A vort from the Rebbe on this week's פרשה, פרשת תרומה. In פרשת תרומה, the Torah tells us all the different things that Hashem said they have to donate in order to build the Mishkan. And one of the things that Hashem said that they need, they should give, is עצי שטים, cedarwood. Now, on this pasuk, Rashi says, where did the Yidden in the midbar, in the desert, get עצי שטים, cedarwood? So Rashi says, פירש רב תנחומא, so Rav Tanchuma said, it's the name of a person, he explained it. And he said like this, that Yaakov Avinu, when he saw with ruach hakodesh that the Yidden are going to have to build a Mishkan in the desert, so he took along, when he went to Mitzrayim from Eretz Yisrael, he took along cedar trees from Eretz Yisrael, planted them in Mitzrayim when he got there, and he told his children that when they go out of Mitzrayim, they should take them along. And the Rebbe asks a question:

why did our Yaakov Avinu have to go through all this trouble of shlepping, taking along cedar trees from Eretz Yisrael to Mitzrayim and plant them, etc., etc.? Why did he need that? When the Aibershter said to the Yidden to give עצי שטים to build the Mishkan, they had very much easier ways to get it. There were probably forests around the area in the midbar where trees, cedar trees grew. At least they could have bought it from the neighbors, because we know that the Yidden in the desert did business with the goyishe merchants, from the places, the countries, the cities around the desert, the merchants would come to the desert and do business with the Yidden. So I'm sure they, for sure they could have gotten some עצי שטים. Why did Yaakov have to go through all this trouble? So the Rebbe says that the purpose is like this: ein hachi nami, the Yidden knew for sure that they're going to go out of galut. The Aibershter said this to Yaakov Avinu when he told him, go down to Mitzrayim, ואנכי אעלך גם עלה, and I'm going to take you out. So they knew, from the ברית בין הבתרים, they knew that the Yidden, that they're going out. But nevertheless, it's only something that they believed in, that they thought about. But אינו דומה ראיה לשמיעה, seeing is more believing, seeing is the real thing. So by Yaakov Avinu planting ארזים in Mitzrayim over 200 years from before they left is because we knew that they're going to go out and need it when they were in the midbar. So when the Yidden saw in Mitzrayim, every time they noticed, they saw these trees, it gave them an עידוד, it gave them a push, and it gave them a chizuk, and it gave them tanchumin. Tanchumin is when they comfort, the comfort from their galus, because they saw something tangible that they could see with their eyes which is going to be used after the geulah that they go out. And that was the reason that Yaakov Avinu did it. He wanted that all the years the Yidden being in Mitzrayim, they should be able to see something which represents the geulah. And that's also the reason why Yaakov Avinu brought these ארזים, these cedar trees from Eretz Yisrael to Mitzrayim. Lichorah, even though he wanted it to be in Mitzrayim, they should grow in Mitzrayim, they should take them out, he could have planted in Mitzrayim the ארזים. And the truth is, if the only reason he did it is because they should have it, that would have been good enough. But according to what we said before, he did it because he wanted the Yidden to know that eventually they're going out from Mitzrayim and going back to Eretz Yisrael, and on the way they'll go through the midbar. So he took it from Eretz Yisrael, so the cedar trees that he planted were plants, wood, trees from Eretz Yisrael. So this represents Eretz Yisrael, and he planted it in Mitzrayim, and the Yidden in Mitzrayim will see the trees from Eretz Yisrael that shows that they're going to need this when they go out, that means they're going to go out. That's why he brought it from Eretz Yisrael, planted it in Mitzrayim, so for 200 years, over 200 years, looking at it they should have a nechamah. And the Rebbe says that's why Rashi gives the name of who said this. The name is Rav Tanchuma. Tanchuma is from the word tanchumin, which is comfort, because this represents this, what he did represent, shows the tanchumin that the Yidden had, so it fits to the name of the person who said it, that's Rav Tanchuma.

And then the Rebbe adds another point: we know ruchniyus, whatever happened in golus Mitzrayim also repeats itself in this golus. So the Rebbe says this idea is there in this golus also. ארז, cedar trees, the ארזים represent tzaddikim. There's a pasuk that says, צדיק כתמר יפרח כארז בלבנון ישגה, that a tzaddik is compared to a cedar tree. Now, these tzaddikim, really, wherever they are, they are in Eretz Yisrael. Beruchniyus they're in Eretz Yisrael, they're not influenced, affected by the golus. So these are like the cedar trees in Eretz Yisrael. Now, these cedar trees were brought to Mitzrayim, just like in the case of the cedar trees by Yaakov, these cedar trees which represented tzaddikim are brought, planted in Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim represents the level of golus, so it's planted amongst the Yidden who don't feel the geulah like the tzaddikim feel, even while they're in golus they feel the geulah. Stam people don't. The Aibershter planted these tzaddikim, these ארזים, in golus amongst the Yidden who don't feel that the geulah is the truth, but they still think that feel they're in golus, that they should have tanchumin. Every time you see these tzaddikim, and this brings tanchumim and it brings a comfort to the Yidden. And who's the one that started this is Yaakov Avinu, because Yaakov is a ראשי תיבות ניצוצי של יעקב נשיא I mean is ראשי תיבות ניצוצי של יעקב אבינו. Every nasi, every leader of the generation, is a nitzotz, is a neshamah of Yaakov Avinu. So just like by Yaakov Avinu he brought into the Galus Mitzrayim the trees from Eretz Yisrael to have the תנחומין to the Yidden that they're going out, the same thing the נשיאי ישראל which are which are an extension of Yaakov Avinu, they also are the ones that bring comfort to the Yidden in galus because they themselves are in Eretz Yisrael basically, beruchniyus they're beyond the galus, and they bring the תנחומין to all the Yidden.