Since the sin of the Golden Calf was committed halfway
through the day, they were given the mitzvah of the Half-
Shekel. (Yerushalmi Shekolim, 2:3)
We are always in the middle, halfway through. Halfway through
the day, Bnei Yisroel committed their greatest sin.
They were then commanded to donate a half-shekel to
the Mishkan, to rectify this massive mistake. What is
the significance of half?
To answer this question, we first need to know what the
half-shekel was used for. Unlike the freely given
donations of Parshas Terumo which were used for
everything needed for construction of the Mishkan, the
half-shekel of Parshas Ki Siso had a specific
purpose. It was used only for the adonim, the silver
bases of the Mishkan.
These bases, which numbered 100 in all, supported the
keroshim (beams) which formed the walls of the
Mishkan. Each one of these keroshim had two
pegs at the bottom, which fit into the slots of the
adonim. In this way, the adonim kept the
keroshim upright and in place, thus earning their name
of bases. They were the basis, the foundation on which the
Mishkan stood.
The Mishkan, with all it various parts, represents the
various parts of a Jew. Like the Mishkan, a Jew's
physical and spiritual being is also constructed of various
parts. Just as the Mishkan has a heart, the aron
hakodesh, so a Jew has a heart. Just as the
Mishkan has adonim, a basic foundation, so a
Jew has a basic foundation.
Son of man, describe the House to Bnei Yisroel, that they
may be ashamed of their sins (Yechezkel 43:10)
In this verse, Hashem told the prophet to explain the
structure of the Temple to Bnei Yisroel. This was
intended to bring them to regret their sins. Why should a
description of the Temple cause Bnei Yisroel to be
ashamed of their sins? The Meforshim give a clear
answer: the Temple is their very selves.
The Malbim elaborates this point: "The form of the Temple,
and all its various parts, hints to the supernatural way in
which Hashem runs the world. Hashem's hashgocho is not
dependent on the rules and laws of nature. It is completely
above this. Rather, Hashem's hashgocho is effected by
the "temple" of one's soul. One must build the temple of his
soul in such a way that it resembles the holy Temple in all
its parts. One should perform Divine Service in the temple of
one's soul through keeping Torah and mitzvos, as one would
perform the Service in the holy Temple. One should elevate
himself to G-d within the temple of his soul, as one would in
the holy Temple.
"In this way, the building of the holy Temple depends on the
building of the temple within the souls of Bnei
Yisroel . . . The meaning of the verse is as follows:
the prophet should tell Bnei Yisroel that they
themselves are the holy Temple. The message is that the holy
Temple depends on them -- the details of the holy Temple's
construction represent something in them. The Temple's
intricate and deliberate design represents the manner in
which the people should be keeping the Torah and its laws.
This understanding will bring the people to the state `that
they may be ashamed of their sins.' "
Rav Chaim Volozhiner expresses the deep symbolism of the
Mishkan in his work Nefesh Hachaim (footnote,
1:4). He writes that the mitzvos correspond to the various
parts of the Temple. A Jew, through keeping the mitzvos,
which correspond to the Temple, thereby becomes a temple
himself.
Similar to the Mishkan, the Torah is constructed in an
intricate pattern: the Taryag Mitzvos. The Torah,
"Tree of Life," consists of 613 "branches." These branches
are the mitzvos of Taryag. The branches themselves
bear "twigs," which are the myriad mitzvos not included in
the count of Taryag.
The Chofetz Chaim, in his introduction to his sefer
Shemiras Haloshon, explains the correlation of the
mitzvos to the physical and spiritual being of a Jew. "Every
person has 248 spiritual limbs, and 365 spiritual sinews
(making a total of 613). The 248 physical limbs and 365
physical sinews of a person enwrap their spiritual
counterparts, as clothes enwrap the body.
"Corresponding to this," continues the Chofetz Chaim,
"HaKodosh Boruch Hu gave the 248 positive commandments
and the 365 negative commandments. They are also divided
according to the limbs. There is a mitzvah which depends on
the hand, there is a mitzvah which depends on the foot, and
so on."
This is a wonderful interrelationship. The Mishkan
corresponds to the person, the person to the mitzvos, and the
mitzvos to the Mishkan.
Which mitzvah corresponds to the
adonim -- the bases of the Mishkan? What do
they parallel in the person himself?
