From Rav Yissocher Frand
Concerning the Census of the half-shekel the Torah tells us “The wealthy should not give extra and the poor should not give less” (Shemos 30:15). Rav Yeruchem points out that there is an opinion among the enumerators of the commandments that this is one of the 365 negative prohibitions of the Torah.
It is understandable why the Torah must prohibit giving less than a half-shekel. We all know that when we are asked to give ‘X’ amount of dollars, we always have excuses to give less. However, there has probably never been a Building Campaign in the history of the Jewish people where there was a need to emphasize “The wealthy should not give more”. What kind of person is the Torah referring to here when specifying that he shouldn’t give too much?
Rav Yeruchem gives us an insight into human psychology. He says there is a yetzer horah for a wealthy individual to want to give more than his neighbor. Part of the yetzer horah of being rich is the attitude “It is not appropriate for me to be like everyone else.”
This is what I call the “First Class Syndrome”. Recently, I received a free upgrade from US Air. It was only good until January 15. I had never before flown first class, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I had a scheduled flight from Newark to Baltimore — all of forty minutes but I wanted to find out once and for all what goes on behind that curtain.
I was the only person there. As soon as I came in the stewardess asked me “Would you like a drink?”
Why would someone pay 20% more for a ticket just so the stewardess can offer him a drink before he has a chance to sit down? Does it make sense to pay $50 dollars more to save $3 on a cocktail?
The insight here is that some people sit in first class because “es’past nischt” (it’s beneath my dignity) for me to sit back there with the masses in economy class.
This attitude, says Rav Yeruchem, is what the Torah is addressing here — everyone will give the same amount. The wealthy person is confronted with a constant nisayon [test] of haughtiness. “How can I let this person, who has a tenth of what I have, give the same thing as me? I’m different. I’m better. I can’t just give a half shekel. I can’t just be equal.”
This is what the Torah is addressing. In building the Mishkan there is only one class. Everyone is the same. There is a yetzer horah against this. Some of us have it with money; others have it with where we sit or how we are treated. We all have it on different levels.
“I Should Get Revi'i?”
There is a famous story of a fellow who comes to shul and the gabbai wants to give him Chamishi. He tells the gabbai “where I come from, they give Chamishi to the ‘proste mentchen’ (coarse people)”. The gabbai responded, “that is our custom too.”
“The wealthy shall not give more” — that is the test the Torah is addressing.
From “Lev Sholom” vol. II, pg. 336, Drashos of Rav Sholom Shwadron, zt”l.
There is a famous peshat on this pasuk: The rich should not donate to a cause to such an extent that there is no room left for others to participate. In addition, the poor should not give less claiming that he doesn’t have; let the rich take care of it. A mitzvah should be divided equally among everyone. This way everyone is involved and not just a few individuals. Everyone should donate what he can for a mitzvah.
If, chas vechalila, the rich man grabs the whole mitzvah for himself, leaving no room for someone else to participate, then Heaven will rip the mitzvah away from him, as we see from the following story of Rav Yonason Eybeschutz, zt”l.
When Rav Yonason married, his father-in-law, a well-known philanthropist, gave him a dowry of 3000 ducats (gold coins) so that he could continue his studies undisturbed. Thus, Rav Yonason together with his chavrusa sat devoted to Torah day and night in purity and holiness.
However, as is well known, when holiness proliferates, the forces of tumah are in torment, and immediately come to wage war against the kedusha. And so it happened. Rav Yonason’s purity and holiness spread affecting all around him. So, the forces of tumah decided to build a church right next door to Rav Yonason’s Beis HaMedrash.
This decision understandably infuriated the students of the Beis HaMedrash. Seeing Rav Yonason’s aggravation, his chavrusa just couldn’t hold himself back. He became consumed in zealotry and decided to get up and do something about it! In the middle of the night, under the cover of darkness, he climbed up to the roof of the church and ripped out the giant cross that had been placed there.
However, the goyim were well aware that sooner or later the Jews would get angry and someone would get up and do something. Therefore, they hid lookouts on the roof of the church. When Rav Yonason’s chavrusa went up to the roof and broke the cross, he mysteriously disappeared.
Understandably the entire Jewish community started hunting, but no trace was to be found. There was no clue to where he had disappeared.
