Ki Sisah

“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…

The holy Baal Shem Tov used the following, simple analogy to express a deeply foundational teaching. When a strong light shining behind a person causes his shadow to be cast over a body of water, the further the person is, the larger the shadow will be. As the person approaches the water, the shadow gets…