Partzuf The Four Parashot Shekalim Zachor Parah and HaChodesh
Wonders | March 05, 2025
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Partzuf The Four Parashot Shekalim Zachor Parah and HaChodesh

Wonders | June 27, 2025

WHAT ARE THE FOUR PARASHOT

The sages established the custom known as the Four Parashiyot: When the New Moon of Adar occurs on Shabbat, parashat Shekalim is read. If it occurs on a weekday, Shekalim is read earlier [on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh].... On the second Shabbat [of Adar, the Shabbat prior to Purim] parashat Zachor is read. On the third, Parah Adumah. On the fourth, “Hachodesh [this month, i.e., Nissan] shall be for you [the first month.]”

The four special parshiyot that we read in Adar have are all directed at the same one topic: the redemption from Egypt The redemption from Egypt is the forerunner to the final redemption, the one that we are now nearing, as the sages say, “In Nissan they were redeemed [from Egypt] and in Nissan they will be redeemed [in the future].” We will return to this statement towards the end of the article.

The four parashot correspond to the four letters of Havayah, from below to above. The straightforward analogy is that Shekalim describes bringing a donation to the Temple from which all the public-owned sacrifices for the entire year are purchased. These sacrifices include most importantly the daily Tamid sacrifice, which served as atonement for all sins. The Shekalim were thus an atonement and the final hei of Havayah, is the lower form of teshuvah, as well as the act of donating to charity itself which is associated with the World of Action, which corresponds to the final hei.

The next parashah is Zachor—“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way out of Egypt.” Amalek acted to blemish our covenant with God, to disconnect us from our newly forged bond with Him. The covenant in Kabbalah is associated with the sefirah of foundation, which is one of the sefirot included in the vav of Havayah. The root of foundation is found in the sefirah of knowledge, which is like the key that opens all six sefirot included in the vav (whose value is 6) of Havayah. This relationship of Amalek to both the beginning of the vav—the sefirah of knowledge—and to its end—the sefirah of foundation is alluded to in the verse, “Amalek is the head of nations, but its end is to perish forever” (...), where Amalek is described as both the head (knowledge) and the end (foundation) of the nations (...), alluding to the seven Canaanite nations, which correspond to the “body” (...), the exterior dimension of the seven emotive faculties. The annihilation of Amalek thus represents the rectification of the interior dimension, the essence of the emotional faculties, from knowledge to foundation, all corresponding to the vav of Havayah and the World of Formation.

Parashat Parah, the third parshiyah and its topic is purification from ritual defilement. To prepare the ashes needed to enact the purification, a female red heifer was used. For all other communal sacrifices, only male animals were used, but here we find the exception of a female red heifer. To explain the irregularity, the sages offer the following analogy, “It is analogous to the son of a maidservant who defecated in the king’s palace. The king said: the mother should come and clean the excrement of her son.” The mother of course alludes to the Mother Principle (...), or the sefirah of understanding, which corresponds to the first hei of Havayah and to the World of Creation. Generally speaking, purification (...) corresponds to understanding (and holiness, קדושה, corresponds to wisdom). One of the verses alluding to this correspondence is, “Who will give purity from that which is defiled” (...). The word “who” usually refers to the sefirah of understanding, which has 50 Gates (of Understanding), and the value of “who” (...) is 50. Thus it is the power of the question “who,” the mother principle, that can purify that which is defiled.

Finally, the fourth parashah, HaChodesh, which relates the laws regarding the sanctification of the new moon (particularly, the new moon of Nissan, the first month in the lunar calendar). Unlike the sun and the earth, which do not renew, the moon renews itself every month. At the end of the month, the moon disappears for view for over 24 hours and when it reappears, it is as if it has been born again. Thus, the new moon is the secret of renewal in general, and Jewish renewal in particular, since the Jewish calendar is based on the lunar cycle. A Jew has a steadfast belief in the possibility of renewal. In terms of the sefirot, this power of renewal comes through the sefirah of wisdom, or the father principle (...). In the Torah, the month of Nissan—the month of renewal—is referred to explicitly as the month of Aviv (...), which literally means the spring, but whose first two letters (...) spell the word for “father” (...), like the father principle. God too loves the Jewish people because they are likened to a youth, because they are full of youthful vigor, “Israel is a youth and I love him, from Egypt I have called upon my son” (...).

