BS"D
COIN'S COUNTERBALANCE: MISHPATIM-SHEKALIM
Shira Smiles shiur 2023/5783
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
On the Shabbos preceding Rosh Chodesh Adar we add
Parshat Shekalim to the regular Torah reading. Each man of Bnei Yisroel, rich
or poor, is commanded to donate a half shekel to the "holy shekels,"
money that would be used here for the census and later to buy the communal
offerings and for the upkeep of the Beit Hamikdosh. This practice began in the
desert, when everyone donated a half shekel to the building of the Mishkan
irrespective of what other supplies or monies they donated. In the desert,
these coins were melted down to become the foundation of the Mishkan into which
all the upright poles of the structure could be placed. Since the year began
with Nissan, subsequently the collection was carried out for the month
preceding Nissan, the month of Adar. The reading of this portion acted as a
gentle reminder to the people to begin their donations. Today, we continue to
memorialize the practice by donating a "half dollar" on Purim.
In the Gemarra, Reish Lakish
juxtaposes these half shekels with the monies Haman offered to give King
Ahashuerosh to kill the Jews. Haman offered to deposit ten thousand talents of
silver into the king's treasury for this purpose. Reish Lakish says that
Hashem, Who is all knowing and knew this future, therefore, "...הקדים preceded the shekalim of the Jews to those of Haman..."
How are the shekalim of the desert linked thematically to the monies of Haman
and his annihilistic dreams?
From the human perspective, we
can analyze ideas from either an intellectual or an emotional level. We will
attempt to show the connection between Bnei Yisroel's donations of the half
shekel and Haman's payment for the privilege of destroying the Jews on both
these levels. [We will not discuss the qualitative value equivalence
between the two amounts that some have calculated. CKS]
In Ohel Moshe, Rav
Scheinerman gives us perhaps the simplest yet profound explanation of the
purpose of the half shekel. Mandating that each donation, whether from the rich
or from the poor, would be exactly a half shekel, the Torah immediately
testifies that we are all equal and no personal agenda was in play. All were
unified and focused on serving Hashem and on His honor. This unity among all
Bnei Yisroel is what brings Hashem's Presence down to rest upon His people. It
is for this fostering of unity that the half shekels of the desert could become
the foundation for the Tabernacle and bring Hashem's presence to rest among Bnei
Yisroel.
Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Chaver
presents an analogy to explain this unity. In a healthy body, each individual
organ or limb has a specific function. For the body to remain healthy, however,
all the parts must perform their role properly while focused on the common
health of the entire body. So too, everyone in Bnei Yisroel served Hashem
within the gifts, skills and talents that Hashem gave him, but together they
were focused on bringing Hashem's glory to earth.
We are taught that the half
shekel atoned for two major sins. First it atones for the sin of the golden
calf, a sin between man and God. But it also atones for the sale of Yosef, a
sin between man and his fellow man. The brothers sold Yosef for twenty pieces
of silver, the equivalent of five shekel. [Four quarters =$1.00.] Since there
were ten brothers involved in the sale, the profit each received was of a half
shekel. The sale was an act of disunity, to be atoned for with the donations of
a half shekel. The brothers believed they were correct in their judgment to
sell Yosef, and they sat down to eat and drink, ignoring Yosef's cries. The
communal offerings create unity; the matching measure for measure for the
brothers' stonehearted reaction to Yosef's cries, to sit down to eat, was
Haman's sealing the deal to annihilate the Jews and then sitting down with
Ahashuerosh to drink together.
Haman himself is alluding to
the disunity of the Jews, writes Rabbi Bernstein. Not only are they scattered
throughout your kingdom, mefuzor, but they are also disunited, meforad.
We will succeed, argues Haman specifically because of this disunity.
Esther's tactic is the perfect
foil for Haman's plan. She directs Mordechai to gather all the Jews together to
pray, but they should pray for her as she puts herself in immediate
danger by approaching Ahashuerosh without being summoned, notes Rabbi
Bernstein, citing R' Azaryah Figo. At the same time, she and her maidens will
also pray, but they will pray for Bnei Yisroel whose threat is still a year
away. By praying for each other, Bnei Yisroel will demonstrate that they are
indeed united albeit they may be physically spread out. In contrast, even if
many people are in the same room, if they are each praying for their own
personal safety rather than for the community, they remain a group of
individuals and their prayers are not reinforced with the power of communal
prayer. As Rabbi Bernstein says, "Community is not defined by the room
that holds us together with others but by the room we make for them in our
hearts."
Haman is called tzorrer
haYehydim, the oppressor of the Jews; Esther made them one tzerror,
one bundle. Although Bnei Yisroel did not donate half shekels at this time, the
Beit Hamikdosh had been destroyed and not yet rebuilt, the merit of the earlier
half shekels preempted the power of Haman's decree.
Aside from listening to the
Megillah, the other Purim mitzvoth of Purim all relate to creating unity and
connection between people, whether it is gifts to the poor or mishloach
manot. In fact, we are urged to give mishloach manot as a gesture to
positively connect to someone with whom we may feel estranged. The gesture may
bring healing and unity.
