פרשת תרומה

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§ The Gemara relates another story about Ḥoni HaMe’aggel. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: All the days of the life of that righteous man, Ḥoni, he was distressed over the meaning of this verse: “A song of Ascents: When the Lord brought back those who returned to Zion, we were like those who dream” (Psalms 126:1). He said to himself: Is there really a person who can sleep and dream for seventy years? How is it possible to compare the seventy-year exile in Babylonia to a dream?

One day, he was walking along the road when he saw a certain man planting a carob tree. Ḥoni said to him: This tree, after how many years will it bear fruit? The man said to him: It will not produce fruit until seventy years have passed. Ḥoni said to him: Is it obvious to you that you will live seventy years, that you expect to benefit from this tree? He said to him: That man himself found a world full of carob trees. Just as my ancestors planted for me, I too am planting for my descendants.

Ḥoni sat and ate bread. Sleep overcame him and he slept. A cliff formed around him, and he disappeared from sight and slept for seventy years. When he awoke, he saw a certain man gathering carobs from that tree. Ḥoni said to him: Are you the one who planted this tree? The man said to him: I am his son’s son. Ḥoni said to him: I can learn from this that I have slept for seventy years, and indeed he saw that his donkey had sired several herds during those many years.

Alexander said to the Elders: Who is truly worthy of being called wise? They said to him, citing a tradition (see Avot 2:9): Who is the wise person? The one who sees and anticipates the consequences of his behavior.

(33) On one branch there shall be three cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals, and on the next branch there shall be three cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals; so for all six branches issuing from the lampstand. (34) And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals:

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Haftarah for Parshat Terumah

(1) In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left the land of Egypt, in the month of Ziv—that is, the second month—in the fourth year of his reign over Israel, Solomon began to build the House of the LORD....

(9) When he finished building the House, he paneled the House with beams and planks of cedar. (10) He built the storied structure against the entire House—each story 5 cubits high, so that it encased the House with timbers of cedar.

R. Judah and R. Nehemiah discussed this matter.¹⁷See above, sect. 6. R. Judah was of the opinion that the animal from which they made the curtain was a large, pure animal that roamed the desert. R. Nehemiah maintained that it was a miraculous event. It was created for that particular moment, and then it disappeared. You may know that this is so from the scriptural verse: And thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair, and the length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits (ibid., v. 8). How else could one possibly obtain a curtain thirty cubits in length (other than from a miraculous creation)? From this you learn that it must have been as R. Nehemiah stated. However, you must not be of the opinion that the curtains alone came from a miraculous event, for the cedar beams did likewise. Where did the cedar beams come from? Jacob our patriarch planted them at the time he descended to Egypt. He told his children: My sons, ultimately you will be redeemed from this place, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will say to you: “You will be redeemed,” so that you may build a Sanctuary for Him. Therefore, go plant cedar trees now so that when He commands you to erect a Sanctuary for Him, beams of cedar will be available. Forthwith they arose and planted as he had commanded them to do.