Terumah

The Aramaic translation attributed to Yonatan ben Uzziel, who lived at the turn of the last millennium, makes a rather obscure comment on this verse. He notes that the middle bar inside the planks, which made up the walls of the Tabernacle, was made from the wood of a tree planted by Abraham in Beersheba. This is documented in Genesis (21:33): "And Abraham planted a tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God."

The word used for "tree" in this verse is eshel as opposed to the more familiar eitz. The sages of the Gemara disagree about the nature of the tree (Sotah 10a). Some held that it was an orchard that bore the fruits which Abraham served to his guests, while others held that it was the inn where the guests stayed.

The Midrash on Psalms explains that the word eishel stands for achilah, food; shtiyah, drink: and levayah, escort. Either way, this tree represented the attribute of gemilut chasadim, acts of kindness towards others, a trait which Abraham is perhaps most famous for.

The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot says that the world stands on three things; Torah, the service of God and acts of kindness.