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Harav Hagaon Meir Wahrsager Shlita

You Have It? Don’t Flaunt It!

Parshas Ki Sisa

Harav Hagaon Meir Wahrsager shlita

The parshah begins with the counting of Klal Yisrael through the machatzis hashekel. The core function of the machatzis hashekel, besides being used to count Klal Yisrael, was to serve as a contribution toward the korbanos tzibbur. Actually, the machatzis hashekel served a dual purpose: to pay for the korbanos tzibbur, and to be used in the creation of the adanim that held up the Mishkan.

Each member of Klal Yisrael, rich or poor, was required to contribute the same machatzis hashekel, no less and no more: הֶעָשִׁיר לֹא יַרְבֶּה וְהַדַּל לֹא יַמְעִיט מִמַּחֲצִית הַשָּׁקֶל לָתֵת אֶת תְּרוּמַת ה’. The Rambam records this as one of the lavin in the Torah

The mashgiach Rav Yerucham, in Daas Chochmah U’Mussar, asks a question, based on the premise that every mitzvah in the Torah is designed to serve as a “tavlin” — antidote — to the yetzer hara. In other words, every mitzvah in the Torah must be addressing a particular yetzer hara that would pose a challenge to a person in the fulfillment of this mitzvah, and the mitzvah is meant to refine us so that we can resist that base urge. If so, says Rav Yerucham, we can understand why the poor person would be forbidden to give less than a machatzis hashekel; the Torah is encouraging him not to be cheap and miserly, since the nature of a poor person — actually, of people in general — is to hold onto his money rather than give it away. We can understand, then, that the prohibition to give less than a machatzis hashekel is coming to address the yetzer hara not to give, or to give less. That’s why the Torah has to instruct us וְהַדַּל לֹא יַמְעִיט.

But why, asks Rav Yerucham, does it have to command the rich person not to give more? In general, a person does not want to part with his money, so why does the Torah have to hold him back from giving more? What’s the yetzer hara to give more?

Rav Yerucham answers with a fundamental insight into human nature. A person who is blessed with wealth has a unique yetzer hara. At times, he is expected to stand with the rest of Klal Yisrael, joining as an equal member, and when that happens, he feels invisible; he feels that his status and prestige have been wiped out, and he is not being recognized for who he is. It’s very difficult for this rich person to give the same machatzis hashekel as everyone else, because he receives no recognition for his contribution.

This, says Rav Yerucham, is what the mitzvah of הֶעָשִׁיר לֹא יַרְבֶּה is addressing. In certain instances — such as the korbanos tzibbur  — the ashir has to be part of Klal Yisrael and not stick out. At these times he is not allowed to show his uniqueness or flaunt his distinct gifts.

This requires intense avodas hamiddos: to hold one’s maalos in an internal way without giving outward expression to them.

Other Forms of “Wealth”

Rav Yerucham notes that “wealth” doesn’t refer only to monetary riches; a person can be wealthy in chochmah and know a great deal of Torah. We can add that wealth can take the form of various talents as well. He explains that whichever form of wealth a person possesses, it comes along with a desire to flaunt that wealth and make his gifts known and recognized.

Rav Yerucham points out that one of the purposes of the hagbalah at Maamad Har Sinai was to temper this need for recognition. Earlier, in Parshas Yisro, Moshe Rabbeinu warned Klal Yisrael repeatedly not to approach the mountain: רֵד הָעֵד בָּעָם פֶּן יֶהֶרְסוּ אֶל ה’ לִרְאוֹת. Each group in Klal Yisrael was assigned a place, and could not go farther than that. Now, presumably certain individuals considered themselves more learned and felt that they had greater aspirations than others, but they had to take their place, like everyone else, in keeping with the principle of הֶעָשִׁיר לֹא יַרְבֶּה.

He adds that when dealing with communal or interpersonal matters — perhaps when a vote is taken in shul, or when deciding how to proceed in one’s chavrusa learning — a gifted person will have a strong urge to be noticed and for his opinion to be heard and given greater weight. Here, too, the avodah of הֶעָשִׁיר לֹא יַרְבֶּה applies.

All Equals

Rav Yerucham is addressing the avodas hamiddos aspect of this principle, but I would like to add another dimension.

Why does the Torah choose the mitzvah of machatzis hashekel, specifically, to teach us not to seek to highlight our unique gifts?

Perhaps this conveys a fundamental idea of Yiddishkeit.

Every individual is different — כשם שאין פרצופותיהן דומין זה לזה כך אין דעתן שוין זה לזה — and certain people are more talented and gifted than others. Yet the great entity of Klal Yisrael as a tzibbur leaves no room for any division or hierarchy. On that plane, every Yid is equal, and no individual is more chashuv than any other.

This essential equality of every Yid is represented by the machatzis hashekel. Each Yid is just a half-shekel, no more and no less, and there’s no room for any individual’s greatness. In this sense, his being wealthier or smarter or a greater tzaddik is irrelevant, because at his core, he’s the same as everyone else: הֶעָשִׁיר לֹא יַרְבֶּה וְהַדַּל לֹא יַמְעִיט.

The Gemara (Menachos 27a) makes a similar point regarding the arba’ah minim, as it states:

ד’ מינין שבלולב, ב’ מהן עושין פירות וב’ מהם אין עושין פירות – העושין פירות יהיו זקוקין לשאין עושין, ושאין עושין פירות יהיו זקוקין לעושין פירות, ואין אדם יוצא ידי חובתו בהן עד שיהו כולן באגודה אחת.

