Chasidut zu Schemot 30:13
זֶ֣ה ׀ יִתְּנ֗וּ כָּל־הָעֹבֵר֙ עַל־הַפְּקֻדִ֔ים מַחֲצִ֥ית הַשֶּׁ֖קֶל בְּשֶׁ֣קֶל הַקֹּ֑דֶשׁ עֶשְׂרִ֤ים גֵּרָה֙ הַשֶּׁ֔קֶל מַחֲצִ֣ית הַשֶּׁ֔קֶל תְּרוּמָ֖ה לַֽיהוָֽה׃
Das soll jeder geben, der durch die Musterungen geht: Einen halben Sekel nach dem Sekel des Heiligtums — zwanzig Gera der Sekel — die Hälfte des Sekels, als Gabe dem Herrn.
Kedushat Levi
Exodus 25,2. “and they shall take for Me a contribution, each person according to how his heart moves him. And these are the contributions you are to accept from them: gold, silver and copper.” As we explained earlier, every person serving the Lord, must do so 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 man helps the Presence of the Lord to arise from the dust on earth [where it appears to have been buried. Ed.].
When keeping this in mind we can answer the enigma posed by the words כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו, “each person according to how his heart moves him.” These words form the link between the generous thought and the generous deed. By making a voluntary contribution, i.e. the size of the contribution is completely voluntary, it is not a tax as the half shekel in Exodus 30,13, the Presence of G’d on earth will become so much more manifest.
The words: וזאת התרומה, may be understood as if the Torah had written: וזאת ההתרוממות, “and this will constitute the “exaltation, elevation.” The examples of the materials that were to be denoted are symbolic of how lofty and generous thoughts are to be translated into “lofty” and generous deeds.
When keeping this in mind we can answer the enigma posed by the words כל איש אשר ידבנו לבו, “each person according to how his heart moves him.” These words form the link between the generous thought and the generous deed. By making a voluntary contribution, i.e. the size of the contribution is completely voluntary, it is not a tax as the half shekel in Exodus 30,13, the Presence of G’d on earth will become so much more manifest.
The words: וזאת התרומה, may be understood as if the Torah had written: וזאת ההתרוממות, “and this will constitute the “exaltation, elevation.” The examples of the materials that were to be denoted are symbolic of how lofty and generous thoughts are to be translated into “lofty” and generous deeds.
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Kedushat Levi
Exodus 30,13. “this is what all those to be numbered are to give: half a shekel of the coin known as the “holy shekel.”
By means of this verse the meaning of the line in the kedushah of mussaph on the Sabbaths and festivals (only in the “sefardi” editions of the siddur) which reads: הן גאלתי אתכם אחרית וראשית, “behold I have redeemed you in the latter period just as I have redeemed you in the earlier period,” may become intelligible. [In versions of the siddur with translations, even reputable ones such as that by Philip Birnbaum, the translator ignores the fact that the word גאלתי means “I have redeemed,” not “I will redeem,” so that the reader does not notice the problem with this line. Ed.]
According to Avot at the end of the sixth chapter, “everything that G’d has created, He created in His honour.” At the same time, we know from various sources that already before G’d set about to create the universe, He did so only with the Jewish people in mind. This means that G’d expected that this people would serve Him in the manner that is appropriate for the Creator of the universe to be served. We have pointed out that “serving” the Lord, means to please Him, to afford Him a reason for feeling satisfied with the results of His endeavours. There seems to be a contradiction between these two statements. Why would G’d have given life to creatures that He knew would not serve Him in the manner in which we defined that service?
Perhaps we can resolve this contradiction by means of a parable. A King built a number of great palaces for his children, although the king himself did not have any need for any of these palaces. It happened that when he had completed building all these palaces for his children, and wanted to take up residence in one of them, he had a falling out with all of them and as a result he hated them. When the king reflected on what had been his original plan, and he realized that he had undertaken projects for which he, personally, had not had any need at all, he must have also realized that he would never have allowed anyone who hated his children to reside in any of the palaces he had built for these children. Seeing that he hated his own children now, this meant that he could not take up residence in any of these palaces. If this same king were to ignore the original purpose of why he had built these palaces, there would be no reason for his feeling that people other than his children could not reside in them.
When we use this parable to illustrate the purpose of G’d’s creating the universe, and how the universe developed after having been created and having been left to its own devices, i.e. that it had only been created for the sake of the Jewish souls, if we assume that the Creator had not allowed Himself to disregard His original intention of the universe being only for the sake of the Jewish people, He certainly would not provide from His largesse for the other nations of the world. However, if due to His displeasure with the Jewish people He had allowed Himself to disregard His original intention, He would not have any reason not to dispense of His largesse also to the other nations of the world.
