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[00:00:01] Okay, Good evening everybody.
[00:00:03] And Chodesh Adar Sameach.
[00:00:08] We're finally made it to Adar, and we could really use the joy that Adar brings into our world.
[00:00:18] The inspiration for this class really came from a conversation that I had with a dear friend of mine in school. I teach in Yeshiva of Greater Washington. And one day was the day that we got the terrible news about the Vibas children. We thought it was important to bring the school together and just spend time with them together, processing, davening, doing a little bit of chesed. And. And then we opened the floor for people to just, you know, see something. And one of my friends, a fellow teacher, said what she said really, you know, touched my heart so much. She said, today we feel connected.
[00:01:02] How can we connect ourselves without tragedies? How can we hold on to the connection even when we're not going through such painful times? That was number one. Number two, also connected to the matzah of Ineradic Yisrael. Last year I was teaching an eighth grade class. No. This year I was teaching an eighth grade class. And I was talking about the mitzvah of no Se BAAL Imhavero about empathy. And I was trying to think of a good example that the girls really, I felt, experienced what that feels like, what that looks like. And I reminded them that last year when this class was in seventh grade, we had this of Mrs. Danino coming to talk to our school. And I said to them, remember what that felt like. Remember. Remember what we felt like when we were all sitting in the room together. So that, that's empathy. That's what it feels like. That's what it looks like. And I heard a girl in the back of the classroom kind of mutter something under her breath. And I thought I must have misheard her. And I said, could you. Could you repeat what you just said? This is an eighth grader. And she said, best day of school.
[00:02:19] I said, really? That was the best day of school. And all the girls around her were kind of nodding. I said, could you explain what you mean by that? And she said, I don't know. I just felt so connected. I just felt so connected to everybody that day. And the nods and like, everybody wanted to talk about how special that experience was.
[00:02:44] So with that as an introduction, yesterday we read the special maftir. It was a beautiful kriya Satorah of 3 Sifri Torah, and each one with such kadosh themes. And the maftir came from Parsha Shkalim. And I want to talk about Parsha Shkalim and see if we can find that elusive answer, because we so badly want to stay connected and we so badly want to heal from pain. So I'm going to share my screen now.
[00:03:24] And here we have the master.
[00:03:30] And I think some. I think it's also was shared with you, so if you want a copy of it as well, I think you can access it too. But it comes from Parshas Kisisa paraglamid psukim yud beis to tesvat. And it begins with Hashem talking to Moshe and saying, ki tisa as rosh b'neisrael lefkudehem vinasnu ish kofir nav shola shem bifgoro sam velo yebem negev bifgodosam. When you count the heads of the Jewish people for their counting, each man shall give an atonement pledge for his soul to Hashem, which when you count them, so that there will be no plague among them, when you count them, this is what they shall give.
[00:04:19] Everyone that's entered into the records, how much shall they give?
[00:04:27] Means that this was a.
[00:04:30] A value that really was a value that was unique to holy things. So just in case you don't know how much a shekel is, the posse tells us that was esrim gera, it was worth esrim gera. That was a shekel. So a half shekel is 10 gera. And this is the way the pasok, the verse explains it to us. This is what they should give. Everybody should give a half shekel. And that means 20 Gera divided by two, it's 20 and up. That's who gives it.
[00:05:08] And it is an exact amount. You cannot give more. Even if you have more and you cannot give less, everybody gives an exact amount as chumas hashem le chaper el nafsho seichem. So even before we get to the Midrashim and we get to the Gemaras, it's a couple of things that we notice. First of all, pitisa is a funny word to use for counts.
[00:05:34] It doesn't really mean count, it means raise. So why does the pasuk. Why does Hashem use the word raise for count here in our paso?
[00:05:46] An atonement for his soul. Aren't we just counting how? Why is it so important to count this way?