Another important point about this correspondence is that the third and fourth parashot—Parah and HaChodesh—are always read on adjacent weeks, following the well-known principle that the yud and hei of Havayah, corresponding to wisdom and understanding, are like two companions that never part. However, there can be a gap of one week between the second parashah, Zachor, and the third and fourth. Likewise, there can be a gap of a week between the first parashah, Shekalim, and the second parashah, Zachor, again reflecting the notion that there is a type of gap between the first two letters—yud and hei—and the final two letters—vav and hei—and there is a gap between the third and fourth letters, a gap that is especially pronounced when we consider the Worlds that the letters yud-hei-vav and hei correspond to—Emanation-Creation-Formation and Action, as reflected in the verse, “All that is in My Name and honor [Emanation], I have created it, I have formed it, even I have made it” (...).

In summary, the first correspondence, and the most straightforward correspondence of the four parashot to the four letters of Havayah is as follows:

letter of HavayahWorldparashiyahtopicyudEmanationHaChodeshrenewalheiCreationParahpurificationvavFormationZachorrectifying Amalek, the head and end of all 7 nationsheiActionShekalimdonation/charity

Now, even though the order we presented is the most natural one to follow, if we spend some time thinking about it, we can determine that there is another correspondence that can be made. To see this alternate correspondence, let us look at the last parashah, HaChodesh. Given that it speaks about the commandment to sanctify the New Moon (not just to designate Nissan as the first month of the lunar year), we might argue that it should correspond to the last letter of Havayah, the second hei that corresponds to kingdom, since the moon corresponds to kingdom. Moreover, the first day of Nissan is designated as the New Year of Kings. This is a very clear connection and we might be tempted to simply continue up the letters of Havayah.

However, where this alternate correspondence appears, it is built somewhat differently: Shekalim, which we said is about an act of charity, corresponds to loving-kindness; Zachor, which is about annihilating Amalek, corresponds to might; the Parah, the Red Heiffer corresponds to beauty (tiferet) since we are required to, “bring a red heifer that is entirely without blemish, in which there is no defect...,” i.e., a cow that is beautiful in its exterior and its interior. Being perfect and without defect is the special quality of Jacob—the archetypal soul of beauty—whom the Torah describes as a “sincere [perfect] man, dwelling in tents.”

loving-kindness-chessedShekalimmight-gevurahZachorbeauty-tiferetParahkingdom-malchutHaChodesh

Now we have two “competing” models of the four parashot. How can we uphold both simultaneously? There is a principle in Kabbalah (which can be ported to anywhere that two models or more are competing, and both seem to be true), that the way to unify two competing models is to identify one as a subset of the other. In other words, one of the models is seen as a more general, inclusive model and the other is seen as more particular.

In our case, we follow the convention that the Worlds are a more general model than the specific sefirot. In addition, with the Worlds model, we saw that the four parashot go in the order of from below to above, and this is the more general approach when serving God—ascending from below to above.

When we follow this approach, we find that in the World of Action, the hei of Havayah, which corresponds to Shekalim, the particular sefirah that Shekalim corresponds to is loving-kindness (as in the second, more particular correspondence). In the World of Formation, the vav of Havayah, which corresponds to Zachor, the particular sefirah to which Zachor corresponds is might. Next, Parah will be in the beauty of the World of Creation, and finally HaChodesh will correspond to the kingdom of the World of Emanation.

Our final composite model will look like this:

letter of HavayahWorldsefirahparashiyahtopicyudEmanationkingdomHaChodeshrenewalheiCreationbeautyParahpurificationvavFormationmightZachorrectifying Amalek, the head and end of all 7 nationsheiActionloving-kindnessShekalimdonation/charity

THE FOUR PARASHOT, REDEMPTION, AND PURIM

On the verse, “Who is she who appears like the dawn” (...), there is a well-known story about Rabbi Chiyah and Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta who were walking in the Arbel valley in the early morning and saw the dawn breaking. The one said to the other, “So too the redemption of Israel will appear, first little by little; as it progresses it will appear more and more clearly.” In Midrash Rabbah on this verse, we find a more complete four-stage description of the redemption: “Initially it will come little by little, then it will sparkle on and on, then it will propagate more and more, then it will moisten more and more” (...). These four stages of the redemption correspond to the Four Parashot and how they lead up to the redemption from Egypt that we commemorate in Nissan (and ultimately to the true and complete redemption by the Mashiach).

Shekalim, which we associated with charity, collects little by little, as the sages say, “each and every penny [given to charity] combines to form a great sum.” We stimulate this through our gifts to the poor on Purim.

Zachor corresponds to the “sparkle” (...), which is cognate with “spark” (...) referring to the sparks of holiness that fell from the shattered kings of the World of Chaos, whose root is in the sefirah of knowledge of that world, the root of Amalek. The kings shattered because they were antagonistic to one another. We rectify this through our sending of food to one another on Purim.

