Rosh Chodesh Nissan will be on Tuesday this week. It is written in the Torah “And it shall come to pass in the first month, in the second year, on one of the months, that the tabernacle was erected” (Exodus M/Lg). This year, on this day, Moshav Hamed will mark the dedication of the Mishkan and its equipment museum.
The Leumi religious community was recently blessed with two museums in the Moshav of the Po’am. The first is the “House of Religious Zionism” heritage museum in Kfar Hara’a, and now the Mishkan and its furnishings “Or Precious” museum has opened in Moshav Hamed (near Netavg).
The Lord commanded Moshe “Everything that I show you, the structure of the tabernacle and the structure of all its vessels, and so you shall do.” God appointed Bezalel ben Ori to stand at the head of the Mishkan project, “and let the Spirit of God fill it with wisdom and understanding and knowledge and in every work”. in our generation, Uri Greenfeld Memoshav Hamed took this commandment personally, and built a model of the Mishkan for the purpose of illustration for children and youth as well as adults. The tabernacle and its vessels were built according to the measurements of the vessels in Moses’ tabernacle in the desert, with the exact details of the details according to what is written in the Torah. From the construction workshop in the warehouse in Moshav, the tools were moved into a tent the size of the original Moed tent.
The museum went through a period of running, just as Rabbi Moshe and the priests and the Israelites did the “seven days of reserve” for the purpose of preparations before the dedication of the Mishkan. From now on it is open to the public. The visit to the museum illustrates to visitors what the tabernacle in the desert would have looked like, so it is especially suitable for teachers who teach Torah in the Pentateuch of Exodus and Leviticus.
The guided tour of the Mishkan takes about an hour. The tour begins in the “Court of the Tabernacle”, as it is written “And he will set up the courtyard around the Tabernacle and the Altar, and he will cover the gate of the courtyard”. Near the gate of the courtyard in Hamad you can see the ma’alat (stairs) on which the mourners stood and would sing the “songs of the merits”.
The outer courtyard in the tabernacle was intended for all Israel to offer sacrifices, and in the center stands the altar. “And you shall make the altar of cypress wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide. The altar shall be square and three cubits high.” The altar in Hamad is built exactly in these dimensions. (In Solomon’s temple the altar was larger). You can also see here his “horns on his four corners from where you will be”.
The Lord says to Moses, “And you made his boats for his harvest, and his water fountains, and his forks, and his pans for all his vessels.” All these tools are shown here. It is written “A fire shall always be kindled on the altar, it shall not be extinguished”, you can see the smoke rising from among the trees of the battle at the top of the altar.
The Mishna says “What is the place of sacrifices? The holy of holies are slaughtered in the north, and blood charged with delusion is on between the cloths and on the veil and on the golden altar.” Uri demonstrates this when he stands on the north side of the altar, and also shows blood marks that were painted on the horns of the altar and on the wall. On the other hand, easy victims would be slaughtered anywhere with help.
The exhibit that impressed me the most was the planks of the Tabernacle. “And you made the planks for the tabernacle of standing trees. The length of the plank was ten cubits, and the width of one plank was a cubit and a half cubit.” All my life I studied the verse and heard it in the Torah reading, but I had no idea what it was about. Uri Greenfeld built one plank exactly the same size as the turn, and I was surprised by its size.
It is written “And you shall make forty plinths of silver under the twenty plank, two plinths under the one plank for its two hands.” I didn’t understand what “hands” were and what the “admans” were like, until Uri illustrated it in the display, showing how they fit together like Lego.
The columns were attached to each other with the help of 2 external bolts and also a secondary bolt, which surrounded the entire tabernacle. This is how the walls of the Tabernacle were made.
From the courtyard you pass into the Tent of Meeting, which was erected exactly in its original Torah dimensions. Uri explains that Ohel Moed is from the language of assembly. It was built to be a place where God would speak to Moses. Entry into the tent of meeting was only allowed to the Levites and the priests working inside, and it was off limits to the Israelites.
The model of the tent in the museum is divided into two areas – the “holy place”, where the table and menorah and the altar of incense stood. And the “Holy of Holies” where the Ark of the Testimony and Aaron’s staff were located.
In front of the entrance stands the golden altar on which coals brought from the outer altar, and next to them a censer and an incense stick. Uri demonstrates how the priest lowers incense into his hands and crumbles and scatters it on the whispering coals.