[00:05:55] It is so important to count this way. We know that the time that David Hamalech made a mistake and did not count this way, there was a terrible plague on the Jewish nation. So why and how does The Machatis has Shekel atone for our soul. And a funny way, if we're going to invent a coin amount, why can't you invent a coin that is 10G? Why make a 20 Gera and say, and bring half of that? So far, we're going to talk about the word Z as well. But let's first look at this mitzvah as Moshe Rabbeinu processed it. So we actually have a couple of insights from Anshik Nes from Chazal about how Moshe processed this mitzvah of Shkalim. First of all, there's a beautiful Medjushtan chuma that says, when Moshe heard about this mitzvah of Shkalim, he said to God, amar Moshe Leifne ha kadish Baruch Huibono shel olam, master of the world, when I die, I will no longer be remembered.
[00:07:10] God said to Moshe, chayeha, by your life, just like now, in the midbar, in the desert, you are giving them this commandment, this mitzvah, and you are raising up their heads.
[00:07:37] So too, every year, when they read it before me, it will be as if you will come into every single synagogue where they read Parshashkalim, and you will raise up their heads again. How do we know this? The medrash asks Kitisa Esrosh means in the future you will raise.
[00:08:12] It doesn't say now raise, it says kitisa, you will raise. So that's a really fascinating midrash. Something about Parsha shalom made Moshe feel like what he is giving to the Jewish nation is temporary. He can't do it later, and it's lost after he dies.
[00:08:39] So that Hashem had to tell him, not true, Moshe. What you are giving to the Jewish people is eternal, and it will come back every single year, every single year, when somehow connected to this mitzvah of shkala. And just like we noted, the word kitisa doesn't just mean count. It has something to do with raising up that Moshe raised up the Jewish people through this mitzvah somehow and beautifully, I think, very comforting. I find it very comforting that it doesn't say when they give it, it says when they read it. We're living in a time where we can't give the half shekel. But somehow Moshe lifted up our heads this year too. That's what Hashem says to him in this medrash. So that's Medrash number one, Medrash number two.
[00:09:42] So the Bamidbar Raba Medrash Raba tells us that the word zeh is actually a code word. Every time it uses the word zeh, it means that when Moshe learns this mitzvah, when God was teaching Moshe this mitzvah, Moshe struggled with it. He did not understand it. We have this kind of language about the moon, that Moshe didn't know what the moon would look like at Rosh Chodesh. God had to give him a visual. God had to show him what a moon looked like. And he made it out of fire for him. He says this, this is how it looks when it's Rosh Kodesh. That's what you should, that's when you will sanctify it.
[00:10:27] We also had it actually in this week's Parasha Parsha's Truma with the menorah, Moshe could not understand how to form the menorah. Hashem showed him an image of a fiery men.
[00:10:39] So too, when God taught Moshe the mitzvah of Machatz Hashekel, what did God do?
[00:10:51] He took out a coin of fire from under the kise Hakavod and he showed it to Moshe.
[00:11:04] You see, Moshe, this is what I'm talking about, this kind of coin. This is what I mean.
[00:11:11] Question is, that's really interesting. We understand somehow why it would be, you know, if you don't, haven't studied astronomy and you don't know all the difference, you know, what it's supposed to look like. We understand for the first time, Hashem has to show it to Moshe. Hashem had to show him the moon. We understand that menorah was very complicated and it all came out of one piece of gold.
[00:11:35] But the verse itself tells us exactly what this coin is, how much it weighs, what it's made out of. Was it that Moshe did not understand about the Machatz Hashekel and the chazole Hamoid adds on to this question, and he says, and how does showing it to him out of fire help anyone?
[00:11:56] Fire is weightless. It doesn't even have a weight. So what was it that Moshe didn't understand? What is the significance of God showing him one out of fire? And why from under the kise Hakava? So we have a couple of questions, right? What is kitisa? What is the meaning of God's message to Moshe? When God told Moshe, you will live forever, you will raise up their heads forever. And that has to do with the machat?
[00:12:25] Why here did Moshe need a visual demonstration? Why is it zah? And what is the meaning that God took a coin, a fire, from under the kiseha kavot? That's what we're going to try to understand together tonight. Okay? So far, so good.
[00:12:43] Okay, moving on.
[00:12:46] So there's another midrash. And this midrash helps us understand Moshe a little bit better.
