Reading the Parshah is Exactly Like Donating:
On Parshas Shekalim, we recite the piyyut of “Ohr Panecha”, in which we say that “the shekel should be uplifted in the proper house and it should be carried with tzedek (righteousness).”
The Sar Shalom of Belz zy”a explains that in our times, when we have no Bais Hamikdosh and cannot bring Shekalim in the literal sense, we fulfill this mitzvah by reading the Parshah of Shekalim.
Accordingly, we say that our reading about the Shekalim should be considered as if we literally brought it to “the proper house” – i.e., the Bais Hamikdosh – and that it should be as if we brought it with “tzedek” – meaning as if we literally brought it, and not merely “like” we brought it.
The Kretchnifer Rebbe Was Healed Through Reading the Piyyutim
Sefer Raza D’Uvdah (Shaar Ha’Osiyos, page 71) relates an incredible story about my ancestor, Rav Meir of Kretchnif zy”a:
When Rav Meir was a young man, he led the community of Yas, Romania. He once suddenly became very ill, and his life was hanging in the balance. The doctors told him that his only hope was to undergo a surgery right away, and even if he did the operation, he only had a small chance of survival.
He asked for a telegram to be sent to his father, Rav Mord’chele of Nodvorna zy”a, who then resided in the city of Bishtina, informing him about the dire situation and asking him to daven on his behalf.
When his father received the telegram, he asked for a reply to be composed immediately saying that the operation should not be performed until he came to be there with his son. Someone who was in the room at the time related that as soon as Rav Mord’chele finished dictating the telegram, he began to daven with much emotion and he said, “Hashem, You know well that ‘hineni mah’ (I am nothing). I also know the truth. I know that I am nothing. But I still ask You firmly to send a cure for my son.”
This occurred during the week before Parshas Shekalim. On Shabbos, Rav Meir was laying in his sickbed, with his situation being very precarious. It reached a point where the doctors said that he might only have mere minutes left to live.
On Shabbos morning, his righteous wife went to see her relatives who lived nearby (grandchildren of the Beer Mayim Chaim zy”a) and cried to them about the terrible situation her husband was in. While she was gone, Rav Meir asked his gabbaim to help him get off the bed. He then asked them to carry him to the bais medrash so that he could at least hear the recitation of piyyutim for Parshas Shekalim.
The gabbaim were reluctant to do this, as the Rebbe was seriously unwell, and the Rebbitzen was not home to convince him out of it. He pressed them to do it, and they were left with no choice other than to obey. So they carried his chair to shul with him sitting on it.
When the tzibbut began to recite the piyyut of “Ohr Panecha”, the Rebbe stood up and began to scream the words. He stood so straight and screamed so loudly that he didn’t look sick at all.
Someone ran to the house where the Rebbitzen was to tell her what was happening, and she hurried to see for herself. She was amazed to see her husband standing and loudly saying the words of Ohr Panecha, as if nothing were wrong.
After davening, the Rebbe walked home. From then on, he was hale and hearty. The illness had disappeared.