Half a Shekel: Unity That Brings the Shechinah

1“This is what they shall give, everyone who passes among those who are counted: half a shekel … half a shekel as an offering to Hashem.”¹ Rashi points out that these verses speak of three offerings: one for the sockets, the silver bases that held up the boards of the Mishkan; one for the korbanos; and one for the Mishkan itself.² But we know that “The earth and its fullness are Hashem's,”³ and “Mine is the silver and Mine is the gold, says Hashem of Hosts.”⁴ Why, then, did Hashem command these three offerings? Surely He has no need at all for the money of Bnei Yisrael!

2We can explain this by first citing my holy great-grandfather, zt"l, in his holy sefer Divrei Binah, on the verse “And the keruvim spread out their wings upward … with their faces one toward the other …”⁵ These are his holy words: “The keruvim were kiravya, with the face of a child.⁶ For the keruvim bear witness to the great love Hashem has for Israel … And so the keruvim had the face of a child, to show that at its source, Hashem's love for Israel is like a father's love for his small child. Even when the child does foolish things, it is all a delight to his father. Hashem's love for Israel is the same, provided only that ‘their faces are one toward the other,’ that they are united. For when there is strife, Heaven forbid, the father has no choice but to step in between his children and scold them. The one thing needed is that ‘their faces are one toward the other,’ that they are united. Understand this.” Those are his holy words.

3This lets us explain the verse at the close of Megillas Esther: “For Mordechai the Jew … seeking the good of his people and speaking peace to all his offspring.”⁷ “Mordechai the Jew” stands for the tzaddik of the generation, whose service is to bring down an abundance of blessing upon Israel. But he can do so only when peace dwells among them and there is no quarreling between them. This is the meaning of “seeking the good of his people.” When can he do so? When there is “peace to all his offspring.”

4Here lies the reason for the mitzvah of the half-shekel for the korbanos and for building the Mishkan. The Mishkan was put up so that the Shechinah would rest among Israel, as the verse says, “And they shall make Me a Mikdash, and I will dwell among them.”⁸ That can happen only when Israel is at peace within itself, free of strife and quarreling. And we know that when people join together with one will to bring some project from potential into reality, the work itself draws them close and unites the hearts of all who take part in it. That is why Hashem commanded that the Mishkan be built and put up from the gifts that Bnei Yisrael's hearts moved them to give: by working on it together, they would come to closeness and unity, and so the Shechinah could rest among them. This answers our question.

5This is the meaning of the verse “Moshe saw all the work, and behold, they had done it; as Hashem had commanded, so had they done. And Moshe blessed them.”⁹ Rashi explains: “He said to them, ‘May it be His will that the Shechinah rest upon the work of your hands,’ and ‘May the pleasantness of Hashem our God be upon us …’”¹⁰ When Moshe Rabbeinu saw the love, brotherhood and peace among them, he said that the Shechinah could now dwell in the House of Hashem.

6Now that we are together in one fellowship, I ask of you that there be love, brotherhood, peace and friendship among all of us, with “their faces one toward the other.” Then Hashem will not need, Heaven forbid, to scold us. We will be privileged to receive an abundance of blessing, and the words “seeking the good of his people …” will come true in us.