[00:12:54] Sometimes it's not the how, it's the how is this possible? That is the question that befuddles us. So the Medjush Tanchuma tells us that there were three mitzvahs that God told Moshe to teach the Jewish people. That totally overwhelmed him. Nivhal, vinir, ta lachorav. It confused and startled him. When moshe heard those 20 mitzvahs. He says, how? How on earth? What are those three mitzvahs? One was, please build me a home. When Moshe heard that, he says, God, the very heavens can't contain you. How am I building you home?
[00:13:41] And Hashem said to Moshe, don't worry. That's not what I mean. I mean this amount of crushing by this amount of crushing, don't worry, Moshe. When God told Moshe, moshe, I want you to bring me sacrifices again, Moshe says, God, you made all the animals. How many animals would I give that would be worthy of serving a God? And Hashem says, no, no, no, Moshe, not like you think. One sheep in the morning, one sheep in the afternoon. That's what I'm asking for. And when God told Moshe, each man shall give an atonement for his soul. Each man shall give the worth of his soul, the payment of his soul. Moshe again said, God, who is able to give an atonement for his soul, no man can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him. Man is priceless. Life is priceless. How much money would it take to. To give the right amount for a soul? And God said to him, half a shekel. What does this mean? Moshe understood something about this mitzvah. Moshe understood that really this mitzvah has so much power in it. And Moshe hears from Hashem, and how much do you need to give? Half a shekel. Moshe says, half a shekel, Hashem, for a whole life. For a whole soul. To atone for all that.
[00:15:13] To atone for all what? So Moshe knew something else about this half shekel.
[00:15:21] There are actually the half shekel. The Machatis Hashekel is discussed a lot in the Gemara and in the Midrash. And many different Tanaim offer opinions as to different sins that were done throughout the ages that the Machatzis Hashekel atones for. For example. And what's interesting is the three that I am going to share with you were all shared to us by the same one. And that is Rish Lakesh, that is Rav Shimon bin Lakish. Rav Shimon bin Lakish teaches us all three. So one rap Shimon bin lakish says is it was for the selling of yosef. You know, we know what a terrible, terrible avera the selling of yosef was.
[00:16:17] And Resh Lakeish says that they actually sold him. So they got money for it, and they shared the profits equally all of the shvatim. And so Hashem says, okay, now all the shvatim, you give a half shekel, and that will atone for mechira sof. That will fix mechi rasio seif Reish Lachish says in Medjushtan chuma that it atones for because different opinions as to exactly how it atones for.
[00:16:51] Maybe because they sinned exactly at hatzos of the day, half of the day. So let them bring half a shekel. Or they went against all aseris hadibros when they brought the golden calf. So that's the 10 Gera of Machatzis Hashekel. So Rish Lakeish says, and finally we're up to Purim. So the gemara Megillah Dafyt Gimel Ahmad Beyz says, this is Resh Lakeish. And Resh Lakeish talks about that petrifying moment when Haman turned to Ahasuerus. And Haman said to achashverosh im Alhamalech Tov yikasef, I am willing to donate to your treasury 10,000 silver kikar, talents of silver for the privilege of massacring the Jewish nation. And Achashviro said, yes, Amar said, galoy viadua lifnemisha Amar vahayaha olam, the one who made the world God himself. It was known to him that there would come a terrible day thousands of years later when there would be an evil man, Haman, who would plot against the Jewish people, and he would take out shkolem to kill the Jewish people.
[00:18:31] So Hashem says, okay, I'm putting my shkalim first. I'm going to have the Jewish people pay a half shekel, and that will atone in advance, that will fix this and not. And not inoculate the Jewish people from this decree of Haman. The tosfos on the gemara actually says that if you multiply half a shekel times 600,000 Jews, it equals 10,000 silver talents. And it actually God. Exactly. That's exactly the amount that we Needed.
[00:19:09] Okay, so now we have three events, three of three situations where we say the Machat fixes this. The Machatis Hashekel is going to stand up for this. What's interesting about these three is I was thinking about my friend's question and I was thinking about these three times in history and I started to wonder and say, are we really so united in fear anyways? Do we do such a good job in fear? Does fear always connect us? Is fear the best way to connect? Are we able anyways to sustain connection that comes from fear? Why am I asking? Because if you look at these three situations, they actually are characterized. If you think about what the Avera was, what the problem that caused the Avera was in all three situations, certainly it was disunity, but it was disunity that really in a way was motivated by fear. Let me explain. So Mahiras Yosef. So it's not easy to. It's not, It's. It's. It's very easy to find blame for the Shvatim in what they did in Mehira. So Sayf. But absolutely, definitely there was a lot of fear there. Why?
