A well-known question on the topic of the machatzis hashekel is why did Hashem command us to give a half a shekel and not a full shekel? The gemora says in Bava Basra that Moshe Rabeinu asked Hashem: ‑What can we use to uplift klal Yisroel?‑ Hashem says Parshas Ki Sisa. What does this mean?
The Beirach Moshe brings the gemora in Pesachim 50 that the highest madreiga is to learn Torah and do mitzvos lishma, for the sake of the mitzvah alone. If you do it shelo lishma, for an ulterior motive, it’s also okay, because eventually you will get to do it lishma. The lashon there is ‑leolam‑ – always, a person should do mitzvos shelo lishma because through performing mitzvos shelo lishma he will come to doing it lishma. What is this lashon of ‑leolam‑ – always?
The Chernobol Rebbe explains that every person must strive to reach the level of doing mitzvos lishma. However, the more he grows, the more he realizes how much he lacks in avodas Hashem. Therefore, even as he reaches a lofty level of lishma, he then realizes that there is a much higher level of lishma that he has yet to reach, and so he considers his present madreiga to be shelo lishma. This is because avodas Hashem is truly endless and there is no limit to the levels we can reach. Therefore, the gemora uses the lashon of ‑leolam‑, always, saying that a person’s attitude should be that he never reached lishma. He considers as if he always is shelo lishma and always striving for the higher madreiga of lishma. No matter how much shleimus you have attained, your attitude should be that you never reached the peak. You keep on growing, and so yesterday’s avoda is insufficient. There is so much to strive for.
The Imrei Chaim from Viznitz says that Moshe Rabeinu reached the highest madreiga in every level. There was no one greater than Moshe Rabeinu – ‑lo kum navi od k’Moshe‑. Literally, the word ‑od‑ means more. Lo kum navi OD k’Moshe can mean that no navi ever stood up like Moshe Rabeinu who felt that he always had more to do. Although Moshe Rabeinu was so perfect, he felt there was always more he had to do in his avodas Hashem.
The Maharal says that the Torah ends with the words ‑l‑einei kol Yisroel‑, and this phrase is in middle of a line – why? To show that you never finished the Torah. The Torah stopped in middle of the line because you never finished the line yet. There is always more. That is our avoda – to know and understand that there is always more for us to accomplish.
Yaakov Avinu told his son Yosef that every yid will bless their children that they should be like Efraim and Menashe. Why do we mention both names? In Sifrei Chasidus there is a concept of sur m’ra, leaving the bad, and aseh tov, doing the good. Menashe represents the concept of sur m’ra. Why? Because Yosef said, ‑I called him Menashe because Hashem made me forget‑. Yosef was saying that he went through many difficulties in his life, but when he had Menashe, Hashem made him forget those tzoros and move on. This represents ‑sur m’ra‑ – forget the bad. Efraim comes from the lashon of ‑peru urevu‑ – create – and that represents ‑aseh tov‑. We bentch our children to be like both Efraim and Menashe because we need to do both sur m’ra and aseh tov, to leave the bad and to do the good.
My father, Rav Noach Isaac Oelbaum shlita says that the avoda of a person is to be like Efraim, to achieve more and more. However, if a person feels that he is on a high madreiga, he might not feel that he has to do more. And so, we need to also have the attitude of Menashe, which means to forget. Forget everything you did up until today and that way you will always want to achieve more. That’s why we bentch our children to be like both Efraim and Menashe.
Says the Beirach Moshe, the idea of a machtzis hashekel and not a full shekel is to teach every yid the way to succeed in our avodas Hashem. We need to view ourselves as a machtzis, a half, that we are never done reaching the level of lishma. We view ourselves like we are still in the category of serving Hashem shelo lishma. If a person will constantly view himself as one who is only on the level of shelo lishma, then he will come to reach the madreiga of lishma. You always have to feel like you haven’t yet reached shleimus. That’s the idea of machtzis hashekel.
That is the meaning of ‑Ki sisa es rosh bnei Yisroel‑– if you want to raise up the yidden, then the attitude should be ‑lifkudeiham‑ – which is a lashon of lacking. A yid has to feel that he’s always lacking in shleimus. This is the secret of giving a half of shekel, a reminder that we are to view ourselves as only half-way there. There is always a long road ahead of us in our avodas Hashem.