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Why does the Torah (תורה) command giving a half-shekel instead of a whole one? The shiur develops that true unity (achdus) can only be created from incomplete parts, not whole entities. Each Jew is a "half" that needs the rest of Klal Yisroel to become complete—this is the yesod of areivus, the tikkun for Cheit HaEigel (where each shevet made its own eigel, creating disunity), and the core lesson of Purim (פורים)'s matanos la'evyonim.
Rabbi Zweig opens by posing several questions about the machatzis hashekel. Why was a half-shekel specifically chosen as the coin for counting Klal Yisroel and for the korbanos tzibbur? Why not command giving a whole shekel, which would be more logical? Chazal say it atones for Maaseh HaEigel—but how does giving money create a kapara for the sin of the Golden Calf? Additionally, the Gemara (גמרא) states that the machatzis hashekel that Moshe gave "overpowered" the money Haman offered to destroy the Jews—but what is the conceptual connection between these two contributions? The shiur's core insight emerges from a linguistic analysis. The Torah (תורה) uses the phrase "kores bris" (literally "cutting a covenant"), which appears to be an oxymoron: a bris creates unity and connection, while krisa (cutting) means separation and severance. How can the very act of forming a bond be described using the language of division?
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Parshas Vayakhel, Ki Sisa (Machatzis Hashekel)
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