Today is particularly appropriate for a discussion of the Jewish Meaning of Wealth. First of all, we have just read the special Biblical chapter of Parshas Shekolim, the chapter concerning the donation to the Temple, by all Israelite adults, of the famous half-shekel; the charity tax, as it were. The shekel, the standard form of currency in ancient Israel, is the Jewish symbol of wealth, much as the dollar is its American counterpart. Second, ours is an age when the acquisition of riches is a sure sign of success and an admission ticket into high society. Third, ours too is a time when wealth in this country is factually within the reach of most men. It is proper, therefore, for us to do some constructive thinking along Jewish lines and attempt to discover the Jewish Meaning of Wealth.The first clue to understanding what wealth, in the Jewish sense, is all about, comes from one of those lofty and beautiful legends which our people wove about the tradition of shekolim. The Talmud relates that in instructing Moses concerning the Laws of shekolim, G-d actually demonstrated the lesson, and He showed him shekel shel esh, a shekel of fire, which He had brought up mi’tachas kisei ha’kavod, from under G-d’s Throne of Glory. A shekel of fire from under G-d’s Throne. What an image – and what a message. There is absolutely nothing immoral about wealth, our Rabbis mean to tell us. Judaism, unlike its “daughter religion,” does not make a virtue of poverty, and does not shut the door of Heaven in the face of the rich. The rich and the poor alike can both gain entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven; there is no economic discrimination. A man need not be ashamed of his shekel. He can hold it aloft, if honestly earned, as shining as a torch of pure fire. But – and this is the essence of what they want to tell us – never forget the source of your shekels. Never forget the origin of your good fortune. Remember at all times that if you were blessed with many shekels, with a decent living…

In that special portion which we will read from the second Torah tomorrow morning, we learn of G-d’s command to the Children of Israel to give, each and every one, a half of a shekel as his charity-tax or enforced contribution for the upkeep of the Holy Temple. He’ashir lo yarbeh ve’ha’dal lo yaamit... income tax on absolute scale... Would seem prosaic enough, technical way of solving financial problems... but Torah then calls this tax of ½-shekel as kofer nefesh, or ransom for the soul, a spiritual expiation... Would any of us, at March 15 or April 15, get feeling spiritual elation, religious ecstasy and insight?... And second, can money “buy” kofer nefesh? Don’t we Rabbis, religious Jews, always maintain can’t “bribe” G-d, that charity only one mitzvah?...

At recent R.A.Y.U. Convention, Herman Wouk compared English and Yiddish. Direct translation of Yiddish into English is fragmentary, lacks the charm, earthiness, immediacy and Jewishness of the whole Yiddish sentence though individual words and ideas are correctly translated....This is so both because of special character of Yiddish and also because it is rich in idioms, which can be translated word for word, but lack meaning as a whole. To take a minor example: ICH HAB IM LIB FUN DER VEITENS.... each word correctly translated, but meaning as a whole is more than component words. 2. It occurs to us that what holds true for language and words, holds true for personality and human beings. It is possible for a man to have all the individual qualities that go into making a fine person, and yet, as a whole, he can remain an unsavory character. 3. I believe that that is what Rabbis had in mind in their commentary on the central theme of today’s special reading, Parshat Shekalim...KI SISSA is method of census...therefore one could not give more than shekel even if he wanted to...but this was more than a clever method of accomplishing a census simultaneously with increasing the Temple’s financial resources. It was a census that made sense , it made sense in a very profound way. Our Rabbis (Mid. Rabb a Shir Hash.) pointed out that from an analysis of the various parts of the Torah where a counting or census of populations and peoples is mentioned, a difference can be noted between the census of the Israelites and those of the neathen nations. UMOS HA’OLAM YESH LAHEM MINYAN VE’EIN LAHEM SE’CHUM, YISRAEL YESH LAHEM MINYAN VE’EESH LAHEM SE’CHUM - when the Torah counts the heathens, it merely enumerates them according to their families, but does not offer a total sum whereas with Israel, gives individual counts and then a total sum of all Israelitesor all Jews included in the census. 4. Why is this? Did Torah work on assumption that Jews aren't as good in arithmetic as non-Jews?…

