The verse in Parshas Ki Sisa describes the mitzva for every Jew to give a half-shekel coin to the Bais Hamikdsash. This Torah portion is also read on the Shabbos before Rosh Chodesh Adar, known as Parshas Shekalim, as a special additional reading. The reason we read it before the month of Adar is that in the time of the Beis Hamikdash they would collect the half-shekel from every adult male Jew starting in the month of Adar, in preparation for the month of Nisan.
Part 1
“This is what they shall give - all those who pass through the census - a half-shekel of the shekel which is used for the holy Beis Hamikdash; the whole shekel is twenty Gaira, and half of that shekel, which equals ten gaira, must be given as a donation to Hashem.” (Shemos 30, 13)
The Jewish People were being counted by Hashem to bring out how precious each individual Jew is. Hashem said that the way to count them is not by counting each person directly, but by having the head of each household (or future head of a household), which is every man over twenty years old, give a half-shekel coin. By counting the coins, the total number of Jewish households will be counted.
This applies only in the time when the Beis Hamikdash exists, but the custom is to give half coins before or during Purim as a commemoration of this Mitzvah.
However, there are several questions on the verse that require explanation:
- Why did Hashem command us to give only a half-shekel and not a whole shekel?
- It says two verses later (Shemos 30, 15) that, "The rich person may not give more and the poor person may not give less than a half-shekel." Why is everyone obligated to give the same amount and not according to how much he desires (and just count the number of people who donated, regardless of how much they donated). We find with regard to the donation to the Mishkan, that each person gave according to how much their heart moved them to give [(as described at the beginning of Parshas Teruma (Shemos 25, 2)], so why, by this donation, did they all need to give the same amount?
- The verse use the words, “כָּּל הָּע ו בֵר-whoever passes עַל הַפְּק וּ דִּ ים-through the census,” which could also mean: “כָּּל הָּע ו בֵר-all those who transgress עַל הַפְּקוּ דִּ ים-against the commandments.” Why did it use an expression that could have a negative implication to command this counting process?
To explain all of this according to the teachings of Chassidus, and to understand how this is relevant to each one of us in the service of Hashem, we first have to explain the following verse:
It is written (Mishlei 31, 23): “Her ‘husband’ is known at the gates” - this means that Hashem is the “husband” of every Jewish soul, in the sense that He gives an intimate awareness of Himself to each one of us.
This poetic song which we say before the Friday night Kiddush starting with the words “אשת חיל -A woman of valor” was written by King Shlomo to be understood on many levels, especially: 1- the Jewish woman; 2- the Jewish soul (of every Jew, even of men); 3- the Shechina (Divine Presence). The “Husband” of this “woman of valor” is thus either 1- a Jewish woman’s husband; 2- Hashem, who is the “husband” of every Jewish soul; 3- a level of Hashem’s revelation expressing how Hashem is totally beyond all the worlds, this level being the “husband” of the level of Hashem’s revelation that permeates the world, the Shechina.
This intimate awareness of Himself that He gives to us is expressed in the fact that all of the love and fear of Hashem that is experienced in every Jewish soul all come from Hashem.
What does it mean that our awareness of Hashem is “at the gates”?
The Alter Rebbe gives two explanations:
- The word בַּש ְּעָּרִּ ים comes from the word “ש ִּיעוּרִּ ים-measurements.” So, depending on the “measure” of each person’s intellect and emotions, is how we will experience our awareness of Hashem.
- The “gates” referred to here are a metaphor for our Divine service. We need to “enter” into the service of Hashem through prayer, Torah study, and Mitzvos, and according to how much we have “entered” those “gates” of Divine service, that is how much we will experience an awareness of Hashem.
The “four gates” of Divine service are: 1 - a love of Hashem; 2 - fear of Hashem; 3 - Torah study; and 4 - Mitzvah performance, which, as is known, these four aspects correspond to the four letters of Hashem’s name Havaya.
The name of Hashem that has four letters ה -ו-ה-י is referred to as Havaya. The four aspects of love, fear, Torah, and Mitzvos correspond to the four letters of His Name as follows: 1-Fear of Hashem corresponds to the letter י' since the person contracts himself and his ego before Hashem to be like a dot; 2- Love of Hashem corresponds to the first letter ה' that has expansion of length and width, like a person who feels expansive and alive when they experience love for Hashem; 3- Torah study corresponds to the letter ו' which is like a hook that connects two things, so too Torah study brings down Hashem's revelation into this world; 4- Mitzvah performance is like the second letter ה', since through mitzvos Hashem's presence becomes fully and expansively expressed in the physical world, permeating the whole physical world.
