When delving deeper into the concept of Shalem VaChetzi we see it appears not only in the Tabernacle but in a wide variety of different contexts. Let us now examine some of these.
The Shalem VaChetzi relationship is seen in the first two words of the Torah, “In the beginning [God] created” (א ר ית ב ׁ אש ר ׁ ב); the first word has 6 letters, the second word has 3. As stated by the sages, “Everything follows the inception.” Thus, the concept of a whole and a half is encoded within the very fabric of the universe from the moment of its creation.
It is also reflected in the first two letters—yud and hei—of God’s essential Name, Havayah; the value of yud is 10, the value of hei is 5. These two letters are also considered a Name of God in their own right.
The last two words of the Shema, the cardinal statement of faith in Judaism are “Havayah is one” (ד ח הוה א־י). The value of Havayah (הוה־י) is 26, the value of “one” (ד ח א) is 13. Another example of a whole and a half. Thus, the absolute oneness of God is paradoxically a prime example of “a whole and a half.” As mentioned above, each individual Jew has autonomy and is unique, but in relation to God, who is the ultimate “whole,” we are all but a “half.” The phrase “God is one” illustrates this deep understanding, bringing it close to home.
The Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai consisted of two tablets with five commandments written on each one. The first five commandments are about the relationship between man and God, whereas the second set of five commandments are about the relationship between people. Thus, the relationship of each of the two tablets to the Ten Commandments is one of a whole and a half. From this we can learn that in Judaism the commandments between man and God and man and man are each one half of the whole picture. To truly reach a spiritual whole we must implement both sides of the equation, both tablets of the law.
Apart from the large vessels in the Tabernacle, there were also smaller instruments. Two of these were trumpets: “God spoke to Moses saying: Make yourself two silver trumpets; you shall make them [from a] beaten [form]; they shall use them to summon the congregation and to announce the movement of the camps.” These two silver trumpets were used by Moses during the forty years in the desert, but then hidden away. Other trumpets were made and used extensively in the Holy Temple. Whether in the desert or in the Temple, the trumpets were always blown together as a pair, while a shofar was always blown alone. In the Temple, the trumpets were often blown together with the shofar as stated in Psalms: “With trumpets and the sound of a shofar, raise your voices before the King, Havayah.”
This is an interesting and paradoxical example of Shalem VaChetzi, a 2:1 ratio, as the shofar is but one-half in relation to the two trumpets. Adding to this paradox is the Chasidic interpretation of the phrase “two trumpets” (ת רו צ צ י ח ת ש), which are read as “two half-forms” (ת רו י צו א צ י ח ת ש). This reading is based on the fact that the two trumpets were always sounded together – two instruments making one sound, thus each was considered but a half of the greater whole. The trumpets were similar to a couple who are comprised of two individuals yet form one unified entity or unit.
Shalem V'Chetzi and Time
Finally, we see that Shalem VaChetzi applies to time as well. In fact, the entire Jewish year is divided according to this paradigm. The first three months of the year, beginning in Nissan, represent an ascending energy of liberation, coming out of Egypt and receiving the Ten Commandments at Sinai. These three months are marked by Passover, Counting of the Omer, and Shavu’ot. Afterwards Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai receiving detailed explanations of the law. On the 17th of Tammuz, the fourth month of the year, he was to have returned with the two tablets of the law written by the “finger of God.” This would have been the climax of the entire process beginning with the Exodus from Egypt. 17 is the value the Hebrew word for “good” (ב טו), and thus this day was to be the high point of Godly revelation.
Instead, Moses returned to the people and found them worshipping the Golden Calf, precipitating a complete change in the energy of the year to repentance and return to God (teshuvah) and rectification (tikkun). This energy is still engraved in the year: the first four months are marked by spiritual ascent followed by eight months of repentance and repair. Seen in this manner, the year manifests the model of a whole and a half, but with the “half ”—the first four months of the year—preceding the “whole”—the following eight months.
