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Dvar Torah for Parshat Shekalim"I heard from the Rebbe that the [best] time for giving tzedakah (charity) for the Land of Israel is in [the month of] Adar" (Tzaddik #562). This coming Shabbat is the first of four special Shabbats called the Arba Parshiot (Four Parshas). On each of these Shabbats we read an additional portion of the Torah after the regularly scheduled reading. They are read in the month of Adar, and introduce and complement one another, Purim and Pesach. God willing we will discuss each one in turn. The actual reading for Parshat Shekalim is the beginning of last week's parsha, Ki Tisa. In these six verses God tells Moshe Rabbeinu (our teacher) to count the Jewish people by taking from each one a half-shekel coin. This contribution was given after the sin of the golden calf, prior to the building of the Mishkan (Tabernacle). The silver of these coins was melted and formed to make the sockets that constituted the base of the Ohel Moed (Communion Tent). In Temple times a half-shekel was donated during the month of Adar by each family head. From those monies sheep were purchased to be used as part of the sacrificial service in the Temple. It is as a memorial to the latter that our Sages instituted this reading. What can we learn from it today? The Talmud (Berakhot 26b) explains why the three daily prayers were established: "Tefilot keneged temidin tiknum" (The [Sages] established the prayers to parallel the regular offerings). Rebbe Nachman parses the words in the following way to give us an eitzah to improve our prayers: "Tefilot keneged" - prayers face opposition. We all know that when we begin to pray our minds become deluged with all sorts of thoughts: the news, what we're going to tell someone, anything but the words of prayer that are exiting from our mouths. What's the remedy? "Temidin tiknum" - By giving charity to the Land of Israel (the word temidin hints to the Holy Land). Why does this work? Rebbe Nachman explains this by pointing to the Talmud's teaching that the waters of the Flood (in the days of Noah) didn't fall in the Land (Zevachim 113a). By contributing to the upkeep of the Holy Land one gains (at least some of) the benefits of being there and so is protected to some extent from the deluge of distracting thoughts. Another benefit acquired by giving tzedakah to the Holy Land is the wisdom that the air of the Land affords (Bava Batra 158b). And "Fear of God - this is wisdom" (Job 28:28). When one is wiser in this way he can ward off more easily, and even negate beforehand, the distracting thoughts. We've mentioned elsewhere that the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) was the Land itself in concentrated form. Thus, by contributing towards the sacrifices that were brought there, one gained both of these benefits. The animal's being slaughtered would bring home to a person that despite all the pleasure the body enjoys it must ultimately come to an end. That in itself would clean away from the person's mind any number of distracting thoughts that would otherwise have silenced or stifled his prayers, his expression of his yearning to come closer to Hashem.
agutn Shabbos! |
