Where Did They Get All of the Materials to Contribute to the Mishkan? |
Over the past few parshiot we have been reading about B’nai Yisrael’s contributions to the Mishkan. While teaching this topic over the last few weeks, I have been asked over and over again: “How did B’nai Yisrael, in the middle of the Sinai desert have all of those items to contribute?” B’nai Yisrael actually took many of the valuables out of Even though some of the gold was used for the Sin of the Golden Calf it was only a small portion of the nation that contributed and those who did contribute only gave in small earrings, leaving plenty of gold to contribute to the Mishkan, a much better cause. The more difficult questions are: Where did they get the wood to build the Mishkan? Where did they get the olives to make the olive oil? Midrash Tanchuma 9 states that Yaakov planted trees when he
went down to One form of the Acacia (the Shittah tree) is called nilotica
since it grows near the This Midrash teaches that Yaakov believed God’s promise to Avraham that B’nai Yisrael would one day be redeemed and therefore he helped plan for it. However, it is hard to take the Midrash literally. When B’nai
Yisrael were rushing out of When researching what grows wild in the Sinai desert, we find the Atzei Shitim (the Shittah trees) a form of the Acacia that occur in the desert wadis of Sinai whose wood was used to make the Mishkan. If that is the case, then B’nai Yisrael were able to find
the wood in the desert and wouldn’t have had to bring it from The “sneh” (burning bush) may have also been a form of this tree. If you have visited the Sinai desert recently and haven’t seen these trees it could be due to the fact that the Bedouins uprooted them and didn’t replant them. There were probably wild olive trees in the We see from here that between the valuables that B’nai
Yisrael brought from |