Dear CBAJ Family,
On behalf of Congregation Beth Abraham-Jacob, I would like to wish you and your family a restful and meaningful Shabbat!
Miriam and I will miss you all this Shabbat!
Miriam and I are excited to spend this Shabbat in Har Bracha, where Rav Eliezer Melamed, acclaimed author of Peninei Halakha, which I turn to regularly as a source and guide to many halachic topics, is the rabbi of the yishuv and the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Bracha. We are looking forward to spending time in this special community learning with special people.
In Parshat Shekalim, the special Maftir that is read this week, we read about the machatzit hashekel, the half shekel coin, which was given by each adult male. The purpose of this donation is subject to some interpretation - it is a way of conducting a census without directly counting the people, an activity fraught with halachic and hashkafic challenges - perhaps most obviously for conducting a census of the military age population.
Rashi (to Exodus 30:16) notes that the word "terumah" (offering) highlighted in our parsha refers to three different collection drives. To two of them, we have an important instruction that is applied to them: "he-ashir lo yarbeh v'hadal lo yam'it - the wealthy shall not increase and the poor shall not decrease" (Exodus 30:15):
1) the one-time collection of the adanim (the sockets) that hold together the mishkan; AND
2) the yearly annual collection of the funds used to purchase the korban tamid, the twice-daily sacrifice offered on behalf of the entire Jewish people.
The lesson of these two things being egalitarian and means-blind is powerful: the basic foundation that holds together the Mishkan, and basic daily obligation of the service of the Mishkan are based on equal ownership, equal participation, and equal investment. We must all be stakeholders in the collective project that we are building.
Interestingly, Rashi (ibid) notes that the term "terumah" that is referred to in this parsha refers to the general collection drive for the Mishkan, for which everybody gave in accordance to their means and the desires of their hearts. What this third Terumah suggests is that even if, fundamentally, we all must be stakeholders in the collective project of community and bringing in the Divine Presence into the world, there is nonetheless a role and a need for differentiation, individual talent, and, perhaps, some to give a lot more than others. While this differentiation is valuable and indispensable, everyone must be a stakeholder.
The picture becomes more complex when we look at the Haftarah. While the Parshat Shekalim teaches about the value of giving, the Haftarah teaches us about the value of oversight of that giving, and the necessity of checks and balances in any system.
On the one hand, the Kohanim in this story form an important check on the monarchy, who had become corrupted. Yehosheva, the wife of Yehoyada, the kohen gadol, saves the life of the young prince Yehoash (her nephew) from the murderous rampage of the wicked Queen Ataliah, who murdered the entire royal family, including her children and grandchildren, to secure her reign. Yehoyadah the Kohen Gadol then institutes a rebellion to remove Queen Ataliah and instate Yehoash as the king, when he is only 7 years old! In doing so, Yehoyada also changes the religious and moral direction of the monarchy, which had grown increasingly distant from Hashem.
And yet, when King Yehoash becomes older, he realizes that the kohanim under Yehoyada the Kohen Kohen Gadol have been either inefficient and unsuccessful, and perhaps even corrupt, in utilizing the moneys collected by the people to maintain the Beit Hamikdash. At King Yehoash's insistence, Yehoyada then instituted a system in which all money is collected centrally, in the very first tzedakah box (a locked box with a top with a slit for inserting money), and counted by both the Kohel Gadon and the royal scribe. Thus, there is a system of checks and balances, in which different institutions are responsible for the oversight of the charitable moneys collected.
Our Haftarah teaches us that we must think not only about how we motivate people to give tzedakah, we also have to think carefully about how it is spent, to ensure that the dreams that went into the giving of those funds are actualized.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Ben Kean
