Moshe assembled “the entire community of Bnei Yisrael” when he announced G-d’s command to gather the materials necessary to construct the Mishkan. According to the Ohr Hachaim, the Torah’s emphasis that Moshe assembled the entire community teaches us that Moshe also gathered the women and children for this announcement, for even children took part in contributing for the Mishkan.
This represents a departure from the Torah’s typical expectations of children under the age of majority, who are neither required nor held accountable for the fulfillment of any of the Torah’s commands.
Why then were children included in the donation drive for the Mishkan?
According to one explanation, the mitzvah to construct the Mishkan was a means for Bnei Yisrael to atone for their worship of the Golden Calf. Though Jewish law never holds minors accountable for their actions, the sin of idolatry is an exception. We find this in the law of ir hanidachas, when all (or the majority) of the inhabitants of a particular city become idolaters, and as a result all residents of the city who are found guilty are punished along with their wives and children. Likewise, in the story of Purim, the Heavenly decree against the Jews was issued because they had succumbed to idolatry, resulting in the mortal decree issued by Achashveirosh to annihilate the entire Jewish nation, “young and old, children and women”.
Because the consequences of the Golden Calf affected all of Bnei Yisrael, including the children, they too took part in rectifying the sin through the construction of the Mishkan.
—Likkutei Sichos, vol. 3, pp. 930–931
