The Hidden Half1 min read

“This they shall give…half a shekel…to atone for your souls.”

Our parsha opens with the necessity of taking census with the machatzis hashekel which would then be used for the Mishkan. Many tzaddikim ask why the census was specifically taken with half-shekels. Wouldn’t it have been more efficient for each Jewish person to have given one full shekel?

The Nesivos Shalom answers with the following. The Jewish nation is made up of 600,000 individual root souls which are embodied in Jews of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities. However, these divisions exist only on an external, this-worldly level. Beyond the five levels of the individual Jew’s soul, there is a realm referred to as “Knesses Yisrael.” This is the spiritual root shared by all 600,000 Jewish souls – the collective, national soul of the Jewish nation. At this level, there is no difference in appearance, opinion, or lifestyle. There is only complete and utter unity. Because the concept of sin runs contrary to our essence as Jews who were created to help fulfill Hashem’s dream for His world, it only affects our external, this-worldy Jewishness. At our spiritual. source in Knesses Yisrael, there is no sin at all; all that exists is our love for Hashem, the Torah, and every member of the Jewish people.

The census was taken with the Machatzis HaShekel to teach us that the ability for the Jewish people to be counted as separate individuals applies only to their external half, their this-worldly existence. The other half of each Jew, the inner element of our soul, is completely one with every other Jew – the essential holiness, purity, and goodness we each share. The half-shekel reminds us that when we look at another Jew, we are seeing only half of who he truly is. Anything negative we find is not his true essence. Looking deeper into his source in Knesses Yisrael, we will find only sweetness, exalted holiness, and the desire for a life of spiritual illumination.