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Why Is It So Hard to Serve G-d With Bliss? How to Love Your (True) Self & the Other
This class was presented on Tuesday, Parshas Vayakhel, Parshas Shekalim, 25 Adar I, 5784, March 5, 2024, at Bais Medrash Ohr Chaim in Monsey, NY.
This Sabbath, Jews the world over will read, in addition to the weekly Torah portion, an extra Torah portion, known as Parshas Shekalim, or the "portion of the coins."
This section of the Torah records the mitzvah incumbent upon the people of Israel, to make a yearly contribution of a half shekel to cover the cost of all communal Temple offerings. A shekel was a specific weight of silver (about 16 grams) that was the standard coinage used by the Jews in the desert. The Jewish people were instructed to contribute a half-shekel coin, which was a silver coin weighing about 8 grams, to the Temple.
The Torah is extremely particular about the amount of the contribution: "The wealthy shall not increase and the destitute shall not decrease from half a shekel." I do not think there was ever again in Jewish history an appeal made setting a limit to the contributions of the rich!
What is baffling about this mitzvah is the Torah's insistence that the contribution consist of a half-coin, rather than a whole, complete coin. Why would G-d instruct the Jewish people to give a contribution that is not complete? Especially considering that the Torah demands all elements connected to the Temple service be as complete and perfect as possible.
In his final address, two days before he suffered a stroke, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, presented a profound explanation. This was Shabbos Vayakhel, 25 Adar I, 5752 (1992). It explored the question if a human being in his deepest place is a lonely creature, struggling with a mysterious and complex self in a way that nobody else can really understand or appreciate?
Many philosophical and spiritual disciplines eloquently describe the sense of solitariness that comes hand in hand with one's journey into the inner chambers of the self. The deeper you go, the lonelier you become. But the Rebbe presented a very different view, one which helps teach us how to live with love and joy, despite the pain and disappointment.
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