|
We are live from NY!!!! I am with our Cteens at the International Cteen Shabbaton...along with 4000 other teens and staff from all over the world for the largest Jewish teen convention ever (see our pic of the week below). The Jewish unity is awesome and here is a dvar all about that!
This can answer a question about the Mitzvah to donate a half Shekel every year. (This Shabbos three Torah scrolls will be read from, which is relatively rare (besides Simchas Torah). The first is for the Sedra Terumah, about building the Temple. The second is for Shabbos Rosh Chodesh, the start of the month of Adar, the month of Simcha (joy). In the third Sefer Torah we read Parshas Shekolim, about the half Shekel that everyone donated each year for the communal offerings, thus atoning for the sin of the Golden Calf.) Worshipping the Golden Calf was idolatry, unfaithfulness to Hashem! Shouldn’t the Tzedaka required for atonement be expressed as a whole number? (The same half Shekel coin was also known as 10 Gera). Why does the Torah repeatedly emphasise that it is only a half? The atonement has to reach deep into the Neshama (Soul), expressed by the awareness that one is only a half. Becoming complete requires the other half. The other half is Hashem. With our greatest achievements we are incomplete without Him. And Hashem, in a manner of speaking (kevayochol) is incomplete without the Jew doing what Hashem created him/her for. The other half is also one’s fellow Jew; when we unite together in the spirit that each of us becomes complete only through the other. This is also the way to Simcha. Being truly happy and at peace is a choice, an experience that begins from within, regardless of external circumstance. Knowing that there is a purpose and a Partner and that we are not alone brings a sense of peace and happiness and helps to build the Temple. |
|
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Yitzi and Rishi Hein |