[00:21:01] The Shvatim knew their family history.
[00:21:04] Avraham had two sons, Yitzchak and Yishmael. One was at Tzadik, one was not so much. So only one made it and only one became part of the Jewish nation. Yitzchak had two sons, Yaakov and Esav. One was a tzadik, one was not. Yaakov had 12 sons. And they knew that they were supposed to all be the founders of the Jewish people. It was supposed to be all 12 of them. And Yosef was making trouble. Yosef was slandering them to Yaakov. He was telling Lashon Hara about them to Yaakov, making Yaakov think perhaps that they're not Al Tzadikim, that they are not worthy of being the nation of Hashem. Having these strange dreams and talking about those dreams, and those dreams also meant there was me and there was the rest of you.
[00:21:56] And many, many of them of Farshem explain that, yes, what they did was, was wrong. And, and they certainly misjudged Joseph. And then they did a terrible thing to Yosef. But it was motivated by panic, that they were scared, that they really believed in their hearts that Yosef was a threat. The pasuk that talks about that moment when Yosef is looking for his brothers because his father asked him to, and he can't find them anywhere, and he meets a man Because I'll tell us later that this man was none other than the Malach Gabriel. And he says to this man, do you know where my brothers? And I'm looking for my brothers, the man said to him, And Rashi says, not only does it mean they left from here, but Z is a code word, is that word that we just talked about.
[00:22:57] And what it also means is unity, because Z is the Gematria. The Medrish says for Zion, hey, seven plus five is 12. And what the Mal Gavil was trying to hint to Yosef was they're not interested in the 12 anymore. They're not holding on to the 12 anymore. They're not holding on to the unity that you. That you think you still have with your brothers. Be very careful, Yosef. You're in grave danger.
[00:23:29] They have left you, Yosef.
[00:23:34] It's interesting, the fear that motivated. We know very well Moshe went up to the sky, to the heavens, and he never came back. And he didn't come back when they thought he was supposed to come back. And now they are in a desert with no anything, without God, without Moshe. And they were petrified. But the base Halevi says, you should know the words that they cried out was not just a cry of idol worship. It was also cry fragmentation, of disunity, of it's your God, it's your God, it's your God. Because of Ultazar always talks about fragmentation.
[00:24:21] Hecha Yisrael was so different than that moment that we stood at Harsinai and we. And we stood by Negadahar as one.
[00:24:34] And the Purim story, or right before the Purim story, when did the Purim story take place? Purim story takes place in our very first exile. For the first time ever, the Jewish people have been banished from their land, have been thrown out of their land.
[00:24:54] We're kind of. We're kind of used to exile. We've been in it for thousands of years. They were not being in exile really had no meaning to them. They had nothing to compare it to. As the Jewish nation, we live in Israel with the Beis Hamikdash. And the fact that Hashem has thrown us out of here into exile has kind of scattered us around. We don't know who we are anymore. So there was tremendous disunity. There was tremendous. I don't know where I am or what I am. I'm certainly not part of a group anymore. And there was fear. And this is the moment that is being discussed here. So again, what I find so interesting about these three examples Is there is certainly disunity, but there is also certainly fear. So that again, makes me ask my question, does fear always bring us together?
[00:26:00] The truth is, sometimes fear does exactly the opposite. When I feel so vulnerable, when I feel so alone, when I feel so petrified, then sometimes that makes me run away from everybody else, start to see everybody else as a threat, and I start to feel like I don't know who I am anymore.
[00:26:23] Which brings us finally to the Machat and what Hashem was saying to Moshe Rabbeinu. There is a very beautiful and famous idea that the Alshech teaches from his contemporary is famous for writing, and he. And the Al Shir gives him credit for this vert. I've heard this part so many times, but it really all started with Rashlomo Alkavitz and the Alsha. And he says he answers our first question, our question of why half? Why can't you just make a coin that is a whole coin?