Two of the four minim produce fruit, representing those Yidden who do mitzvos, and two of the minim don’t, representing those who don’t do mitzvos. They come together because those who produce fruit need those who do not. The Gemara is informing us that at the basic level, the greatest tzaddikim in Klal Yisrael need the lowest of the low.

Elsewhere, the Gemara (Kerisos 6b) expresses the same message by teaching that a taanis tzibbur requires the participation of sinners:

כל תענית שאין בה מפושעי ישראל אינה תענית, שהרי חלבנה ריחה רע, ומנאה הכתוב עם סממני קטרת.

Why do the tzaddikim and gedolei hador need the resha’im and the lowly people? The answer is that the greater entity of Klal Yisrael, as a single unit, is what brings the most nachas ruach to the Eibishter. It is this unit that is guaranteed to survive eternally.

In that entity of Knesses Yisrael, each individual — great or small, wealthy or poor — serves the essential function of acting as part of a greater whole, and in that sense every person is truly equal, for each one carries equal weight in creating the tzibbur. Chazal communicated this idea when they said that at the time of Mattan Torah, had even one Yid been missing,  even the lowliest member of Klal Yisrael — perhaps one of those who was ejected from the ananei hakavod and attacked by Amalek — Moshe Rabbeinu could not have received the Torah.

Salvation Through Unity

This is, in fact, a fundamental principle of Yiddishkeit.

We just experienced the Yom Tov of Purim, where this idea is reflected in both the gezeirah of Haman and Achashverosh as well as in the yeshuah. Both conveyed that one member of Klal Yisrael is in a sense equivalent to the entire tzibbur, and that the entire tzibbur depends on a single individual.

The gezeirah was targeted at Klal Yisrael as a whole: לְהַשְׁמִיד לַהֲרֹג וּלְאַבֵּד אֶת כׇּל הַיְּהוּדִים מִנַּעַר וְעַד זָקֵן. But how did the gezeirah evolve? Why did Haman decide to annihilate the entire Klal Yisrael?

The impetus for Haman’s decree was seeing Mordechai refusing to bow to him. At that point, he decided that all of his wealth and stature were meaningless, and he resolved to eliminate Mordechai. Yet he deemed it beneath him to kill Mordechai alone — וַיִּבֶז בְּעֵינָיו לִשְׁלֹחַ יָד בְּמׇרְדֳּכַי לְבַדּוֹ — so he decided to include all of Klal Yisrael in this decree. Clearly, then, the entire gezeirah came about because of Mordechai, who encompassed all of Klal Yisrael within him.

Similarly, the yeshuah came about through a single individual, Esther, who represented the entire tzibbur. She found favor in Achashverosh’s eyes, and when she presented her plea for Klal Yisrael’s salvation, she said, נַפְשִׁי בִּשְׁאֵלָתִי וְעַמִּי בְּבַקָּשָׁתִי. Essentially, she was asking for herself — נַפְשִׁי בִּשְׁאֵלָתִי — but she could not be separated from the rest of her people, so her request naturally extended to all of Klal Yisrael: וְעַמִּי בְּבַקָּשָׁתִי.

In asking Achashverosh to save her, Esther therefore included the rest of Klal Yisrael, for if the decree against them was not revoked, Esther herself could not be spared. Through the salvation of Esther herself, then, all of Klal Yisrael were swept along.

Perhaps this fascinating phenomenon — that both the gezeirah and the yeshuah came about through a single individual — is actually at the crux of the nes Purim. This nes, which reflects the power of the individual to impact the entire tzibbur, conveys the message that at the core level of Klal Yisrael, there’s no room for individuality. The greatest of the great and the lowest of the low, the smartest and the most unintelligent, the wealthiest and the poorest, the one with prestigious yichus and the one with no particular yichus — they’re all equal. In this profound but basic dimension, every member of Klal Yisrael depends on every other individual.

In building the Mishkan’s foundation, with the adanim made of the silver of the machatzis hashekel, there was no room for the ashir or the yachsan or the chacham to express his own uniqueness and greatness. In that place specifically, as well as in the fund for the the korbanos tzibbur, the emphasis had to be on הֶעָשִׁיר לֹא יַרְבֶּה וְהַדַּל לֹא יַמְעִיט, in order to create space for hashra’as haShechinah.

When we come to be counted as a tzibbur, through the machatzis hashekel, we must realize that we need every one of our brothers in Klal Yisrael — no matter what he wears, no matter how great or small he is, and no matter how distant he is. This is the message of הֶעָשִׁיר לֹא יַרְבֶּה וְהַדַּל לֹא יַמְעִיט. This message is important for all times, but is especially crucial to internalize during an eis tzarah, when so many in Klal Yisrael are in a state of danger, and we have to be nosei b’ol with the tzibbur.

We often become absorbed in ourselves and our own lives, and we forget about the other Yid. Yet every Yid needs every other Yid. Each of us is incomplete — a machatzis — without the rest.

You might be wealthy, or powerful, or intelligent, or of distinguished lineage, but you’re still only a half. Klal Yisrael is one unit, כאיש אחד ובלב אחד.

Gut Shabbos.

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