When you count Bnei Yisroel, count them with half shekalim. This will keep them safe and make them whole, says our parsha.
R’ Dovid Shechter, the father of the tzaddik R’ Yaakov Meir Shechter, was at the Kosel. It was a Tuesday morning; he had the practice of walking to the Kosel every day.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a Yid rush towards the ancient stones and watched as he broke out into the most horrible cries from the depths of his soul.
The Yid was not stopping for an hour, two... more. R’ Dovid could not take it.
Approaching this broken shell of a man, he asked “What can I do to help?”
“In less than one week, I will marry off my daughter. I have been trying for many months to raise the money for the wedding expenses, but I haven’t raised nearly enough. I cannot feed my large family; we are poor beyond words. How can I face my wife and tell her I have failed? How can I face the kallah?”
He then fell against the large stones, crying even louder, and his cries pierced R’ Dovid’s heart.
“Come with me,” he said, and the two of them walked together down the streets of Meah Shearim.
R’ Dovid was also an extremely poor person. But in the corner of his tiny apartment, there was a small box with a significant sum that he had been saving up, little by little, for many years for his own daughter’s wedding. Without thinking, he gave the forlorn Yerushalmi every single shekel he had painstakingly saved.
Afterwards, as was his custom, R’ Dovid went to daven Mincha by R’ Shlomkele Zhviller, the miracle Rebbe of Yerushalayim. As soon as R’ Shlomkele saw his friend R’ Dovid walk through the door, he was intrigued by the glow emanating from his countenance.
“What great mitzvah did you do today? You must tell me!”
R’ Dovid Shechter was known for his modesty and humility and refused to divulge anything. The Rebbe insisted, but R’ Dovid demurred.
“I must know! Please tell me!” The Rebbe knew that R’ Dovid longed to be his chavrusa, but R’ Shlomkele had, for many years, put off his request.
“If you tell me the nature of your mitzvah, I will be your chavrusa for one hour each day.” R’ Dovid could not refuse this offer. After telling the Rebbe the nature of what he did, another distressed soul rushed in and threw himself on R’ Shlomkele. Pointing to R’ Dovid, the Rebbe said “It is his brocha you want, not mine! One who merits participating in such a mitzvah has the power to bless any Jew with whatever they need.”
Ki sisa es rosh Bnei Yisroel, when you raise up the emotional state of another Jew, through an offering of a shekel (tzedaka), your actions “count” in the Heavenly realm so much that you can make any Jew whole. All hearts will now look to yours for their blessing.
And so it was. R’ Dovid now had the power of giving brachos because of the great mitzvah he did! A mitzvah in the right time, with the right intention, can change worlds. In the tumultuous times we are going through, there are many opportunities for such mitzvos.
Although Hashem has blessed many of us with wealth, many of us struggle from month to month. Countless marriages are imperiled by the monetary challenges faced in these hyper-inflationary times. Many families have accumulated debt that appears to approach the insurmountable.
Matan beseser, paying off someone’s obligations to a gmach, a food store, or the like, can bring unbounded happiness. Those who have done this know what true joy feels like from the perspective of the giver.
If you’re an employer and you are successful, it’s a pashuter zach, an obvious reality, that you owe your success to your employees. Success, as most matzliachdikeh company owners will tell you, comes from being considerate, thoughtful, and generous to your faithful employees. Purim is coming up. Think this one through; do your employees deserve a bonus for Purim or just those causes to which you give publicly? Many times, those on a salary, or even commission-based, barely make ends meet. And this, after working night and day for your success.
A wise man once told me that there’s an extra maaleh, a real practical advantage, to being generous to your employees: they will work even harder for you!
May everyone in Klal Yisroel be successful, and may Hashem bring us all we need, hope for and deserve, in ruchnius and gashmius!
RABBI BENZION SNEH
