I want to make a proposal, it’s only a hypothetical one, so please don’t quote me on this to the Washington Jewish Week, here it is:
This Shabbat we’re observing Shabbat Shekalim, as you heard during the Torah service, the first of four special Shabbatot that remind us Passover is on its way, just a month and a half away. In all likelihood, we will not be past the pandemic yet, and many of us again will not be able to celebrate with family and friends as in years past. So, I propose we set aside Passover altogether, let it go, take a pass on it. We mention the Exodus every day during our prayers, and on every Shabbat and at every other festival, Dayenu! Instead of observing Passover as we normally do, each of us, or each family, needs to choose to do one thing, one action that is safe given the Covid restrictions, to ensure that at least one person in the world who is not free, not free in some way or another, becomes free, and that will be our Passover this year.
With this proposal in mind, take a moment to think about what that action might be. If our only obligation on Passover was to somehow ensure or promote the freedom of at least one person, or persons, in the world who is oppressed, alienated, exiled, whether physically or mentally, or both…what one action would we take on his or her or their behalf?
Please think about that for a moment as we reflect on Shabbat Shekalim, the first of the special Shabbatot that carry through Purim and the weeks up to Passover.
One action, one concrete action.
The inspiration for this proposal comes from the way the Torah describes the half shekel donation to the Temple. While the ancient Tabernacle and Temple benefited from the half-shekel donation, the donation itself is a census. The Midrash explains the Israelites are counted 10 times after they leave Egypt, with the last one mentioned in the Book of the prophet Jeremiah, a prophecy looking toward the unknown times ahead with a promise that God will continue to watch over the people into the distant future as a shepherd counts each of the flock, showing awareness and care.
A census is a simple, straightforward action, a counting, and the act of giving a half-shekel, a fixed amount for every person regardless of status, is a small and concrete action to show we’re one people, all created in God’s image, all of us responsible for the upkeep of our holy places since it’s holiness and blessing that sustain us and keep up our spirits.
As Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev observes, we may entertain lofty thoughts of serving God, only to be brought down to earth with the necessities of our lives and the realities we live in and through, and so, he continues saying:
We must do this also by something tangible in addition to the lofty thoughts that he entertains while doing so. Allegorically speaking, the performance of a tangible מצוה, commandment, is considered as if person helps the Presence of the Lord to arise from the dust on earth [where it appears to have been buried. Ed.].
Giving of the half-shekel is a tangible mitzvah, like dropping a coin in a JNF tzedakah box, that has the power to open up our hearts. The half-shekel is the beginning of building up to remembering and celebrating the Exodus at Passover, but we cannot rise up to the heights of Exodus glory overnight. So, we start small. And Passover is about all of us, leaving Egypt together, walking out with heads held high. We cannot achieve that overnight either.
In the words of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, the mission of Israel is dependent upon the unity of the whole. By putting in a half-shekel, we take the first step in that direction.
The word shekel comes from the Hebrew meaning to weigh, because the Biblical shekel was based on weight rather than market value as currencies are today. The weight of one half-shekel is minimal, but thousands, millions of half-shekels can make a huge difference. The great Maimonides said as much when he taught that if we have say, one hundred shekels to give, we should give one shekel each to 100 recipients rather than all 100 to one recipient.
On Shabbat shekalim we make a pledge that our faith and our mission can be as simple and meaningful as helping one other person to be free. The beautiful rituals we have, the symbolic foods, the prayers that lift our spirits, these can help us to focus on what is important, but they cannot substitute for the way that over and over again, as we read the Torah beyond the Exodus story, God says we must act with righteousness in the world because we were slaves in Egypt and we know the soul of the slaves, we know what it was like, it’s in our collective memory, our spiritual DNA even if we’ve never been slaves ourselves.
Let’s get back to the proposal, that I pray won’t end up on next week’s front page…we will forge ahead with cleaning and Seders, with chopping up horseradish root, and singing Chad Gadya, and even as we’re still restricted during these times, let’s commit to the spirit of the half-shekel, that each of us is infused with a spark of God’s Presence, the same God who humbled an empire, set our people free, and believed in them, in us, through all their rebelliousness through 40 years so they could stand up confidently themselves and also stand up for others. All that is within each of us, what a holy gift, a holy strength, and what a holy responsibility.
