Wood from the best trees – Vayyera
In the sidra we read the famous story of the Binding of Isaac.
The commentators write reams about the thoughts and personalities of Abraham and Isaac but very few write about the wood.
According to Ramban, Nachmanides, the wood was hauled all the way to Jerusalem from Beer Sheva where Abraham had planted a grove of trees (Gen. 21:33). The patriarch wanted to make sure that the wood he placed on the altar would come from strong, healthy trees.
These Beer Sheva trees appear again in Jewish history.
They are said to have provided the wood from which Jacob took the saplings that would be tended in Egypt and brought by the Israelite people to supply the boards from which the sanctuary would be constructed in the Wilderness.