[00:27:02] And Rev. Shlomo Alkavitz said that Hashem was coming to teach the Jewish people that you may never think that you can afford to separate from your friends. You need to know that the most you can give, no matter how rich you are, no matter how talented you are, no matter how powerful you think you are, your service will never be complete without your friends. You need to join together with everybody else.
[00:27:37] Says, this is the secret of akdos. You know, akhdos unity sometimes feels to us like, what is the. How do we come to akhtus, become Takhtis by saying, look, I'm gonna handle you because it's really better when we're all together. I'm good by myself, but I'm gonna hold your hand, and we're all gonna join together anyways, and we're gonna unify. Shlom Alkavit says, no, no, that is not us. You know what this is? Akhtus is the deep understanding of, I'm not okay by myself. I. I'm only half.
[00:28:17] I can never do by myself. I need you. You complete me. Which is why the word shalom is so connected to the word shalem. Understanding on such a deep level that I need you to complete myself.
[00:28:38] So these times that make us feel afraid, it's not enough to say, I'm so afraid. So let's hold hands together.
[00:28:49] There is a truth that feeling afraid brings us to. And that is, you know what? I don't have enough.
[00:29:00] I am but a fragment. I am scared. I am vulnerable, and I am fragile.
[00:29:09] And that's a place to Kind of lean into for a minute and really hold on to. Because if we let it, that place opens us up.
[00:29:24] That place opens us up to saying, so I need all of us together, so we all must join with each other. The Machatis Hashekal really comes to us in a time where we need our heads lifted up. How can we lift every person up by connecting them to Azibur? By saying, I need to be with you. You know, it's amazing.
[00:29:53] The definition of gallus is the antithesis of a tzippor. Tzibor is a community.
[00:30:01] The gallus is when we're scattered, we have the power to unite as a community.
[00:30:09] When we give half a shekel, when we learn the lesson of the hafish echo, that we really are only okay when all of us are contributing together.
[00:30:24] And that lesson really talks to us at our core, because we know we really, truly are a fragment. How are we a fragment? We all come from the Kiseha Kavod. We really are a spark of the neshama of the Salem Elokim. That God really did scatter all of us and say, my dear children, unite together. So the machad really comes from that holiest place. That fire of the Kisei Hakag really represents our Nephesh. What's beautiful. Rav Moshe Shapiro shares this thought that the gematria of Shekel is nefesh, that what God was saying was, this half shekel is really a metaphor for all of my children, that they really are half and they must unite together. But that's not all. This was on this mitzvah, that leaving a half shekel reminds us that only half of us are down here. And the deepest, most beautiful, most holiest parts of us never left the Kiseha Kavod at all.
[00:31:50] And that the part of us that are down here, therefore, that are really connected to the part of us that are up there. So that everything that we do down here is meaningful.
[00:32:03] Everything that we do down here is powerful on the one hand. And on the other hand, there is a part of us that no matter what happens to us down here, and no matter even what mistakes we make down here, God says, at your core, I still have you at my Kiseha Kavod. You. You're still there. Recognizing that sometimes we just feel so fragile, so vulnerable. Also so far from Hashem and so far from spirituality and so far from meaningful existence. And Hashem says, I want you to know that there is a part of you that has never left me and that I sent a Part of you down there to accomplish, to achieve. And that everything you do down here, every challenge you overcome, every life that you touch, every meaningful experience that you bring to my world, I want you to know it's fire by me, it's gigantic by me, it's holy by me.
[00:33:11] The idea of a half shekel really makes us think also about how we only have half a story down here. So much of our world down here doesn't make sense. There's a beautiful line in the Parak of Tehillim that we. The part of the Parak of Telm that we don't say on Rosh chodeshmashemas kolitachanunai. That's the paragraph that we skip. But there is one line in that paragraph that says, shuvi nafshilim Nuhaychi, my soul, return to your rest because God has done for me. And one beautiful way of understanding that line is this thought that there is a part of our neshama that is always up with Hashem, that is always up at the kise hakavot. And it's kind of watching me down here and watching me struggle through and watching the messes I get myself into and sometimes watching unfair things that happen to us and the pain that we're in when it's so agitated and it cries out and it's really worried about us. And this little message, David Hamelech is calling back to his Nephesh and saying, it's okay, you can go back, you can go back to Hashem. I want you to know that down here in my half, my half that sometimes feels so messy, so fragile, so far away, I still feel Hashem with me. And I know that you're up there. So you go back up there and you go rest, you're okay. Because I want you to know I believe that I'm okay too.
