The designation of the shittim tree, which is a variety of cedar, for the Mishkan dates back to Yaakov Avinu, who had cedars planted in Egypt. Prior to his passing, he instructed his sons to take the wood along when they left Egypt. He foresaw that one day they would be used in the Mishkan. In another view found in the Midrash, these cedars were planted by Avraham Avinu when he was in Egypt. Our Patriarch sought to concretize the foundations of our future Sanctuary, which represented to him the anchor of Klal Yisrael’s moral and religious survival through its…
