ב"ה

Two Halves Equal One

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Two Halves Equal One

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.
Parshat Shekalim, Jewish Unity, Purim, Half Shekel, Lubavitcher Rebbe
Two Halves Equal One
Disc 7, Program 25

Event Date: 14 Adar 5740 - March 02, 1980

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.

Why not something whole and perfect?

Torah is teaching us a lesson: Only when we join together with our fellow Jew do we become whole and holy. No matter how different the other may be, in customs, in experience, or in temperament – bonds of love must still join us.

Love can unite even opposites in a bond that is true and lasts forever. It gives us the power to be united as “the people of Mordechai,” neither bending nor bowing.

Living Torah

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1 Comment
John Rokos London February 10, 2021

I do wonder whether, when David had the people numbered, everyone dutifully paid their half-shekel tax and whether, when Joab opposed David's order, it was because he knew full well they wouldn't have? Reply

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