When G’d performed miracles for the Jewish people from time to time in order to safeguard their continued existence, these miracles had become necessary only because due to the Jewish people’s inadequacies, He had taken recourse to ignoring His original plan so as not to have to watch them perish as a result of their inadequacies. The miracles then reflect moments when G’d had allowed Himself to remember His original plan before He had created the universe. We hope and pray that when the redemption will come, hopefully soon in our days, it will reflect the fact that G’d is remembering His original reason for creating the universe.
This thought is reflected in the author of the prayer saying quoting G’d, גאלתי אתכם אחרית כראשית, “when I redeemed you it was as a result of My having remembered, אחרית, in the end, My original purpose in creating you in the first place, i.e. ראשית. At that time this clarification that the whole purpose of the creation of the universe had been for the sake of the Jewish people will become clear to all.
When, on Purim, we recite a benediction before reading the scroll of Esther which concludes with the words על מקרא מגילה, “concerning the reading of the scroll,” the letter י in the word מגילה, which normally means “revealed,” from the root גלה, alludes to this original thought of G’d at the time He considered the creation of the universe. [It is important to remember that the word מגלה, meaning scroll, occurs no fewer than 20 times in the Bible, but is never spelled with the letter י as here. Ed.] The redemption of the Jewish people from certain death, at the time of Haman, is an example of the approach we have just outlined, as expressed in the words: הן גאלתי אתכם אחרית כראשית.
By means of this verse the meaning of the line in the kedushah of mussaph on the Sabbaths and festivals (only in the “sefardi” editions of the siddur) which reads: הן גאלתי אתכם אחרית וראשית, “behold I have redeemed you in the latter period just as I have redeemed you in the earlier period,” may become intelligible. [In versions of the siddur with translations, even reputable ones such as that by Philip Birnbaum, the translator ignores the fact that the word גאלתי means “I have redeemed,” not “I will redeem,” so that the reader does not notice the problem with this line. Ed.]
According to Avot at the end of the sixth chapter, “everything that G’d has created, He created in His honour.” At the same time, we know from various sources that already before G’d set about to create the universe, He did so only with the Jewish people in mind. This means that G’d expected that this people would serve Him in the manner that is appropriate for the Creator of the universe to be served. We have pointed out that “serving” the Lord, means to please Him, to afford Him a reason for feeling satisfied with the results of His endeavours. There seems to be a contradiction between these two statements. Why would G’d have given life to creatures that He knew would not serve Him in the manner in which we defined that service?
Perhaps we can resolve this contradiction by means of a parable. A King built a number of great palaces for his children, although the king himself did not have any need for any of these palaces. It happened that when he had completed building all these palaces for his children, and wanted to take up residence in one of them, he had a falling out with all of them and as a result he hated them. When the king reflected on what had been his original plan, and he realized that he had undertaken projects for which he, personally, had not had any need at all, he must have also realized that he would never have allowed anyone who hated his children to reside in any of the palaces he had built for these children. Seeing that he hated his own children now, this meant that he could not take up residence in any of these palaces. If this same king were to ignore the original purpose of why he had built these palaces, there would be no reason for his feeling that people other than his children could not reside in them.
When we use this parable to illustrate the purpose of G’d’s creating the universe, and how the universe developed after having been created and having been left to its own devices, i.e. that it had only been created for the sake of the Jewish souls, if we assume that the Creator had not allowed Himself to disregard His original intention of the universe being only for the sake of the Jewish people, He certainly would not provide from His largesse for the other nations of the world. However, if due to His displeasure with the Jewish people He had allowed Himself to disregard His original intention, He would not have any reason not to dispense of His largesse also to the other nations of the world.
When G’d performed miracles for the Jewish people from time to time in order to safeguard their continued existence, these miracles had become necessary only because due to the Jewish people’s inadequacies, He had taken recourse to ignoring His original plan so as not to have to watch them perish as a result of their inadequacies. The miracles then reflect moments when G’d had allowed Himself to remember His original plan before He had created the universe. We hope and pray that when the redemption will come, hopefully soon in our days, it will reflect the fact that G’d is remembering His original reason for creating the universe.
This thought is reflected in the author of the prayer saying quoting G’d, גאלתי אתכם אחרית כראשית, “when I redeemed you it was as a result of My having remembered, אחרית, in the end, My original purpose in creating you in the first place, i.e. ראשית. At that time this clarification that the whole purpose of the creation of the universe had been for the sake of the Jewish people will become clear to all.
When, on Purim, we recite a benediction before reading the scroll of Esther which concludes with the words על מקרא מגילה, “concerning the reading of the scroll,” the letter י in the word מגילה, which normally means “revealed,” from the root גלה, alludes to this original thought of G’d at the time He considered the creation of the universe. [It is important to remember that the word מגלה, meaning scroll, occurs no fewer than 20 times in the Bible, but is never spelled with the letter י as here. Ed.] The redemption of the Jewish people from certain death, at the time of Haman, is an example of the approach we have just outlined, as expressed in the words: הן גאלתי אתכם אחרית כראשית.
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