The Sidra today is primarily an accounting that Moses gives of how he spent the moneys donated by the people, in the form of shkalim, for construction of the Mishkan. It is a prosaic matter, dealing with costs and construction. And yet, the Midrash thought it important enough to quote an oral tradition dealing with this era and particularly this episode. It is prosaic, yes, but illuminating too—of importance to every Jewish community in the USA, and perhaps especially to Springfield. Midrash: Moses overlooks 1,775 *shkalim*. Misplaced appropriation.**Hischil yosheiv umasmi’ach, amar: ach shav Yisrael motzi’in y’deihem leimor Mosheh natalan… hei’ir haKadosh Baruch Hu et einav ve’ra’ah otam asuyin vavim la’amudim. Otoh sha’ah nispaisu Yisrael al melechet haMishkan...**To understand why Tradition recorded this big issue over the *vavim* (or hooks used in construction of this portable Temple), we must first understand that Judaism has always taken the Mishkan and its appurtenances as being symbols—sometimes of the universe, or man—but usually of the congregation of Israel, *Knesset Yisrael*, the Jewish community. And to understand this episode of the Missing Hooks, we must first know what the *hook* may symbolize in the total structure of a typical Jewish community. And we must understand that if the Mishkan is a valid symbol of Israel, then it must apply today too. What, then, does the hook stand for?It does not require great imagination to see how our Mishkan—our Jewish community—can be represented in the form of the Mishkan. Pillars (*amudim*) represent the physical survival of Jews vs. anti-Semitism, whether in Europe, Egypt, or the USA. The altar (*mizbeach*) is the State of Israel, where people have sacrificed so much in order to survive as an independent state. The roof shelters the impoverished—social services. The ark represents the synagogue. The ornaments represent recreational institutions supported by the *shkalim* of the Jewish community. All are necessar…

The law of Shekalim was not merely a clever way to solve two problems, that of the census and the maintenance of the Temple budget. It was a mitzvah, a commandment of G-d, and the giving of the half shekel was therefore the performance of a sacred religious duty. And even more than an ordinary mitzvah, the law of the shekel has become a badge of pride for the Jew, the symbol of Jewish philanthropy. For indeed, even in those quarters where Jewish commercial ability is regarded with envy, Jewish charitableness is admired. The Jew may be a “go-getter,” but he is also a “go-giver.”

The prolonged New York City newspaper strike has adversely affected not only the economy of our community, but also the democratic process which requires an informed citizenry intelligently to decide upon its course. It constitutes no less than a national disgrace. Yet, as with everything else, we must be able to see the silver lining about the cloud. There is a redeeming feature to this otherwise intolerable state of affairs. We moderns have an insatiable appetite for constant stimulation by dramatic, world-shaking events. Our emotions feed on headlines, and our minds like to be jarred by exciting news of colossal proportions. Now, for several weeks, we have learned that life can be quite interesting even without these external stimuli. We have learned to fall back upon our own inner resources, without being incessantly pricked and shocked by big threats, terrible scandals, imminent attacks which usually do not materialize. We actually can get along without those big headlines which, in but a few hours, are valueless, surpassed by newer “extras” that shriek at us from the newsstands. Life, we have discovered, has its own justification in the little things that occur to us every day. This same idea is contained, in somewhat different form, in a Midrash quite appropriate for the Sabbath on which we read of the shekalim, Moses collected from the Children of Israel for the purpose of the construction and maintenance of the Tabernacle. The Midrash relates (Yalkut, Pekudei) that when Moses completed the building of the Tabernacle, he turned to the Israelites and said, now I shall give you a report of the shekalim you gave me. When Moses completed his accounting, however, he discovered to his dismay that his books did not balance. Tradition records with fine precision that the deficit was exactly 1,775 shekalim. Moses was deeply concerned by this discrepancy. He was distressed and perplexed. Now, he thought, Yisrael motz’in yedehem lomar Mosheh natlan – the Israelites wi…