Just as the Mishkan has a base, a foundation on which
it rests, so the Torah has a foundation on which it rests.
"613 mitzvos were said to Moshe at Sinai . . . David came
and distilled them to eleven . . . Michah came and distilled
them to three . . . Chavakuk came and distilled them to one:
`A tzaddik lives through his faith'" (Makkos
24a). Emunah. This chazal teaches us that the entire
Torah stands on emunah -- faith.
Rav Yosef Tzvi Salant, in his sefer Be'er Yosef,
explains the significance of the adonim and the
Half-shekel. He says that the Half-shekel, and
the adonim of the Mishkan which were made from
them, signify emunah. Both create foundations. The
adonim, built from the half-shekels, are the
foundations of the Mishkan. Similarly, emunah
is the foundation of the spiritual life of a Jew -- it is the
adonim of his soul's temple.
"A tzaddik lives through his faith." This means that a
tzaddik's entire life stands on his faith. But why a
half? If this mitzvah is so important, representing the
foundation of a Jew's spiritual life, shouldn't we fulfill it
by giving a complete coin?
No. Faith is best symbolized, says Rav Yosef Tzvi Salant, by
a half-coin. We are always in the middle, halfway through. We
do not have the overview of what happens in life, of the how
and why of Hashem's hashgocho. We are always in the
middle of the story, lacking full perspective.
This is the outlook of emunah. A Jew does not question
Hashem, because he does not -- and cannot -- see the complete
picture. It is pointless to criticize something you do not
understand.
A beautiful moshol illustrates the
viewpoint of emunah. It is from the Kanaf
Rennanim commentary on Perek Shiroh, a
medrash about the various creatures and the songs they
sing to Hashem.
There once was a child born to wealthy parents in a large
city. He thought that bread grows on trees, like fruit. He
had never seen a field -- or a farmer, for that matter. But
in the courtyard of his luxurious home there were fruit
trees. Innocently, he assumed that bread grew in the same
way.
One day, he visited a farming village for the first time in
his life. He saw the villagers grinding wheat into flour. He
witnessed how they made dough, and baked it in an oven. At
last he understood the origin of bread. But where did the
wheat itself come from?
The child decided to stay in the village in order to find out
the secret of wheat. One day, he saw a man plowing a field.
The child thought this to be a stupid act, as the man was
destroying a beautiful piece of ground and replacing it with
a series of shallow, ugly trenches. Then to his surprise, the
man scattered an entire sack of valuable wheat on the broken
ground. Then, to top it all off, the man plowed again; thus
burying the valuable wheat even deeper.
A few weeks later, when the field was covered with green, the
child thought he understood. The man wanted to plant a large
lawn! When the green turned to stalks, the child concluded
that it was an enormous flower garden.
One day, the child was beside himself with outrage. He found
the man harvesting the field. The man had cruelly chopped
down all the beautiful flowers. Then animals were brought to
trample on them. The child wanted to cry.
Then he noticed that an enormous heap of wheat had been
extracted from the mess.
He at last had the answer to the riddle of wheat. The farmer,
by sowing a mere sack of dry grain, was later able to reap a
towering pile of produce.
This child only understood the wisdom of the farmer because
he saw the story through to the end. We, however, are always
in the middle -- halfway through. This is why we were
commanded to give a half-shekel. It conveys the
viewpoint of faith -- emunah.
Rav Yosef Tzvi Salant uses this concept to
explain the sin of the Golden Calf. His explanation is as
follows: Bnei Yisroel sinned at high noon. Noon is
halfway through the day. Bnei Yisroel, still in the
middle of the day, should have assumed the outlook of faith.
They should have thought that they do not yet have the full
picture.
Yet they did not look at it that way, and that was their
mistake. They were waiting for Moshe Rabbenu to descend from
Mount Sinai, after forty days with Hashem. They should have
waited for Moshe Rabbenu all day, but they didn't.
They falsely concluded that they already knew the end of the
story. They said to themselves that if Moshe Rabbenu was
going to come down from the mountain, he would have come down
already. In reality, they were only halfway through the
story; halfway through the day. Yet, they judged the
situation as if they had the benefit of the full picture.
They jumped to the conclusion that Moshe Rabbenu would never
return -- and made the Eigel.
To correct this fateful mistake, Bnei Yisroel were
commanded to bring a half-shekel. Only a half. We are
always in the middle, halfway through.
Emunah will see us to the end.
