In this week’s parshah, the Torah describes the mechatzis hashekel, the half-shekel each person is required to donate toward the building of the Ohel Mo’ed. “The rich person shall give no more; and the poor person shall give no less than half a shekel,” the passuk states.
The Toldos Yitzchak writes that these words can be seen as guidance for all of us in our avodas Hashem. A truly wealthy person is someone who is rich in Torah learning and does many mitzvos. Such a person should take care not to credit himself or become arrogant at his achievements. As for the person who is poor in Torah and mitzvos, he should take care not to become despondent and should focus on the little he has done and can still do. Instead of seeing himself as pathetic and unworthy and reaching the conclusion that nothing he does is of any value, he should encourage himself to do whatever he can and remind himself that each and every good deed counts.
The word “shekel” refers to a measure of weight, and when it comes to learning Torah and doing mitzvos, we all need to remember that even the tiniest measure of good can tip the scales of the whole world to the side of merit.
This concept applies in many areas of life. It is common for people to think to themselves, “I’m anyway such a bad wife, so what difference does it make if I give my husband supper with a smile?” or, “I’m in any case a terrible father, so what’s the point of learning five minutes with my son when he needs so much more than that?”
All relationships can be improved by even a tiny move toward the positive, and no one should ever despair of fixing things. No one is so flawed (or so perfect) that the impact of their actions won’t be felt.