In preparing for the revelation at Sinai, Moses read the “Book of the Covenant” (from the beginning of the Torah up to that point) to the children of Israel. ויאמר כל אשר דבר ה’ נעשה ונשמע, “And they said: ‘all that the Lord hath spoken we shall do and we shall obey.’” Our tradition saw in these two words, naaseh ve’nishma, not just an indication of consent but a whole philosophy of religion. For the Tradition did not translate naaseh ve’nishma as “do and obey,” but as “do and understand.” It is the particular order of that expression, the priority of action to understanding, that was acclaimed by our Sages. They tell us that even God was overwhelmed: יצתה בת קול ואמרה מי גילה רז זה לבני שמלאכי השרת משתמשין בו? A divine voice issued from heaven and cried out, “Who revealed to My children this secret which only the ministering angels know of?”But we must be honest. If the Jewish tradition admires the response of naaseh ve’nishma and God was astounded that the secret is out, clearly we moderns are shocked for the opposite reason. The modern temper sees in this attitude a symptom of blind religion, of lack of understanding, of irrationality. Surely an intelligent person seeks to understand before he practices, he seeks to know before he commits himself.How then can we go along with Judaism’s enthusiastic approval of naaseh ve’nishma?We must understand that we here face two radically different approaches. The modern temper can be characterized as autonomous. Man himself must determine each act, each decision, each challenge. A demand must appeal to his intellect and to his emotion before he commits himself to it. He, man, is the measure of all things. What he does must issue from internal consent, and not be imposed upon him externally. Judaism, however, is theonomous. Naaseh ve’nishma implies not man as the center of all things, but God. It is the nomos of Theos, the law of God, to which we submit in humility. Judaism regards autonomy in religion as an act of intellec…

When, as recorded in today’s dramatic Haftorah, the prophet Elijah ascended Mount Carmel in what today is the city of Haifa, he faced the hundreds of priests of the Baal and the crowds of the people of Israel, and flung a challenge at the dissident and confused masses to make up their minds and decide where their loyalties lay. “How long halt ye between two opinions?” – Why are you as indecisive as a small bird hopping from one branch to another, unable to make up its mind on which branch it wishes to perch? “If the Lord be G-d, follow Him; but if the Baal, follow him.” You can’t have it both ways. You can’t escape the necessity for choosing, painful though it be. Indeed, Elijah speaks to all men of all times when he presses us to make a choice between G-d and the Baals of all ages. Especially interesting in his historic challenge is the piquant description of idolatry when he presents the alternatives from which the choice is to be made. His searing sarcasm contains a nugget of wisdom about idolatry both ancient and modern which is most important for us. “And it came to pass at noon” – at a time when all a man’s actions are open and revealed and he can hide nothing –” that Elijah mocked them and said ‘Cry aloud, for is he not a god? – either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is in a journey’ – and most important – ‘or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awakened.’” The nature of idolatry, Elijah declares in the measured accents of mockery, is that of sleep. When you most need him, he is most fast asleep. I would add that the difference between a man asleep and the sleeping god is this: A sleeping man looks lifeless but he is alive; a sleeping god looks alive, but is very much dead. The idol appears real enough: it has eyes, ears, nose, hands, but as King David said, “They have mouths but they speak not, they have eyes but they see not, they have ears but they hear not.” What Elijah called the sleeping god refers not only to the idolatries of the ancient …

The whole Torah, said the Kotzker Rebbe, is a commentary on the verse מדבר שקר תרחק, “keep thyself far from a false statement.” Judaism teaches not that “God is love,” or that “God is pity.” Pity and love are attributes, not definitions of God. There is only one definition of God in Judaism, and that was formulated by the prophet Jeremiah and introduced into our daily prayers: ה’ אלקיכם אמת, “the Lord your God is Truth.”A careful reading of our key text will reveal two interesting peculiarities in this three-word verse: דבר and תרחק.Iתרחק means “keep thyself far.” Generally, it is the Rabbis who make a סיג לתורה, a “fence around the Torah.” So, when the Torah itself forbids, for instance, mowing the lawn, the Rabbis go a step further and forbid moving the lawn mower, lest one use it unthinkingly. They thus move us far away from a prohibited act. There is only one place in which the Torah itself establishes a סיג, or a “zone of safety,” and that is in the case of falsehood: מדבר שקר תרחק, “keep thyself far from falsehood.”There is only one way to say the truth; if one wishes to be philosophical, he can allow that there are a number of ways speaking the truth. But there is an infinite number of ways to tell a lie! Hence, תרחק, keep far away.It is instructive, and a beautiful example of Jewish law and ethics, to see how the Talmud scrupulously applied the principle of תרחק. The Sages understood the verse as directed primarily (although not exclusively) at judges. Thus, the Talmud (Shev. 30b, 31a) derives the following rules which together constitute part of the Jewish code of judicial conduct. A judge must not be defensive; if he makes a mistake, he must admit it and not rationalize – thus not only not lying, but keeping as far away from untruth as possible. A judge must not permit an ignorant student to assist him; he must keep him at arm’s length. A judge must refuse to sit on the bench together with another judge whom he knows is dishonest; תרחק! A judge who knows …