Parah means heifer, but it also means “reproduction.” This is the actual description found in the third stage of redemption according to this midrash (...). There is a holy Name associated with reproduction, אלד (whose value is the same as “Jew,” ...). We stimulate this stage through our Se’udat Purim, which is known as Puria (...), with all the meanings associated with this word.

Finally, HaChodesh, which corresponds to wisdom represents renewal itself and is known as the wellspring of the infinite (...), and a wellspring constantly moistens the earth around it, making it fertile, lush, and green. The wellspring of the infinite is found within the Torah, and on Purim we stimulate this stage of the redemption through the commandment to read the Scroll of Esther in the evening and in the day.

(based on a shiur given on 22 Adar 5751 and on Sod HaShem LiYerei’av, pp. 556-7)

Notes:

  1. Mishnah Megillah 3:4.
  2. See Tanya, Iggeret HaTeshuvah for the two types of teshuvah, lower and higher. Lower teshuvah is out of a feeling of fear of God, higher teshuvah is performed because of a love of God.
  3. Bamidbar Rabbah 19:8. The son in the analogy represents the Golden Calf, which was the most ritually defiling sin committed by the Israelites. The logic behind the analogy is that the “mother,” i.e., the cause of the defiling act—the son—is one’s thought (which also corresponds to the first hei of Havayah, the sefirah of understanding, and the World of Creation). By purifying one’s thought, one can rectify one’s actions. In addition, we may note that the mother represents teshuvah, which has the power to cleanse.
  4. Hosea 11:1.
  5. Isaiah 43:7.
  6. See in length in Derech Mitzvotecha, Kiddush HaChodesh.
  7. Mishnah Rosh HaShanah 1:1.
  8. Numbers 19:2.
  9. Genesis 25:27. The words for “entirely without blemish” (...) and “perfect” (...) stem from the same root, in Hebrew. Note also the connection between the red heifer that comes to purify, “a man should he die in a tent,” and Jacob was “dwelling in tents,” the tents of Torah, about which the sages say (Gittin 57b), “The words of the Torah endure only for one who kills himself over them, as it is stated, ‘This is the Torah, when a man dies in a tent.’”
  10. Song of Songs 6:10.
  11. Bava Batra 9b.
  12. Megillah 7b.

WHAT ARE THE FOUR PARASHOT

The sages established the custom known as the Four Parashiyot: When the New Moon of Adar occurs on Shabbat, parashat Shekalim is read. If it occurs on a weekday, Shekalim is read earlier [on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh].... On the second Shabbat [of Adar, the Shabbat prior to Purim] parashat Zachor is read. On the third, Parah Adumah. On the fourth, “Hachodesh [this month, i.e., Nissan] shall be for you [the first month.]”

The four special parshiyot that we read in Adar have are all directed at the same one topic: the redemption from Egypt The redemption from Egypt is the forerunner to the final redemption, the one that we are now nearing, as the sages say, “In Nissan they were redeemed [from Egypt] and in Nissan they will be redeemed [in the future].” We will return to this statement towards the end of the article.

The four parashot correspond to the four letters of Havayah, from below to above. The straightforward analogy is that Shekalim describes bringing a donation to the Temple from which all the public-owned sacrifices for the entire year are purchased. These sacrifices include most importantly the daily Tamid sacrifice, which served as atonement for all sins. The Shekalim were thus an atonement and the final hei of Havayah, is the lower form of teshuvah, as well as the act of donating to charity itself which is associated with the World of Action, which corresponds to the final hei.

The next parashah is Zachor—“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way out of Egypt.” Amalek acted to blemish our covenant with God, to disconnect us from our newly forged bond with Him. The covenant in Kabbalah is associated with the sefirah of foundation, which is one of the sefirot included in the vav of Havayah. The root of foundation is found in the sefirah of knowledge, which is like the key that opens all six sefirot included in the vav (whose value is 6) of Havayah. This relationship of Amalek to both the beginning of the vav—the sefirah of knowledge—and to its end—the sefirah of foundation is alluded to in the verse, “Amalek is the head of nations, but its end is to perish forever” (...), where Amalek is described as both the head (knowledge) and the end (foundation) of the nations (...), alluding to the seven Canaanite nations, which correspond to the “body” (...), the exterior dimension of the seven emotive faculties. The annihilation of Amalek thus represents the rectification of the interior dimension, the essence of the emotional faculties, from knowledge to foundation, all corresponding to the vav of Havayah and the World of Formation.