Thus, the search continued until one day the church guard came to one of the members of the Jewish city council and told him what had happened, how they had caught this Jew as he went onto the roof to break the cross. He related that he had already been tried by the church tribunal and had been sentenced to be burned at the stake.
The guard added that he was being kept in a secret place in the church and that he knew where he was. Therefore, he made the following proposal. He agreed to help him escape for the paltry sum of 3000 ducats, not one penny less!
When the town council heard the outrageous sum, they were taken aback, but they agreed they had to do everything possible to rescue a Jew from the goyim. Especially being that it involved a talmid chochom who had been sentenced to be burned at the stake. The town council immediately went around gathering donations to free him.
When word reached Rav Yonason he became very worried that the church would move his chavrusa or even execute him before the city collected such a large amount of money. He went home and took the entire dowry his father-in-law had given him, exactly 3000 ducats, and went straight to the guard and handed him the money. The guard kept his word and whisked his chavrusa out of the church to safety.
All this had taken place with the greatest secrecy; no one had any inkling what had happened. The city council continued to collect donations. When they came to Rav Yonason to give him the money they had managed to collect thus far, he told them that it wasn’t necessary any longer. He himself had given over the money. The prisoner had been released and freed. There was no longer any need for the collected funds.
Upon hearing this, the gabbaim tried to give Rav Yonason the money anyway. They claimed that he should at least take what they had collected, even though it was but a percentage of the total sum. “We, the members of the Jewish community, also want to have our portion in this great mitzvah of pidyon shavuyim!”
Rav Yonason, however, answered that he had already given what he had given and he didn’t want to take money from anyone else.
The gabbaim left the house dejected; they and the rest of the city had not been able to participate in this great mitzvah: the redemption of such a great talmid chochom. But the Rav had paskened and what else could they do?
After a while, Rav Yonason began to think what would happen when his wife found out that he had given away their entire dowry. Certainly, she would be very angry. He would not be able to pacify her; as is well known from the Gemara that you can’t calm someone down when they are angry.
What should he do? He decided to go away for a few days to give her enough time to find out that the money was gone and then calm down. Then, when he returned, he could appease her and explain the importance of the mitzvah of pidyon shavuyim and the reasons for his hurrying to pay the entire sum straight away not waiting for the city to collect it.
In the meanwhile, the priests discovered the escape and that the Jew who had been sentenced to death was gone. They quickly figured out who the culprit was who had arranged his escape and in their wrath, they decided to do to the guard what they had wanted to do to the Jew.
The guard, in the meanwhile, realized that the noose was quickly tightening around his neck; he decided that he had better hurry and make his getaway as quickly as possible. But being a veteran guard in the church for so many years he had, over time, managed to steal a considerable amount of money and gems from the church treasury. He didn’t know what he was going to do with such an amount of money. Such a weight would definitely slow down his getaway.
With a heavy heart, he went and collected his wealth, the money and precious stones, and the 3000 ducats he had just received and put them into a barrel. He went to Rav Yonason’s house and asked his wife, “Where is the rabbi?”
His wife answered that he would not be back for a few days. With no choice, and fearing for every second, the guard went and told her everything that had happened and that he had to quickly run for his life. “I am not prepared under any circumstances that the priests who want to kill me should get this money. No! No! I will not leave them anything!”
With this, he started showering down praises on the head of Rav Yonason. “I found such a courageous Jew, who was ready to give from his own private money 3000 ducats to save his friend! I am sure that he is an honest and straight fellow. Therefore, first of all, I am returning as a present the 3000 ducats that your husband gave me. Besides this, I am entrusting him to watch over all my other possessions in this barrel. If I return safely, certainly he will return it all to its rightful owner. But if I do not return, I prefer that all my money and valuables remain with a person of his caliber. He most certainly will know how to use it for good things.”
Thus, such a large fortune found its way into the house of Rav Yonason. The church guard went on his way and fled very far away. However, it didn’t take long for the news to reach the church elders and the priests sent a patrol to find him. They pursued him and finally captured him and immediately drowned him in the river.
Rav Yonason’s wife now knew the entire story. She understood that HaKadosh Baruch Hu had paid them for the good and noble deed her great husband had performed. Not
