The men came with the women. All people of generous hearts brought bracelets, nose-rings, rings, private ornaments; all kinds of golden ornaments. (Shemos 35:22)
It is so wonderful what the Torah tells us about the generosity of the Jewish people for the Mishkan. When the campaign was announced for raising Mishkan materials, everyone responded right away and brought the most precious things they had. They donated gold, silver and copper, as well as jewels and precious stones of various types. The women even took off their jewelry and brought it in for the Mishkan.
The response was so massive that those in charge of receiving the materials came and told Moshe, “The people are bringing too much!” Not only did they already bring more than enough, but they kept on donating more and more, without stop, until Moshe needed to make an announcement that people should please stop donating.
It was like the best possible dream for anyone who ever tried to raise funds for a shul or yeshivah. Imagine you are trying to get donations for a mitzvah cause, and you have to make a public announcement to please stop donating because there is already too much money!
And don’t think our forefathers disregarded money. In the beginning of Parshas Tzav, Rashi explains that the word צו, with which the parshah begins, urges people to do as commanded even when it costs them money. People were always attached to their possessions and always felt it hard to part with them. When Moshe Rabbeinu looked for judges to appoint over the people, he didn’t have trouble finding candidates who were wealthy (and who thus had no need to flatter and favor rich and important litigants) but he did have a hard time finding ones who were dispassionate toward their possessions.
Nevertheless, when it came to building the Mishkan, the people showed such generosity that after a single announcement, an unending flood of money started pouring in. Also the women, who were quite unwilling to part with their jewelry to make the Eigel Hazahav, when it came to building a Mishkan for Hashem they willingly took off their ornaments and brought them in. The participation was complete and wondrous, the likes of which we don’t find elsewhere in the Torah, and we surely don’t see it happening around us today.
Maybe it was because building the Mishkan was not a mitzvah like other mitzvos. It says:
ועשו לי מקדש ושכנתי בתוכם – They shall make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell within them.
The Mishkan caused Hashem to dwell within the people themselves. The Shechinah came to rest not just in the Mishkan but within the Jewish people. This entails love and closeness to Hashem. The light of the Shechinah’s presence is the true and lasting life. Its great illumination contains everything good and pleasant. So when the people heard that they have the opportunity to build a House in which they will be unified with Hakadosh Baruch Hu, they simply poured out their gold and silver to attain this purpose, to the point that they needed to be stopped.
Also today we have ways in which the Shechinah comes to rest among us. Chazal say:
Husband and wife, if they behave meritoriously, the Shechinah is between them.
We can see that most of the quarrels in the home are primarily about financial matters. The husband might [think] the wife is spending too much, or the wife might want something that the husband doesn’t agree to buy. Also with two friends, if they had a joint financial venture that did not turn out satisfactorily, they are likely to quarrel. This, too, causes the Shechinah to depart.
Let us remember our forefathers. Also they felt an attachment to money and possessions. And despite this, they poured out money like it was water, in order for the Shechinah to dwell within them. They didn’t think twice. They just gave and gave and gave. It is worth it for us, too, to give up on a little money, and not quarrel about it, so there will be peace in our home and our surroundings. Then Hakadosh Baruch Hu will bring His Shechinah to rest among us and will hurry the Geulah Sheleimah.