Parashat Parah, the third parshiyah and its topic is purification from ritual defilement. To prepare the ashes needed to enact the purification, a female red heifer was used. For all other communal sacrifices, only male animals were used, but here we find the exception of a female red heifer. To explain the irregularity, the sages offer the following analogy, “It is analogous to the son of a maidservant who defecated in the king’s palace. The king said: the mother should come and clean the excrement of her son.” The mother of course alludes to the Mother Principle (...), or the sefirah of understanding, which corresponds to the first hei of Havayah and to the World of Creation. Generally speaking, purification (...) corresponds to understanding (and holiness, קדושה, corresponds to wisdom). One of the verses alluding to this correspondence is, “Who will give purity from that which is defiled” (...). The word “who” usually refers to the sefirah of understanding, which has 50 Gates (of Understanding), and the value of “who” (...) is 50. Thus it is the power of the question “who,” the mother principle, that can purify that which is defiled.

Finally, the fourth parashah, HaChodesh, which relates the laws regarding the sanctification of the new moon (particularly, the new moon of Nissan, the first month in the lunar calendar). Unlike the sun and the earth, which do not renew, the moon renews itself every month. At the end of the month, the moon disappears for view for over 24 hours and when it reappears, it is as if it has been born again. Thus, the new moon is the secret of renewal in general, and Jewish renewal in particular, since the Jewish calendar is based on the lunar cycle. A Jew has a steadfast belief in the possibility of renewal. In terms of the sefirot, this power of renewal comes through the sefirah of wisdom, or the father principle (...). In the Torah, the month of Nissan—the month of renewal—is referred to explicitly as the month of Aviv (...), which literally means the spring, but whose first two letters (...) spell the word for “father” (...), like the father principle. God too loves the Jewish people because they are likened to a youth, because they are full of youthful vigor, “Israel is a youth and I love him, from Egypt I have called upon my son” (...).

Another important point about this correspondence is that the third and fourth parashot—Parah and HaChodesh—are always read on adjacent weeks, following the well-known principle that the yud and hei of Havayah, corresponding to wisdom and understanding, are like two companions that never part. However, there can be a gap of one week between the second parashah, Zachor, and the third and fourth. Likewise, there can be a gap of a week between the first parashah, Shekalim, and the second parashah, Zachor, again reflecting the notion that there is a type of gap between the first two letters—yud and hei—and the final two letters—vav and hei—and there is a gap between the third and fourth letters, a gap that is especially pronounced when we consider the Worlds that the letters yud-hei-vav and hei correspond to—Emanation-Creation-Formation and Action, as reflected in the verse, “All that is in My Name and honor [Emanation], I have created it, I have formed it, even I have made it” (...).

In summary, the first correspondence, and the most straightforward correspondence of the four parashot to the four letters of Havayah is as follows:

letter of HavayahWorldparashiyahtopicyudEmanationHaChodeshrenewalheiCreationParahpurificationvavFormationZachorrectifying Amalek, the head and end of all 7 nationsheiActionShekalimdonation/charity

Now, even though the order we presented is the most natural one to follow, if we spend some time thinking about it, we can determine that there is another correspondence that can be made. To see this alternate correspondence, let us look at the last parashah, HaChodesh. Given that it speaks about the commandment to sanctify the New Moon (not just to designate Nissan as the first month of the lunar year), we might argue that it should correspond to the last letter of Havayah, the second hei that corresponds to kingdom, since the moon corresponds to kingdom. Moreover, the first day of Nissan is designated as the New Year of Kings. This is a very clear connection and we might be tempted to simply continue up the letters of Havayah.

However, where this alternate correspondence appears, it is built somewhat differently: Shekalim, which we said is about an act of charity, corresponds to loving-kindness; Zachor, which is about annihilating Amalek, corresponds to might; the Parah, the Red Heiffer corresponds to beauty (tiferet) since we are required to, “bring a red heifer that is entirely without blemish, in which there is no defect...,” i.e., a cow that is beautiful in its exterior and its interior. Being perfect and without defect is the special quality of Jacob—the archetypal soul of beauty—whom the Torah describes as a “sincere [perfect] man, dwelling in tents.”

loving-kindness-chessedShekalimmight-gevurahZachorbeauty-tiferetParahkingdom-malchutHaChodesh

Now we have two “competing” models of the four parashot. How can we uphold both simultaneously? There is a principle in Kabbalah (which can be ported to anywhere that two models or more are competing, and both seem to be true), that the way to unify two competing models is to identify one as a subset of the other. In other words, one of the models is seen as a more general, inclusive model and the other is seen as more particular.