The vessels of the Mishkan had rings into which the cloths were threaded to carry them in the wanderings of the people of Israel in the desert. When classes come to visit the Mishkan Hamed museum, here, near the altar of incense, Uri invites some students to thread the cloths into the rings, carry the altar on their shoulders, and take a few steps to feel themselves “on the shoulder of Yeshua”.
You should pay special attention to the lamp. “And thou shalt make a lampstand of pure gold, and thou shalt make the lampstand long, and of it shall be its cups, its knobs, and its flowers.” In the Menorah in the Tabernacle in Hamad we can observe the spiked cups and all its buttons and flowers. In front of the menorah there is a small bunk, to illustrate and observe “when you light the candles”.
Beside her you can see the face bread table.
From there you go into the Holy of Holies. You see the Ark of the Covenant in exactly the original size with all its details.
You see the kapurat, which is the lid of the coffin. Here he does not completely cover the ark, in order to show the children through a slot the tablets of the covenant and the fragments of the tablets as they were placed inside the ark. You can also see the golden tiara that surrounds the Kuphurt. And of course also the cherubim “spreading their wings upward, covering with their wings the Atonement, and their faces are man to his brother.” On the side stands the staff of the coffin, and next to it lies the jar of manna.
The Tabernacle of Moses was built a year after the Exodus from Egypt. He wandered in the desert for 39 years, and when the Israelites entered Canaan they placed him in Gilgal for 13 years. He was then moved to Shiloh, where he lived for about 400 years. After that he moved to Gibeon and from there to Jerusalem. When King Solomon built the Temple, he put most of the vessels of the Mishkan into it, except for the altar and the sink, which he rebuilt with larger dimensions. King Solomon added 10 more lamps, probably Some had straight canes and some had rounded canes.
The tour of the Mishkan model in Hamad is an eye-opening trip between the lines in the Chomesh and the Torah book. He also helps me to understand what I am saying in the order of the sacrifices in the morning prayer. Really exciting.
In preparation for Passover, a lesson on the order of the Passover sacrifice was added to the tour of the museum. Uri opens the Pentateuch in chapter 12, and reads the passage of the Passover sacrifice that begins with the verse “On the tenth of this month, and they shall take a man shesha for the fathers’ house, shesha for the house.” He demonstrates the sacrifice, and shows how and where it was sacrificed, and where his followers ate it. Lessons on the incense, on the vessels of the Mishkan, and on the high priest’s order of work on Yom Kippur, after such a lecture we can better understand what we are saying in the Musaf prayer about the sacrifices.
For 3 years, Uri Greenfeld built the Mishkan and its facilities, with the help of Yossi Koch, Aharon Shlesinger, Yaakov Vider, and other friends from Moshav Hamed, whom he infected with his madness. Friends Yehiel Aharoni and Ilan Sharabi, contributed their wealth to finance the building materials. The Moshav Committee donated the area on which the museum was established.
During the running period, about two hundred guests visited the Mishkan. Most of them are members of the moshav and their families, as well as 6th grade students at the regional school ‘Moshe’s Heritage’, as well as Zionist and ultra-Orthodox students who delve into the study of the Zebachim and Timid tractates, and want to better understand the Gemara and Parashim.
The principal of the school in Moshav Hamed held a “housing circle” here for all 6th graders. 7 of the children who participated in these classes celebrated their bar mitzvah here at the Mishkan museum. The family and classmates of the Bar Mitzvah groom came to the Mishkan, and the traditional Bar Mitzvah sermon was when the boy gave them a guided and detailed tour of about three quarters of an hour. An exciting way to mark the holy day in the boy’s life.
At the end of the press tour they gave me, I ask Uri Greenfeld how he got the idea to build the Mishkan?
“This is a childhood obsession of mine since my elementary school days. In the 1960s, the Moriah school in Tel Aviv had a “Torah room” founded by the late educator Moshe Rap. In one of the years he appointed me in charge of the Torah room, and I was proud of it. After about sixty years, during the Corona period, my brother Micah brought me an ox as a gift, and I started sawing just planks. And later I switched to sawing the dimensions of the Mishkan. That’s how I started building the Mishkan like Bezalel and Ahliav.”
After the press tour they gave me, I say to Uri Greenfeld: “Now my token is gone. I only now understood what I learned in elementary school and high school.” Uri laughs and says that he has already heard this from other visitors as well.
The Mishkan Museum is open only by prior arrangement by phone: 052-2207508
Adjacent to the museum is a parking lot that is also suitable for buses
