Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
On his way to meeting his long-lost son, Yosef, Yaakov makes a stop:
(א) וַיִּסַּ֤ע יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וְכׇל־אֲשֶׁר־ל֔וֹ וַיָּבֹ֖א בְּאֵ֣רָה שָּׁ֑בַע וַיִּזְבַּ֣ח זְבָחִ֔ים לֵאלֹהֵ֖י אָבִ֥יו יִצְחָֽק׃
Yisrael traveled with all that he had, and came to Be’er Sheva, and he offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Yitzhak.
This midrash wonders: what was so special about Be’er Sheva that Yaakov decided to make a stop there?
לְהֵיכָן הָלַך?
אָמַר רַב נַחְמָן שֶׁהָלַךְ לָקֹץ אֲרָזִים
שֶׁנָּטַע אַבְרָהָם זְקֵנוֹ בִּבְאֵר שָׁבַע.
Where was he going? Rav Nahman said: He was going to cut the cedar trees that his grandfather, Avraham, planted in Be’er Sheva.
The midrash continues to explain that this was not the end of the story for these cedar trees. Hundreds of years later, בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל (Benei Yisrael, the Israelites) took these cedar trees with them when they left מִצְרַיִם (Mitzrayim, Egypt). In fact, the midrash says that these were the very same cedar trees later used in the desert to construct the מִשְׁכָּן (Mishkan, Tabernacle).
- Why do you think that Yaakov, on his way to Mitzrayim, would have wanted to bring the cedar trees that Avraham had planted?
- Do you have anything in your home that belonged to your grandparents, great-grandparents, or older generations in your family? What is special about it? What is the significance of passing on items from generation to generation?
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