This Shabbos opens the series of four parshios leading up to Klal Yisrael becoming Hashem’s chosen people at Yetzias Mitzrayim. Each parasha has a fundamental principle moving us towards that goal.
We open with Parshas Shekalim where we read the pesukim commanding Moshe to count the Jewish people. It was done by each person contributing half a shekel to fund the Mishkan and, in the future, the Beis Hamikdash.
But there are two strange elements in the commandment. First, the wealthy person was not allowed to give more than half a shekel, while the poor person could not give less. Not a very efficient way to run a fundraising campaign. And, contrary to almost all other mitzvos, the poor person was required to give his half shekel even if it meant selling the shirt off his back. Secondly, the counting would have been much simpler had each person given a full shekel.
The Gemara in Megillah (13b) explains the timing of announcing the upcoming half-shekel collection on Rosh Chodesh Adar. “It was known to the Almighty that Haman was going to offer [10,000] shekalim for the rights to annihilate the Jewish people, so Hashem commanded us to precede his shekalim with ours.”
What is the connection?
Haman’s critique of the Jews was that they were “dispersed and fragmented among the nations.” Their vulnerability lay in their divisiveness and lack of unity. The antidote was machatzit hashekel – in a number of ways. Each person contributing a half shekel represents the fact that no one can accomplish what is needed as an individual. Every Jew needs other Jews for any project of value to succeed. Your contribution, your half shekel, requires the contribution of another’s half shekel to make it complete.
Many rich people like to bask in the accomplishment of their large gift, which can easily lead to a sense of power and arrogance. So they are limited to half a shekel. Poor people may use their poverty as an excuse to avoid participation and responsibility. Requiring their contribution, even under the most difficult financial circumstances, says “No excuses.” Everyone is both dependent on and responsible for others in the community.
But there is an even deeper message. In the kabbalistic literature, “wealthy” denotes one who has resources to share with others. “Poor” represents one who needs to be a recipient of resources. Every Jew is wealthy, having resources and talents that can be shared with others. And every Jew, even with financial wealth, has needs that can only be supplied by others. Everyone is both wealthy and poor. Everyone can make a contribution – realizing that the other half shekel is still needed.
Haman’s shekalim were given to annihilate us at a time of communal fragmentation. The antidote was unity and communal responsibility. By preceding his shekalim with our half shekalim, we overcame the source of our vulnerability.
We can glean an additional insight from the root of the word shekel – to weigh. There are two ways to assess value. One is relative and self-centered – what can I gain from this transaction? The other way is what I can accomplish with this transaction. One needs to assess the objective value of the money based on what it can accomplish. The choice of half a shekel communicates the responsibility of identifying priorities and using the money to make a contribution. This stands in stark contrast to selfish consumption.
As the first of the four parshios, the commandment of contributing half a shekel is the first step towards building the Jewish people: Identifying true priorities, making individual contributions, realizing the need to work together, and building and unifying the nation.
