In 1984, a colleague shared an article about the Tabernacle of Moses (the Mishkan) with me.  This intrigued me so much that I wanted to read more about this fascinating structure, which became the pattern for the building of the temple in Jerusalem.

It soon became evident that the topic of the Mishkan covers far more verses in the Scriptures than any other topic.  This leads to the logical question: “Why does the subject of the Mishkan cover such a large part of the Scriptures”?  We battled with this question for quite some time before understanding the reasons why.

The answer was right in front of us all the time – we just did not notice it!  It is found in Exodus 25:8, “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.”  We realized that the Mishkan is the blueprint of how God wants to “dwell” with man.  It became a lifelong quest to research and understand this blueprint of the relationship between God and man, which is encoded in it.

Over the past few years it became our impression to build a full-scale model of the Mishkan in Jerusalem as a tourist attraction and a teaching tool.  The conceptualization of how this should take place shaped over a period of time as we shared the idea with others and also listened to the impressions they had about it.

We have now reached the point where the vision is starting to become a reality. We have built a 7.5% model of the Mishkan on the roof terrace of Beit Chai in Yafo Street, Jerusalem and it is an ongoing process to alter it as we receive more information and new insights.  We have also developed the Mishkan app available for purchase on We have taken the first steps in realizing the vision.  It was just an idea, but now it is becoming a reality.

We want to thank everyone who worked together for the support, co-operation, involvement and enthusiasm, in these first steps to establish The Mishkan Village Institutein Jerusalem. However, we have just begun and will need more support to take this undertaking further.

Sadly we have to accept that Dr. Gerrit Nel the founder of this project passed away in October 2018 due to cancer.  This however will not deter us from completing this vision.  Tiaan Nel his son has taken up the responsibility of driving this project forward together with a team that will work together to achieve this vision.

If you would like to become involved or would like further information regarding this project please complete our contact form.

Kfar Mishkan Team