[00:34:53] The other part of the half shekel is that Hashem says to us, half means I have half and you have half. And I want you to know, my children, and we can only dare to say this because again, it's a medrash, when you cut something in half, it's half. They're equal. They're two equal parts. And God promises us, my dear children, we are in a partnership together. And what you are doing for me is no less important. You have such an important job down there and I want you and I'm proud of you and I'm telling you that. That what you are doing is so important. And the other part of that beautiful medrash is that Hashem says, we're like two. We're like. We're like two peas in a pod. We're like twins. And the measure says there's something very amazing and beautiful about twins, that there's some sort of sense that they have between them. So if one of them gets hurt, the other one feels it and the other one senses it. Hashem says, my dear children, I'm your twin. I'm your twin. And there is nothing that a Jew experiences down here that I am not experiencing up there, too. I am with you. I am pained for you. I am holding on to you, and I am connected to you.
[00:36:30] When Moshe heard this mitzvah, and Moshe said to Hashem, hashem, what is this powerful mitzvah? What is this mitzvah? And how can we accomplish it? Hashem says, deep, deep in the neshama, in the soul of every Jewish, are these two ideas. One, that I have something to contribute to this world, that I, as an ishamma, I have something. I am a piece of this telemalukim, and I have something to contribute that only I can contribute.
[00:37:09] And also that recognition, that deep, deep understanding that together we contribute. That just like I contribute, you contribute.
[00:37:22] Sometimes we can access that idea in a time of fear, in a time of vulnerability, in a time of pain, when we feel like we don't have other people to rely on, that's when we feel like, okay, so I have to rely on my Jewish brothers and sisters. Sisters. And then we turn around and we start to respect other people's contributions and we start to value and to love our Jewish brothers and sisters for what they contribute. There is a tremendous opportunity, Hashem says, to connect to each other and to me. During this time, the part of the gemara about Purim ends and says. And therefore, Hashem says, I already made the mitzvah of Shkalim. On the first day of Adar, we are headed into this beautiful, exciting, wonderful month of Adar. We know that Adar has the potential for miracles. We also know that the road to the miracle happened when we connected, when we connected to each other.
[00:38:40] Deeper than the fear, deeper than the fear was the holding on tight to each other and all together looking up words to God and begging. God, Hashem, we are one. All of the fragments are coming together. Those terrible words that Haman said to us.
[00:39:03] There is a nation and there's scattered, and they don't care about each other, and they don't feel like one unit, and they don't cry for each other. Hashem we're showing you that's not true. Hashem. Look at us. Look at the way we reacted to the news of the last few weeks. Look at your Jewish children and remember and. And see us as one.
[00:39:25] Hashem told Moshe that every single year, he has the potential to raise our heads once again, to become a tsibor again. What Moshe was so worried about was, I am succeeding now in joining the Jewish people and making them into one sibo. How are they going to do it in the future? Hashem says they have it within them. They are that half shekel. They have the ability to find it once again, to access it once again. May we succeed in that. May we indeed experience the miracle first of lasting, lasting unity. Unity that makes us feel like together we are enough. Together we are complete. And let that lead truly to the vinahapa who that we so badly need this year feels like we never needed a vanahapa who like we do this year, and let that lead mer to a great, great salvation. Thank you.
[00:40:33] Thank you so. That was beautiful. Thank you so much. Very inspiring.
[00:40:39] Wow. It's really great. Thank you very much. Thank you. To thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:40:51] Thank you so much, Everybody. Thank you, Mrs. Winter. And God willing, we'll see you March 23rd. And everybody else, I hope to see you many times this week. Have a great night, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Andre, so much. Thank you. Thank you. Happy adar.
[00:41:11] Thank you.
