Parashat Naso

Rabbi Nassan said: What did the Nissi’im see that inspired them to donate first [in this week’s parasha], and yet they did not donate first during the construction of the Mishkan? Rather, [when commanded to donate towards the building of the Mishkan,] they said, “let the Tzibur donate what they can, and whatever is missing we will complete.” When they saw that the Tzibur completed everything, as the pasuk says, “ViHaMelacha Hayisa Dayam,” they asked, “what is left for us to contribute?” So they brought the Avnei Shoham and Avnei Milu’im. Therefore, they contributed here first.
Rashi, Naso (7:3)

In his comments in the Sifri, Rabbi Nassan masterfully captures the sorrow of the Nissi’im after Meleches HaMishkan, the regret that their donations were not needed to build the Mishkan. The Bnei Yisrael themselves were capable of gathering enough materials to fund the forming of the Mishkan, its Keilim, and the utensils which service them. The Nissi’im therefore spent the next five months planning an offering for the Chanukas HaMishkan to show just how valuable the Mishkan was in their eyes.

Rashi and the Ramban argue over what the Nissi’im planned to present. The Ramban says they loaded all their Korbanos (see 7:10) onto their cattle-drawn wagons (7:3) and pulled all their gifts into the Mishkan together. Rashi, however, argues that the Korbanos brought over the first twelve days of Nissan were not planned five months in advance. Rather, the Nissi’im first donated the wagons and cattle and subsequently were inspired to contribute Korbanos for the Chakunas HaMizbei’ach.

But Rashi’s explanation is not without its problems. Here we see the Nissi’im patiently waiting to donate to the Mishkan and remove their feelings of guilt from their conscience. According to the Ramban, their donation included Korbanos; therefore, they had to wait until the Mishkan was build and the Mizbeiach was erected to offer their Korbanos. The earliest time they could have brought this gift was indeed the first of Nissan. But according to Rashi, if all the Nissi’im planned to present were some wagons to carry the Mishkan and its Keilim and some cattle to pull the wagons (see BaMidbar Rabbah 12:16), why did they have to wait five months?! Here they are moping that they didn’t seize the opportunity to contribute towards the construction of the Mishkan and its utensils, and in response to their sorrow, they sit around for five months before bringing their make-up donation?! Why couldn’t they present the cattle and wagons immediately? Wouldn’t that better express how much they care about the Mishkan?

But there is a bigger question – a question that falls on both Rashi’s and the Ramban’s explanations – we should recognize. In Parashat Terumah, the Nissi’im were instructed by Moshe to contribute towards Meleches HaMishkan, but in this week’s parasha, the Nissi’im acted on their own. If they felt bad about neglecting to lead the nation in the contribution to Meleches HaMishkan, then the way to make up for their mistake is not to rewrite the rules of donating to the Mishkan, but rather to wait for Moshe’s next command and then to participate first. Making up for their lack of donations – five months late, no less – in no way atones for their mistake; it only makes them look sorry and regretful without addressing any of their actual flaws.

Clearly we are misunderstanding the Nissi’im’s gesture in this week’s parasha, and perhaps that is because we don’t understand what the Nissi’im were sorry for. We often presume they regretted not being needed in the construction of the Mishkan, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, of all the people in Klal Yisrael, the only individuals needed were the Nissi’im! Everybody had an excess of gold and silver, but nobody had Avnei Shoham or Avnei Milu’im. Without the Nissi’im, there never would have been a functioning Mishkan because the Bigdei Kehuna would have been incomplete.

The Nissi’im by no means regretted waiting until the last minute to offer their contributions. As the leaders of the nation, the Nissi’im used the Meleches HaMishkan as the perfect opportunity to show the nation how important they were, how much they truly were needed. But the Nissi’im were afraid that their gesture could be misinterpreted, that by using Meleches HaMishkan as an opportunity to boost their own importance in the community might slight the importance of all the other workers. While they felt that their relationship to the nation had been reinforced through their delayed donations, they did not want the workers of the Mishkan to feel slighted.

There were two ways Moshe could have gone about the collection process. Either, he could have kept close count of each silver and gold piece collected and stopped accepting donations as soon as he had collected enough, or he could allow everyone to donate as much as he pleased and then at the end of each week decide whether he had collected enough. As the pasuk says, “ViHaMilacha Hayisa Dayam LiChol HaMilacha La’Asos Osa ViHosair,” there was extra, implying that Moshe chose the latter process. This process allowed the nation to not only contribute towards the Mishkan, but also to show all the workers involved how important the construction of the Mishkan was to them; everyone brought as much as he could, regardless of whether his donation was still necessary. The pasuk does not say the materials gathered were enough for the Mishkan; rather, it says the materials were enough for the workers of the Mishkan to build it. The purpose of donation, the pasuk tells us, was also to build a relationship between the donor and the worker, and it was this relationship that the Nissi’im had failed to establish.

The Nissi’im wanted to prove to the workers that their efforts were indeed valued, but what could they do to express their appreciation? Moshe had clearly listed everything the people were required to bring and had commanded them to stop donating. Therefore, the Nissi’im looked into the Mishkan’s future. They recognized that sometime soon, the nation would have to travel, and the Mishkan’s future workers and behind-the-scene caretakers would have to carry all the heavy objects with them. What better gesture of appreciation for the workers could the Nissi’im show than to provide them with the tools necessary to lighten their load!
Therefore, the Nissi’im pitched in to buy the workers a thoughtful gift. They waited until the Mishkan was fully constructed, when the workers could finally see the tremendous size of their project. Only then did the nation begin to wonder how they would ever transport the structure. When the Mishkan’s builders saw the Nissi’im offer their cattle and wagons to the Levi’im to ease their burden, they understood that no offense was ever intended when the Nissi’im hesitated to donate. The Nissi’im truly did care about the behind-the-scenes work in the Mishkan and not just about the flashy centerpieces, like the Avnei Shoham and Avnei Milu’im. Thus was a meaningful relationship established, one that subsequently inspired the Nissi’im to put their behind-the-scenes workers to good use right away by offering Korbanos on the Mizbei’ach.