Living Torah Archives

The Tenth of Teves commemorates the siege of Jerusalem, the beginning of a series of events that lead to the eventual destruction of the Holy Temple and the Jews’ captivity in Babylonia.

The Lag B’omer rallies and parades outside 770 drew thousands of Jews from all walks of life and backgrounds. The gatherings attest to the fact that despite all our differences in language and culture, there is a single unifying force that keeps all Jews together as one family. But what is that glue that binds us together, and how do we maintain it throughout the rest of the year as well?

At the very beginning of Yom Kippur, before Kol Nidrei, we declare: “With the sanction of the Omnipresent, and with the sanction of the congregation, by authority of the Heavenly Court, and by authority of the earthly court, we hereby grant permission to pray with those who have transgressed.” All agree that on this day, there are no differences between Jews; they all stand united as one in the presence of G-d.

By creating Adam alone, G-d teaches us that every individual is like a whole world. But this is only half the story. When the Torah requires a donation from every single Jew to connect us all as one to the work of the Holy Temple, it tells each to bring precisely a half-Shekel.