שתי סוגיות גדולות ומרכזיות ערוכות לפנינו בפרשת כי-תשא: מצות שקלים ומצות שבת. והיחס שביניהם אינו אומר אלא דרשני. מצות שקלים דומה מאוד למצות צדקה, אלא שזה נותן לעניים וזה לבנין המשכן ובדק הבית. והדמיון ביניהם הוא לא רק בזה שבשניהם על האדם לתת לזולתו, לעצור את קמצנותו הטבעית ולעבור דרך חסרון כיס להגשמת מטרה עילאה, אלא דומות גם גם בטיב המקבל, שהרי חכמי הסוד בישראל אמרו שהמשכן הינו סמל לאדם, וכלי המשכן מקבילים לאברי האדם כל אחד ואחד על אופנו. נמצא שבכל אחד מהם, שקלים וצדקה, האדם נותן פרוטה או מחצית השקל, כאן לאיש פרטי וכאן לאנושות כולה כשהיא מסומלת במשכן.והנה צדקה היא אפייניח לכל מצוות שביו ארם לחברו. וידועים דברי בעל-התניא בפרק ל״ב שחשיבות צדקה היא בדה שהיא כוללת את כל כחותיו ומאמציו של האדם שעמל ויגע בעבודתו בכדי לרכוש לחמו וכספו שממנו הוא תורם לצדקה. צדקה היא אי פא הסמל של כל הוייתו הגשמית של האדם המופנית כפי מצות תורתנו הק׳ לטובת חברו האומלל והמסכן- איו לר מצוה יותר מסוגלת לייצג את כל המצוות שביו אדם לחבר ו.ומאידר, שבת היא כל כולה לשם שמים, ׳ישבת היא לה,", והיא מיצגת את כל המצוות שבין אדם למקום. ויותר מדה: ידוע ששבת הוא כינוי לת״ח, ולפי״ד שבת מסמלת ת״ת, והלא ת״ת היא מצוה שבין אדם למקום. יש איפא מין עימות או מתח בין שתי המצוות הגדולות בסדרתנו: שקלים וכל שאר מצוות שביו אדם לחברו מחד גיסא, ושבת וכל שאר מצוות שביו אדם למקום מאי דר גיסא. ולפי דה, שתי המצוות האלה מסמלות גם חכמת התורה וחכמות העולם. שבת היא הסמל לחכמת התורה, ושקלים—לחכמות העולם שהו דרושות לאדם למצוא טרפו וכר לתרום משלו לדולתו. ובאמת אין דה עימות או התחרות ביניהן. אדרבה, הו משלימות רו את דו, שלא ייתכן לקיים רק מצוות שביו אדם למקום או רק מצוות שביו אדם לחברו. וכן טוב לאדם שיעסוק הם בחכמה העליונה של התוה״ק שסמלה היא שבת, והם בחכמות האחרות הדרושות לצדקה. אולם השילוב ביניהן אינו שילוב של ערכים השווים דה לדה, שאין ספק שתורה עולה על כל שאר המצוות, כמו שאמרו "ות״ת כנהר כולם". ואם כי המצוות שביו אדם לחברו עצמאיות הן כר שמי שהעליב או הד י ק לחברו אינו יכול להתכפר ע״י תפילה וכדומה אלא צריך לפייס את חברו, בכל דאת סוף-סוף הן מבוססות על מאמר ה׳ ומצותו. וכן לעניו החכמות, אם כי לחכמות העולם שנברא ע״י השי״ת יש ערר עצמאי, הל…