In an interesting aside, Rabbi
Schor quotes the Ginat Egoz who notes that the gematria/numerical equivalent of
מנות/manot and מלכות/malchut both
equal 496. He suggests that when our souls go before the Throne of Glory
and we are asked if we treated others with respect, we may offer as part of the
proof in the affirmative that we gave mishloach manot to some to
specifically show them we respected them despite any misunderstandings, that we
did not "lord" ourselves over them.
Sefat Emet teaches us that
while we do need to fulfill the initial mitzvah with food, we can also give
others a portion of our time or talents. We can certainly enhance our
traditional mishloach manot with unique art, writing or other gift, and
we can certainly present others with personal gifts to show how we value them.
After all, these gifts all come from Hashem, and only through us.
We are to attribute all our
gifts to Hashem, whether wisdom, strength or wealth, and we are meant to use
these gifts to serve Hashem. If you cannot acknowledge that truism, if you
believe it is yours exclusively to do with as you wish, Hashem may take it
away, as He did with Korach and with Haman, each considered the wealthiest man
of his generation. Haman especially bragged about all his wealth and children.
But with the proper mindset, the use of that money can become protective. In
contrast, Bnei Yisroel willingly and joyfully donated the half shekels for
God's service.
In a similar vein, continues
Rabbi Kofman citing the Gerer Rebbe, the juxtaposition of the war with Amalek
immediately followed by the mitzvah of bikkurim/bringing the first fruit
to the Beit Hamikdosh punctuates the same point. While Amalek tried to cool our
relationship with Hashem, we insist on continuing to strengthen that
relationship, to acknowledge that our gifts come from Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
Much of our discussion here
focuses on one word in the Gemarrah, "Therefore [Hashem] הקדים /preceded, did earlier their shekalim [of Bnei Yisroel] to his
[of Haman]. R. Gladstein in Magid Harakiah notes that we have two
contrasting people in the Torah who were so eager for their mission that they
arose very early to begin their journey. While Avraham Avinu rose early to
personally saddle his donkey when Hashem commanded him to bind his son of the
altar, Bilaam also rose early and personally saddled his own donkey to go curse
Bnei Yisroel. Just as then, when Avraham's merit preceded the evil plans of
Bilaam, so too later did Bnei Yisroel's donation of the half shekels preempt
Haman's evil plans.
Nevertheless, we can still
take a lesson from these evil people, suggests Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. When we
see how dedicated they were to doing evil, we should question if we are as
dedicated to doing good, to serving Hashem. Perhaps, suggests Reb Moshe, Yaakov
Avinu was critiquing himself when he declares that he lived with Lavan and, as
Rashi explicates, he did not learn from his evil ways and apply Lavan's
dedication to evil to his own dedication to Hashem.
Haman too was dedicated to his
evil ways. However, our enthusiasm in donating the previous half shekels
preempted his enthusiasm.
In the Mussaf repetition of
Shabbat Shekalim the Chazan inserts a few lines of a short liturgical poem. He
asks Hashem to shine His countenance upon us because we yearn to again bring
shekalim for the Beit Hamikdosh. Rabbi Meislish notes that although we do not
yet have a Beit Hamikdosh, we pray that Hashem will grant us salvation based on
our desire for the future, that He advance us the credit. Similarly, in the
time of Ahashuerosh, the second Beit Hamikdosh had not yet been built, but
Hashem saved Bnei Yisroel in the merit of their desire to rebuild and again
donate the shekalim to the Mikdosh. Reading Parshat Shekalim now is relevant
because it awakens our desire to again be in a position to perform that mitzvah
Before we can rebuild the Beit
Hamikdosh, God's House, we need to prepare the site. We need to desire that His
face shine upon us. We need to feel the emptiness, even if our circumstances
are full, writes Rabbi Apfel. Haman wanted to give Ahashuerosh kesef/silver
into ginzei hamelech/the king's storehouses. But the root of kesef
also means desire, and although Haman told Ahashuerosh that Bnei Yisroel was
asleep with no great desire for a connection to their God, that desire and
yearning remains ganuz/a hidden treasure within us. It is not enough to
keep our desire for connection hidden, and on Purim we therefore go over the
top in our celebration, both with each other and especially with Hakodosh
Boruch Hu. Our passion is awake, even if it is at times hidden. Hashem
wanted that relationship with Bnei Yisroel from the time of creation itself,
from the beginning of time, from קדם.
When Hashem gave Moshe the
mitzvah to donate a half shekel, He showed Moshe exactly what He meant, "This
they shall give." Moshe undoubtedly knew what a standard half shekel
looked like. What did Hashem show him? Rashi tells us that Hashem showed Moshe
a fiery coin. Rabbi Biederman explains that Hashem emphasized that the size of
the coin did not matter. What was important was that Bnei Yisroel have a fiery
passion for a connection with Hashem. Haman, with his money, fanned the flames
of Bnei Yisroel's passion for Hakodosh Boruch Hu. For Purim represents a
re-acceptance of the Torah, קימו וקבלו, they
confirmed and accepted the Torah with full awareness and with love and fiery
passion. The half shekel donation was a symbol of that love.