָכֶסֶף וּנְחֹשֶׁת. וּתְכֵלֶת וְאַרְגָּמָן וְתוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי וְשֵׁשׁ וְעִזִּים. וְעֹרֹת אֵילִם מְאָדָּמִים וְעֹרֹת תְּחָשִׁים וַעֲצֵי שִׁטִּים (שמות כה, ג-ה).
The other raw materials for the Mishkan were from the Egyptians, but the עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים were direct from the source, all the way back to the עץ החיים in Gan Eden. This cedar wood was used in all the keilim, the Aron, the Shulchan, the Mizbeach Haketoret, but there it was not the main feature, it was a component, hidden within, at the heart of each utensil. The cedar wood, however, was a central feature of the הַקְּרָשִׁים, with a ה"א הידיעה, not any old beams, but the beams, from the same wood all the way down from the עץ החיים in Gan Eden.
There were 48 קְּרָשִׁים in total, corresponding to the 48 prophets and the 48 shifts of Kohanim and Levi’im in the Mikdash (Ba’al Haturim). You couldn’t just arrange the beams any old way. They had to be placed in the same orientation that the original tree grew (Or HaChayim, quoting Yoma 72a). When they were chopped down, they were marked – upper/lower ends – so that they stood like the original tree, top end up, bottom end down, mamash.
Just like the cedar trees encompassed Noach’s ark, the equivalent of a Mikdash, the קְּרָשִׁים encompassed the Mishkan.
These were not regular cedars, they were extraordinarily large and they were miraculous.
There was one central beam/pole, made from one solid, integral piece of wood, called the בְּרִיחַ הַתִּיכֹן that held all the קְּרָשִׁים together as a unit. According to Tosfot (Shabbat 98b) it was 72 amot long, approximately 36m. That is as high as a 15 story building!
This central beam/pole was threaded through holes in the center of all of the קְּרָשִׁים of the northern, western and southern walls of the Mishkan. Each time they travelled, this had to be dismantled and rebuilt. How do you take a solid beam of wood and thread it round corners?? (try do that with a curtain rod in your home). The Mefarshim say that a miracle happened that when it reached a corner, it became as supple as a snake, bent round 90 degrees and then became solid again! Just imagine transporting that central בְּרִיחַ הַתִּיכֹן as they travelled around in the desert, you needed the equivalent of two semi-trailers to transport it, it was so long.
We will soon read in Megillat Esther how Haman’s wife Zeresh suggested he hang Mordechai on a 50 amot high tree (nice lady). Where did Haman find a 25m high tree? No tree in Achashveirosh’s kingdom grew that high. According to the Midrash, Haman had to send word to his son Parshandata who was ruler near Mt. Ararat, the spot that Noach’s ark landed. Parshandata salvaged a beam from the ark that was 50 amot long and sent it back to Shushan. Haman and his ten sons (including Parshandata) ended up being hanged on that beam! (You don’t mess with Mordechai and you certainly don’t mess with Noach’s ark!)
David Hamelech wanted with every fiber of his being to build the first Beit Hamikdash. David Hamelech bought the land from Aravna the Jebusite, he drew up the plans (by Ruach Hakodesh), but that job had to wait for Shlomo his son to be completed. The first thing Shlomo needed was cedar wood, so he commissioned Chiram king of Tzor in Lebanon to cut down cedars for the Mikdash. They were transported by sea on barges from Lebanon to Eretz Yisrael. Chiram was also one of the chief architects of Shlomo’s Mikdash.
It was cedar wood, like in the Mishkan, but unlike the Mishkan, this cedar wood was not descended from the עץ החיים, it was just regular cedar, without lineage. Some Mefarshim say that one of the reasons that the first and second Mikdash did not endure was because they were built by non-Jews (Chiram and Herod). Perhaps another reason is because the cedar wood was not the real deal.
That is the amazing saga of the קְּרָשִׁים. To end off, a few interesting gematriyot that come to teach us a profound lesson.
The gematriya of עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים עֹמְדִים is the same as כסף שטר וביאה, mentioned in the first Mishna (1,1) in masechet Kiddushin. If we view the Beit Hamikdash as a “marriage” between HKB”H and Am Yisrael, then it is the קְּרָשִׁים (also read קְשָׁרִים) that consummate that marriage.
The gematriya of עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים עֹמְדִים is the same as כל ישראל גוף אחד. Am Yisrael are the beams, all standing proudly in the service of HKB”H, all connected by a central beam, which sometimes needs to be rigid and sometimes needs to be flexible, in perfect unity, as one integral body.
The gematriya of עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים עֹמְדִים is the same as סוף מלכות אדום. If Am Yisrael can be united with one another, in a relationship with HKB”H that is equivalent to a marriage, then we will all merit the end of שעבוד מלכויות, the end of our galut and a return to Gan Eden and the עץ החיים. בבי"א.