In our case, we follow the convention that the Worlds are a more general model than the specific sefirot. In addition, with the Worlds model, we saw that the four parashot go in the order of from below to above, and this is the more general approach when serving God—ascending from below to above.

When we follow this approach, we find that in the World of Action, the hei of Havayah, which corresponds to Shekalim, the particular sefirah that Shekalim corresponds to is loving-kindness (as in the second, more particular correspondence). In the World of Formation, the vav of Havayah, which corresponds to Zachor, the particular sefirah to which Zachor corresponds is might. Next, Parah will be in the beauty of the World of Creation, and finally HaChodesh will correspond to the kingdom of the World of Emanation.

Our final composite model will look like this:

letter of HavayahWorldsefirahparashiyahtopicyudEmanationkingdomHaChodeshrenewalheiCreationbeautyParahpurificationvavFormationmightZachorrectifying Amalek, the head and end of all 7 nationsheiActionloving-kindnessShekalimdonation/charity

THE FOUR PARASHOT, REDEMPTION, AND PURIM

On the verse, “Who is she who appears like the dawn” (...), there is a well-known story about Rabbi Chiyah and Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta who were walking in the Arbel valley in the early morning and saw the dawn breaking. The one said to the other, “So too the redemption of Israel will appear, first little by little; as it progresses it will appear more and more clearly.” In Midrash Rabbah on this verse, we find a more complete four-stage description of the redemption: “Initially it will come little by little, then it will sparkle on and on, then it will propagate more and more, then it will moisten more and more” (...). These four stages of the redemption correspond to the Four Parashot and how they lead up to the redemption from Egypt that we commemorate in Nissan (and ultimately to the true and complete redemption by the Mashiach).

Shekalim, which we associated with charity, collects little by little, as the sages say, “each and every penny [given to charity] combines to form a great sum.” We stimulate this through our gifts to the poor on Purim.

Zachor corresponds to the “sparkle” (...), which is cognate with “spark” (...) referring to the sparks of holiness that fell from the shattered kings of the World of Chaos, whose root is in the sefirah of knowledge of that world, the root of Amalek. The kings shattered because they were antagonistic to one another. We rectify this through our sending of food to one another on Purim.

Parah means heifer, but it also means “reproduction.” This is the actual description found in the third stage of redemption according to this midrash (...). There is a holy Name associated with reproduction, אלד (whose value is the same as “Jew,” ...). We stimulate this stage through our Se’udat Purim, which is known as Puria (...), with all the meanings associated with this word.

Finally, HaChodesh, which corresponds to wisdom represents renewal itself and is known as the wellspring of the infinite (...), and a wellspring constantly moistens the earth around it, making it fertile, lush, and green. The wellspring of the infinite is found within the Torah, and on Purim we stimulate this stage of the redemption through the commandment to read the Scroll of Esther in the evening and in the day.

(based on a shiur given on 22 Adar 5751 and on Sod HaShem LiYerei’av, pp. 556-7)

Notes:

  1. Mishnah Megillah 3:4.
  2. See Tanya, Iggeret HaTeshuvah for the two types of teshuvah, lower and higher. Lower teshuvah is out of a feeling of fear of God, higher teshuvah is performed because of a love of God.
  3. Bamidbar Rabbah 19:8. The son in the analogy represents the Golden Calf, which was the most ritually defiling sin committed by the Israelites. The logic behind the analogy is that the “mother,” i.e., the cause of the defiling act—the son—is one’s thought (which also corresponds to the first hei of Havayah, the sefirah of understanding, and the World of Creation). By purifying one’s thought, one can rectify one’s actions. In addition, we may note that the mother represents teshuvah, which has the power to cleanse.
  4. Hosea 11:1.
  5. Isaiah 43:7.
  6. See in length in Derech Mitzvotecha, Kiddush HaChodesh.
  7. Mishnah Rosh HaShanah 1:1.
  8. Numbers 19:2.
  9. Genesis 25:27. The words for “entirely without blemish” (...) and “perfect” (...) stem from the same root, in Hebrew. Note also the connection between the red heifer that comes to purify, “a man should he die in a tent,” and Jacob was “dwelling in tents,” the tents of Torah, about which the sages say (Gittin 57b), “The words of the Torah endure only for one who kills himself over them, as it is stated, ‘This is the Torah, when a man dies in a tent.’”
  10. Song of Songs 6:10.
  11. Bava Batra 9b.
  12. Megillah 7b.
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Wonders | March 05, 2025