February 1988<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a Shekel<\/em>, to make a contribution to the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPoor\u201d and \u201crich\u201d mean poor in knowledge or to the contrary. Shekel<\/em> means \u201cscales,\u201d which is stones with which to weigh. In other words, a person must reflect on the way that he is in. He must know that he is always in a state of half and half, as our sages said, \u201cOne should always see oneself as half guilty\u201d (Kidushin<\/em> 40b).<\/p>\n\n\n\n One should not think that there is someone who is rich, who has more Torah and good deeds, so he is no longer in a state of \u201chalf.\u201d Rather, it is as in \u201cAnyone who is greater than his friend, his inclination is greater than him\u201d (Sukkah<\/em> 52b).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It therefore follows that between rich and poor, we can weigh for ourselves the good path or the bad one. To weigh means to decide to give the contribution to the Lord. This is like the allegory about a person who walks into a grocery store and the merchant weighs the goods. If there are many customers in the shop, each one thinks that the merchant is weighing for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is likewise here: The Sitra<\/em> Achra<\/em> [other side] wants him to weigh for her and the Kedusha<\/em> [holiness], for her. It is about this that the verse says, \u201cto give the contribution to the Lord,\u201d meaning he is weighing for the Creator. Also, \u201chalf\u201d means a lack, which is the Kli<\/em> [vessel], for you have no light without a Kli<\/em>. Hence, the Kli<\/em> and the light are regarded as one discernment. The light is one half, and the Kli<\/em> is one half, and the two of them make the discernment of truth\u2014from the lack and the revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the meaning of his saying \u201chalf a Shekel<\/em>,\u201d meaning that one should see that he has half, meaning a lack, and also that he is fit to receive the filling, namely that he should also be fit to receive the lack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 1988 \u201cThe rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a Shekel, to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":6246,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"topic":[26],"class_list":["post-12576","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-rabash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n