Free Will and Divine Revelation
We need to understand this: If all of the love and fear of Him is from Hashem’s revelation to us (which is why He is our “husband”), then in what aspect does a person have free choice to choose to love and fear Him, since it depends entirely on how much Hashem wants to reveal Himself to us?
It says (Berachos 33b and many other places): "Everything is in the hands of Heaven (Hashem) except for the fear of Heaven (Hashem)." Meaning that the only real choices that we are fully in control of, are how much we choose to fear (and love) Hashem. So how can we say that Hashem, Who is the "husband" of every Jewish soul, just comes and makes Himself known to us, and all we have to do is receive it? If the whole choice we have in life is whether we will come to fear Hashem, that means that we choose to awaken in ourselves a fear of Hashem which moves us to serve Him. If even that fear of Hashem is only in Hashem's control, that would mean that we have no choice and no control over anything in our lives. This certainly cannot be so, since our free will to serve Hashem is a fundamental principle of the entire Torah?!
There is certainly an aspect of this that is dependent on a person's choice. We, therefore, need to understand what is dependent on a person’s choice to fear and love Hashem and what aspect comes as a revelation from Above?
It is written in the Shema prayer (Devarim 6:4-5): “Hear Yisroel, Hashem, who is our G-d, Hashem is One. And you will love Hashem your G-d with all your heart, soul, and might.”
The Two Types of Love
Now, the word “וְאָּהַבְתָּּ -and you will love” has two explanations:
- One explanation is that it is a commandment, that you must come to love Him.
- Another explanation is that it is a prediction of the future, that the love of Hashem will certainly come by itself.
The idea of the first type of love, which is a commandment, is a result of contemplation of Hashem’s True Unity. Meaning that a person needs to understand in his mind the Unity of Hashem in the seven heavens and the four directions.
The idea of Hashem’s Unity in the “seven heavens and the four directions,” means that all spiritual levels and aspects (represented by the “7” heavens), and all of physical existence (represented by the four physical directions) is all included in Hashem’s Truth, as the Alter Rebbe will continue to explain.
The verse which commands us to love Hashem –וְאָהַבְתָ -- comes right after the last word of the previous verse that says that Hashem is One- אֶחָד , implying that the way to come to love Hashem is by contemplating on the Oneness of Hashem. In Hebrew, the word אחד which means ‘one,’ is comprised of three letters א ,ח ,ד. The numerical value of the letter א is one, meaning that Hashem is one, the numerical of value ח is 8, meaning that in the 7 heavens (meaning all the levels of the physical heavens, and all the levels of the spiritual worlds) and in the 1 earth (which together add up to 8) Hashem is one, and the numerical value of ד is 4, meaning that in the 4 directions of the world (everywhere in the physical world) Hashem is one; thus the word אחד shows Hashem’s unity the way it is expressed in the world (both the physical and spiritual aspects of the world).
Hashem’s Unity and the Creation of the World
Furthermore, as the verse says, (Malachi 3:6) “I, Hashem, have not changed,” meaning that there is no change in Hashem’s Unity caused by the creation of the world. Just like before the world was created Hashem was the only existence, so, too, now, He is literally the only real existence, because all of the worlds are totally nullified to Him, as is known.
Since the world is nothing separate from Him and has no independent existence, Hashem is still the only “real” existence.
How do we understand that the world is nullified to Hashem and has no independent existence?
To explain this concept, the Alter Rebbe will begin by mentioning a verse in Tehillim that is explained at length in his work, Shaar Hayichud Vehaemuna, the second part of the Tanya, which describes Hashem’s True Unity:
The verse in Tehillim says (84:12): “For Hashem’s Names of Havaya (revelation) and Elokim (concealment) are like the sun and its shield.”
In short, this means as follows:
The sun is the source of the light and energy of everything on this planet. However, if it would shine directly onto us as brightly and intensely as it really is, then it would burn up everything in this world. That is why Hashem created a "shield," which is a filter around the sun, allowing only the exact amount of light and energy from the sun that we can benefit from, to pass through it and reach us.
