There is nothing so Complete as a Half
By Rabbi Shimon Raichik
This week is Shabbos parshas Shekalim. The parsha speaks about bringing a Machatzis HaShekel a half shekel to the Bais Hamikdosh. On Rosh Chodesh Adar it was announced that everyone should bring their Machatzis HaShekel and on the fifteenth of Adar the collection began. By the time Rosh Chodesh Nisan arrived the funds would be amassed for the purchase of the communal sacrifice. On Rosh Chodesh Nissan they would bring the community sacrifices which had been acquired with the recently collected shekolim contributed by Bnei Yisrael. For this reason on Shabbos Mevorchim Adar or Rosh Chodesh Adar as it falls this year, we read the parsha which speaks about Machatzis HaShekel.
A question is asked, why is only a half shekel given? Why not a complete shekel? Additionally,
the Torah says that twenty gerah is a shekel, give half; since ten is a complete number. Why not say instead to give ten gerah?
The Talmud Yerushalmi states that Moshe Rabbenu didn't know what Machatzis HaShekel is - so Hashem took out a fiery half shekel from under His Kisei Hakavod (Throne of Glory) and said “This is what you are going to give.” How is it that Moshe Rabbenu couldn't figure this out?
The explanation is that the Machatzis HaShekel was an atonement for the Cheit Ha'eigel (sin of
the Golden Calf). Moshe Rabbenu's question was how could a half shekel forgive the Cheit
Ha'eigel? Hashem showed Moshe Rabbenu that in the coin that a Jew gives there is fire – the
essence of the neshoma of a Jew which is carved out from under the Kisei Hakovod.
On a superficial level it appears as if we are forcing a Jew to give a half shekel but deep down he is doing it because his neshoma, which has a burning love for Hashem, wants to do that mitzvah.
This is why it is a half shekel. When a Jew knows that he is only half and his other half is Hashem and he unites himself with Hashem, the Jew's ten powers of the neshoma unite with the ten sefiros of Hashem and become one shekel - one being. The Jew removes himself from the sin of the avodah zarah of the eigel and he reveals his essence - the Yechidah - the part of
the neshoma that is one with Hashem. In the Yechidah of the neshama a sin never touched and from there forgiveness comes. This is hinted in the words ‘Machatzis HaShekel’. The word half reminds us that we are no more than a half, and we need the other half to become whole (a Shekel HaKodesh). When we realize we are only a half we are protected from avodah zarah.
The Maggid of Mezritch refers to this very union in the explanation of the word chatzosros, the trumpets, in the pasuk (Bamidbar 10:2) “Make for yourself two chatzosros”. The Rav HaMaggid derives two words, ‘chetzi tzuros, half forms’ from the word chatzosros. When the pasuk says that there are two it refers to Hashem and Knesses Yisroel. Both together comprise a complete tzurah-form.
This can be better understood by the statement in the Tanya (perek 2) that every Jewish person is an actual part of Hashem above. The neshama is not a separate entity from Hashem that connects and forms a union, rather it is inextricably one, an actual part of Hashem. This is the true meaning of Machatzis HaShekel. When the neshama of a Jew is awakened and revealed, the neshama feels incomplete, a half being, with an essential need to unify with his other half, with Hashem in a revealed way. Even if a Jew is forced to do a mitzvah and it appears to be a superficial act, the neshoma is burning with love for Hashem.
This is also true between one Jew and another. A Jew feels that he is only half and by connecting to another Jew he completes the shekel; this is the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel. The lesson for us is that even if a person is rich, whether spiritually or physically, he needs to know that he is only half, and even if one is poor, he should not feel that he is nothing; because the contribution of the rich cannot be complete without the contribution of the poor.
The lesson from Machtzis HaShekel is to feel in everything that we do that we are only a half. No matter how well we use our energies, even if it’s with all ten of our soul powers, it will always only add up to half at best. If not for HaKadosh Baruch Hu we are incapable (See Tanya perek 13). By realizing this we become complete in the service of Hashem.
This is also true in our connection to the Rebbe. There is a saying told in the name of the Tzemach Tzedek that the word מחצית shows that a person has to be connected to a Tzadik. There are five letters in the word מחצית. The צ is in the middle of the word and near it, on either side, are ח and י spelling חי (life) and on the outside of the word, are מ and ת, meaning the opposite of life. Hence, to be truly alive (and whole) one must be connected to the Tzadik.
By revealing our essential oneness with Hashem with the realization that through learning the Torah and doing mitzvos our ‘half’ is complete. The same is true for our connection to the Rebbe and so too with ahavas Yisroel. By being ‘kulanu k’echod’ may we merit immediately to the Barcheinu Avinu with the coming of Moshiach today.
A Good Shabbos
(Adapted from Likutei Sichos v. 3 p. 926 and v. 31 p. 132)