SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH
G
iving is transforma-
tive — and not just
to the recipient. In a
2012 survey of studies linking
altruistic behaviors to improved
health, researchers from the
University of
Michigan con-
cluded that giving
time and money
to organiza-
tions, providing
social support to
friends, family
and community,
caring for the elderly or the
handicapped, and cultivating
compassionate attitudes and
traits is associated with high-
er psychological well-being,
including increased happiness
and self-esteem, and decreased
loneliness and depression.
Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, in
a famous essay, wrote that
there are two forces in this
world, giving and taking, and
correspondingly, two kinds of
people, givers and takers. (He
also explained how some peo-
ple actually give by taking, and
others take by giving — so the
dynamic is obviously not so
simple.) Furthermore, he said
one of the great transformative
goals of the Torah is to nurture
us into being givers rather than
takers. He also explained that
giving is the foundation of all
relationships — the more you
give to a person, the more you
love them. This is quite a par-
adigm shift. The conventional
wisdom is that we give to those
we love. Rabbi Dessler says it
is exactly the reverse: we love
those to whom we give.
On this Shabbos, apart from
the weekly portion, we read
a special section of the Torah
dealing with an archetypal act
of giving — the mitzvah of the
half-shekel coin. In the wake of
receiving the Torah at Mount
Sinai, the Jewish people were
called on to each donate a
half-shekel silver coin. The col-
lection of these coins had a dual
purpose: they functioned as a
census of the people (each coin
corresponded to an individual)
and also as a contribution to the
Mishkan, the sanctuary in the
desert where the Jewish peo-
ple gathered to connect to the
Shechinah, the Divine Presence.
It is significant that both
these functions were joined in
one act. The message seems to
be that, through the process of
giving and contributing to a
worthy initiative, people earn
the right to be counted as part
of society. And that’s exactly
what a society is: a group of
individuals, who, through their
specific contributions, create a
community, a collective that is
greater than the sum of its parts.
Also significant is that the
mitzvah of the half-shekel coin
was given at this formative
moment in the history of the
Jewish people — in the midst of
a series of momentous events:
the Exodus from Egypt and all
of the miracles that accompa-
nied that, and the revelation at
Mount Sinai, which is regarded
as the central event in the for-
mation of the Jewish people.
The giving of the half-shekel
— and the concept of giving in
general — is foundational to
who we are.
THE IMPORTANCE OF
CONTINUALLY GIVING
The mitzvah continued during
Temple times: each year, from
the beginning of the month
of Adar, and in the lead-up
to Pesach, a national cam-
paign was launched whereby
half-shekel coins were collected
from people across the land of
Israel, which went toward the
running costs of the Temple.
Crucially, the offerings brought
to the Temple could only be
purchased with the coins col-
lected that year and not with
coins from previous years. This
signifies the importance of con-
tinual giving and also connects
the act of giving with the sacred
service of the Temple.
A remembrance of the
half-shekel continues to this
day. In addition to commem-
orating the mitzvah with this
special Torah reading, there
is a further commemoration
on Purim, with each person
required to give three coins —
half the denomination of one’s
national currency, so three
50c pieces, for example — to
charity.
In Biblical times, the
half-shekel went toward the
Mishkan and later the Temple.
And similarly, the mitzvah
symbolizes our responsibility
to build the institutions that
help us connect to God in
today’s times — shuls, schools,
yeshivas, houses of Torah
learning. And, like the Biblical
commandment, the impact is
What Happens
When We Give?
Chief Rabbi
Warren
Goldstein
40 | FEBRUARY 24 • 2022