So too, everything in the world is constantly being created by Hashem’s creative power, referred to by the Name of Havaya, that expresses the infinite creative and revelatory power of Hashem. However, if we were to see the Divine energy that is invested in us and is constantly creating us, then we would be so aware of Hashem that we would lose our free will and be unable to choose to serve Him. Were we to see that everything is a part of Hashem, an expression of His creative power, and that nothing is separate from Him, it would be impossible to sin. Without the possibility of sin, there is, obviously, no free choice. It is for this reason that He created a “shield,” meaning a filter, to filter the creative power of Havaya, thereby allowing us to receive existence from Hashem without allowing an overwhelming awareness of His creative power to enter our consciousness.
And even though the worlds appear to us as having their own independent existence, this is completely untrue, because (as it says in Tehillim 33:6): “With the words of Hashem the heavens were created, and by the ‘breath of His mouth’ all their hosts were created.”
Since heaven and earth and everything in them is being created by Hashem's words, there is really nothing separate from Him at all.
The Analogy of Speech and Thought
Now, the Alter Rebbe will elaborate on the analogy of comparing the creative power invested in constant creation to the idea of words being spoken by a person:
The verse states (Iyov 19:26): “From my flesh (i.e. my body) I can understand an analogy to see the truth of G-dliness.”
Like with a person, when he begins thinking about something his thoughts are completely united with him, without any separation from him at all, and afterward, when his thoughts are expressed in speech, they become separated from him.
So too, all the worlds, before they were created by Hashem’s “words” as something seemingly separate from Hashem Himself, were completely unified with Hashem in His “thoughts,” This is similar to how a person’s speech is completely nullified and unified with him when it is still included in his thoughts.
We see how speech is nullified to thought in the following idea: Just like speech is insignificant compared to thought, since in one moment a person can think things that would take a relatively endless amount of time to explain in speech. A great sage can review in his mind in five minutes what would take him many hours to explain in a speech to other people.
We see from this that speech is an incomparably lower level of existence than thought, since thousands of words of speech exist as one in a relatively short amount of thought.
So too, all of the worlds which are being created from just one “word” of Hashem, And this “word” of creation is drawn forth from His “Wisdom” through an intense process of limitation, bringing it down to an incomparably lower level, just like speech is drawn down from deep thought through an intense process of limitation.
There is a famous story of the Rebbe Rashab regarding this idea. One time he was sitting on a couch thinking over an idea and he was so involved in it that he lost track of time and where he was. After several hours of a trance-like contemplation he finally "woke up" and asked his son (the Frierdike Rebbe) what day it was, what the time was, and what city they were in. He later explained that he was thinking over the ideas that would be expressed in his famous series of maamarim from 5672-5676 spanning over 144 maamarim, which is over 1500 pages long in print form. Thus, in several hours he thought through ideas that would take hundreds of hours in written and verbal form to express. See Hisvaaduyos 5744 vol. 2, page 1374.
Hashem’s Words as Lightning
As it is written (Zecharya 9:14): “And Hashem will appear over them (the enemies of the Jewish People), and His “arrow” will go forth like lightning.”
The verse is describing how Hashem will fight for the Jewish People against their enemies. It describes Hashem sending into the enemies His “arrow” like a lightning bolt. The Targum (authoritative Aramaic translation) translates, “וּצִּח-His arrows” as “פִּּתְגָּמ ו הִּי-His words,” meaning that Hashem’s words go forth to destroy the enemies like arrows. These “words” of Hashem are being compared in the verse to “lightning bolts.”
Just like with a flash of lightning, where the energy contained in the clouds suddenly becomes condensed into a specific expression of energy visible on earth, so, too, with us when we see that Hashem’s words created a world that appears separate from Him, this is a very condensed and limited expression of the way these words existed in Hashem’s thought and were totally united with Him.
And like we say in the daily prayers (Yotzer Or): “And in His goodness, He renews every day the work of creation.”
We see that this process of the creation of the worlds by bringing them down from the level of Hashem's thoughts, which are united with Him, to the level of Hashem's speech, which seems separate from Him, happens constantly every day from new.
And even after the worlds were created, from Hashem’s perspective, His creative “words” are not separated from Himself, G-d forbid, since “there is no existence outside of Hashem.” Hashem is the ultimate True Existence, and everything exists inside of Him.
Imagine a person is alone in a room by himself with his thoughts. Even though his thoughts are also in the room, the person is really alone, since his thoughts are all part of him. This is especially true regarding his thoughts that are still part of his...
