Rav Etan's Parshat Ki-Tisa D'var Torah

This week’s Torah portion opens with the giving of the Machazit Hashekel. Everyone contributes a half Shekel, not more and not less. As we know, this was the great equalizer. No one person had greater influence due to his contribution. But, the same sense of equality could have been accomplished if everyone had to give one shekel or some other equal amount (with even more money raised!) Why the half shekel?

The Torah is signaling that our contributions are incomplete without attaching to one another’s. After-all what value does a ripped dollar bill have? None, if incomplete. When building community, our efforts only make a difference if we work in tandem. And when we do so, we can accomplish so much more than the sum of its parts. So often two halves make more than one whole. Think about trying to lift half a table on your own versus lifting a whole table with two people. It is certainly so when it comes to community building and the spiritual realm.

The converse is also true. We accomplish virtually nothing if only half of us take part. We can see this so clearly as we are engaged in trying to limit the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The experts have made it very clear and it’s simple logic, that if only some of us follow the guidelines and not everyone participates, virtually nothing will be accomplished. That’s the meaning behind a half shekel. It’s worthless without the other half.

We like to think of ourselves as independent and complete on our own, a full shekel in and of ourselves. But the other message of the half shekel is that we are incomplete without each other. The irony of quarantine and social distancing, the attempt of trying to separate or distance oneself from one another is the very recognition that we are all so integrally connected and impacted by one another. This is true not only for those of us physically close to one another, but as the pandemic virus illustrates, it is the case just as much so for those thousands of miles apart.

This Shabbat, let’s use the force of physical separation to connect us. As we enter into Shabbat, let’s stay connected by praying together alone – that is, at the same time as scheduled services – 7 pm tonight, and 9:30 am Shabbat morning, Shacharit. At 10:30 when we get up to the Torah reading and we study the portion of the half shekel, let’s remember how incomplete we are without one another. Let’s also remember that no matter how far we try to stay away, we’re drawn together.

And lastly, I’ll leave you with the inspiring words from my colleague, Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky, in Los Angeles: "Every hand that we don't shake must become a phone call that we place. Every embrace that we avoid must become a verbal expression of warmth and concern. Every inch and every foot that we physically place between ourselves and another, must become a thought as to how we might be of help to that other, should the need arise."

Shabbat Shalom,
Rav Etan