We know that some shabosos during the year have special names, which identify key themes that should be focused on during the Shabbos. If I may be so bold, I would like to call this Shabbos “can you see me?” There are people in every Synagogue, Shul, Shteibel, Beis Medrash, that are invisible. The individuals know they can be seen, but they are amongst the forgotten ones. They who are ignored, never given aliyas, wished good Shabbos or smiled at during a kiddush. They continue to attend, whilst suffering the shame of being overlooked for the simplest kibud or honour. Most shuls will claim to be welcoming, but is that true? I would like readers of this column to start a campaign. I don’t want money, we have no philanthropists that will match the contributions. We just need good will, to bring an end to this most unfortunate, obnoxious, humiliation that happens week after week. So, in honour of my “Can you see me?” Shabbos, open your eyes and spot the person or people in Shul that are ignored and embrace them and pay to attention them. Loneliness is the first negative reality in the Torah! If you need a dvar Torah to motivate you keep on reading. If you’re mummering, it’s obvious, know that not everyone thinks so. Every Jew is precious and worthy of our love, regardless of clothes, social group, financial status, title.
Parasha Ki Tissa begins with a well-known mitzvah. There are many reasons why a nation would want to know for certain how many people there are within an age bracket. When we need to know, the Torah commands us to donate half a shekel rather than counting people directly. Rashi explains that there is a danger in counting people “for numbers (i. e. things that have been numbered) are subject to the influence of the “evil eye”, and therefore if you count them by their polls pestilence may befall them, as we find happened, in the days of Dovid.” The Seforno adds “it is most appropriate that at the time of such count he should pay some ransom on behalf of his soul, his life, so that he will qualify for atonement. This also explains why the poor must not give less nor the rich more, as a soul’s ransom is not calculated in terms of the amount of money offered to Hashem.” The idea that each person has equal value, regardless of their personal wealth or social status is central to Chasidic thought too. The Kedushas Levi teaches:
Seeing that Hashem so loves the Jewish people that He feels personally oppressed by their troubles, He gives them an advice on how to save their lives/souls from the attacks of the evil urge. We have an explicit posuk in Nechemyah 9:6 spelling this out: “and You keep them all alive,” If this applies to the universe’s creatures generally, how much more so does it apply to Hashem’s favourite nation, the Jewish people.
The Sefer Hachinuch explains the rationale that underpins this Mitzva. Hashem wanted for the good of all of Israel and for their merit, that the hand of all be equal in the matter of the sacrifices that are brought in front of Him regularly the whole year. It is also that all be equal both poor and rich in one mitzvah in front of Him, to bring up their thought for the good in front of Him, through the commandment that they are all included in.
The foundations of the House of Hashem were built by all the people. No one could claim that he had contributed more. The amount made it abundantly clear that this was a national undertaking. The homogeneous price avoided embarrassment for the less affluent and assured no feeling of moral superiority for those that could have afford to give more. Standing alone, we represent just half a shekel, we desperately need communal and national involvement in order to achieve self-actualisation. As the saying goes “ I am I, if you are you.” When we ignore the you, we actually loose ourselves! Only by coming together with others, could the half-shekels become whole and complete. Every Jew has their other half shekel, so if we ignore people in shul accidently or chas veshalom deliberately we are doing ourselves a disservice too. We can never be complete, our collective davening no matter how inspired will be deficient if we exclude.
When we relate and see each other as our “other- half”, we end up complementing each other. The ideal state of achdus, “unity” was famously achieved at Sinai where every Jew stood “like one man, with one heart”. Alone, neither “body” nor “soul” is complete. Alone, neither “individual” nor “community” are whole. They have only reached the “halfway mark”.
Our enemies have succeeded over our history to divide us. Haman pointed out how diverse and scattered we were and therefore annihilating the Jews would cause no damage to Achashverosh. We ought to be careful and not subconsciously adopt the ideology of our enemies. The Alshich says in the name of Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz that machtzis hashekel is to show that when a Jew joins the klal he then becomes a whole person. The Malbim says that as long as the Jews join together as one person, the zechus of the rabbim is great. Hashem commanded Bnei Yisroel to bring a half a shekel, which shows that they are only part of a larger unit. Only when he joins with others will he be considered a whole.
We would do well to listen to the wise advice of Esther Hamalka who devised a plan to counteract Haman’s complaint, when she asked that “knos es kol haYehudim” gather together all the Jews.
In Mevaser Tov, the Biala Rebbe Shlit’’a reminds us that during the second Beis Hamikdosh there was a group called the Essenes. They shunned society, did not get married and lived as hermits in the desert. They foolishly thought that kedusha could only be attained by otherworldliness. Chazal taught us a very different approach. We must not isolate ourselves from the community, we must not live as hermits. By extension we must hear that we cannot cause others to be hermits through our behaviour. The Rebbe writes “When a person acts like a mensch with polite and proper behaviour then he can find the path to holiness that unites him with the community.” We all yearn to feel the presence of Hashem in our lives, to end the period of darkness and confusion, let us begin this Shabbos with “can you see me” and let the sound emerge loud and strong YES, I can see you! Then we can go hand in hand to great Moshiach.
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