Make an altar to burn incense of acacia wood…. Cover
it with a layer of pure gold. (Exodus 30:1, 3)
Make the carrying poles of acacia wood and cover them
with gold. (Exodus 30:5)
Make an ark of acacia wood…. Cover it with a layer of pure gold on the
inside and outside. (Exodus 25:10, 11)
Make two carrying poles of acacia wood and cover them
with a layer of gold. (Exodus 25:13)
Our son Ron is a rabbi and biologist who lives with his family in the Negev desert mountains.
We drove with Ron and our son Ari and his wife Julie through
the desert in search of acacia trees.
Hiking in the desert, we suddenly caught sight of a single
acacia tree isolated in the valley as we came over the top of the hill.
We walked down the rocky hill photographing the tree as we
got closer. Miriam sat down to rest
under the tree.
Ron explained that the tree is more than a thousand years
old from tree ring studies of other trees in the Negev.
As we walked back, we asked why acacia wood was the primary
material used to build the ark housing the Ten Commandments and the altar.
Why were such significant objects only coated with gold
rather than being made of pure gold?
As a stable element that neither tarnishes nor rusts, gold
symbolizes the eternal values of the written Torah.
The acacia tree symbolizes the living, growing, dynamic oral
Torah that engages all generations in creative dialogue.
Carrying the ark and altar by their gold coated acacia poles
brings fresh meaning to eternal values at all times and in every place.
It [Torah] is a tree of life for those who grasp it ….
Its ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace.
(Proverbs 3:18, 17)