Two Minute Torah Podcast

Pekudei 5768 by Hazzan Larry Goller

Hello - this is Hazzan Larry Goller of North Suburban Synagogue Beth El in Highland Park, IL. I am pleased to present to you this week's "Two Minute Torah".

This week's regular Torah portion is P'kudei. I say "regular" because beginning this week, we add a special portion, or maftir, to the Torah reading. It is the first of the arba parshi'ot, the four special Torah portions that are added in the six weeks prior to Pesach. There is also a special haftarah designated for each of these days. As a result, the Shabbat itself is referred to by the name of the special portion.

The first special Shabbat comes this week, Shabbat Sh'kalim. This week's maftir talks about the half-shekel that was collected from each male Israelite, twenty years of age or older. The half-shekel went to the maintenance of the temple. This contribution was due on the first day of the month of Nisan. It was decreed that a "public service announcement" would be made approximately one month earlier to remind people of the impending payment, on the Shabbat preceding the first of Adar (or on Rosh Chodosh Adar if it fell on Shabbat, as it does this year). This would be done in the form of reading the Torah portion declaring the mitzvah of the half-shekel.

In fulfillment of this mitzvah, no one was to give less than a half-shekel. But interestingly, no one was to give more than a half-shekel, either. Who ever heard of a synagogue fundraiser where people are told there is a limit to how much they can give? (Keep in mind: This was in the days before campaign finance reform!)

As with many seemingly puzzling laws of the Torah, this has a logical, as well as appealing, explanation. Each person is to give exactly the same amount so as to demonstrate that each person is equal before God. God does not play favorites among the Jewish people. Each of us should know that we are equally loved and cared for by God regardless of who we are, who and where we come from, and what we do. It is comforting to know that even though society may rank and rate us, God and Judaism do not.

This is Hazzan Larry Goller wishing you a good week and a Shabbat Shalom.