Pekudei and Shekalim: Money as Mesiras Nefesh, Haman’s Shekalim, and Inner Spiritual Worth

Transcript

This week's parsha. Come on. This week's parsha, parshas Pekudei. Be'ezras Hashem, we'll also talk about shekalim. How many weeks parsha shekalim, how we read Ki Sisa, that we have to bring the shekalim to the Beis Hamikdash. We'll discuss that a little bit also. Eileh pekudei haMishkan. Mishkan ha'eidus. Asher pukad al pi Moshe avodas haLeviim. So it says the word haMishkan, Mishkan, one after another, twice. Eileh pekudei haMishkan, Mishkan ha'eidus. It's redundant. So Rashi says, shnei pe'amim. Rashi already points out that it says it twice, shnei pe'amim. Why does it say it twice? Just say, Eileh pekudei haMishkan, ha'eidus. Say, Eileh pekudei haMishkan. These are the countings. This is the count of the Mishkan ha'eidus. Why Mishkan and Mishkan ha'eidus twice? Says Rashi, remez. This is supposed to be a remez, a sign, a siman, leMikdash shenismashken bishnei churbanim, that twice the Mishkan will be a mashkon, collateral. In English, a mashkon is called collateral. When you don't have what to pay, you take mashkon. So it's going to be a mashkon bishnei churbanim al avonoseihem shel Yisrael. For the others. There's two Mishkan, milashon mashkon. Mashkon is when you don't have what to pay, you take a mashkon. Instead of paying, this is how you pay. You pay by taking away the Mishkan. You have Mikdash. Here it says Mishkan, and the reason why it says Mishkan, because l'maaseh the pasuk says Mishkan. So it's referring to the Mikdash. Aval zeh l'diyuk shel הלשון Mishkan, אז לכן רש"י באמת כותב Mishkan. Okay. What's the pashut pshat? How does the Beit HaMikdash, sheini v'rishon, become mashkon? So kipshuto, pshat is that instead of taking the nefashot, instead of taking the people, he took the Mishkan. So it's like mashkon. It's in theory, in yesod, it's like a mashkon, just like a mashkon is when you don't have what to pay, you take money. So instead of the actual money, right, you take—I'm sorry, not money—you take a mashkon, you take an object. You don't have the money, you take an object. So instead of the nefesh, they took an object called the Mishkan. So it's just a concept of mashkon. Rabbi Yerucham learns that it was literally a mashkon. What do I mean? It's literally a mashkin. He explains that the Beis Hamikdash had a lot of value, monetary, mamash. היה בזה שוויות ממון, right? And he explains that when a person does a chet, he becomes a baal chov. Yo, people think, Ah, I did an aveirah. The baal chov. Aveirah means you owe. You have to pay. You have to fix it. When you don't want to take from the etzem hachov, then you take a mashkon that's worth money. So he says that Klal Yisrael was considered an arev ashir. They had a tremendous wealth, and that is the Mishkan itself. The Beis Hamikdash itself was worth a lot of money, all the gold and the silver. So he's learning that it's pashut mashkon. Yeah, it's a very expensive mashkon. It's a very expensive... I'll read you the lashon, a very interesting lashon. Reb Yerucham says as follows: Mashkon is more than the value of the money? Oh, that's a very good question. Usually it's the same much. Sometimes it can be more. Okay, now.

It goes like this. He says, Ein kov vitur. There's no such a thing as, Ah, you have a free pass. You're doing aveirah? You have to pay for it. You're a baal chov. But there's a baal chov ashir, there's a baal chov ani. Some people are poor and some people are rich. A rich person, even if he doesn't have money, but at least he has a lot that you could take from. He has a beautiful home. He has a lot of mashkon that you could take. Says Rabbi Yerucham, that's the pshat, Mizmor l'Asaf. Kina l'Asaf. It should have said, Kina, that we should cry. Why is it mizmor? Ela asaf, pshat is shekilah HaKadosh Baruch Hu chamaso b'eitzim va'avanim, that He took physical, explains Rabbi Yerucham, ha'eitzim va'avanim was a pirayon gadol. Yesh lahem shav yoser harbeh me'od. Bati HaMikdash hei mishkanos Yisrael, very expensive, worth a lot. Ha'eitzim va'avanim pirayon gadol, worth a lot of money. No, no, no. Mehastam, mehastam, hayu ha'eitzim va'avanim pirayon gadol. Yesh lahem shav yoser harbeh me'od. Worth a lot of money. The actual building was a tremendous, priceless building. A lot of money involved. So Klal Yisrael had a mashkon to take from. I would say, rabosai, a little different. I don't think it's about the shaviyus of the Mikdash. I don't think it has to do with the price of the Mikdash, but rather it's mamish taking the nefesh of Klal Yisroel by taking the Mikdash. There was a mashkon, you hear? There was a mashkin that you were able to take. Instead of this nefesh, you were able to take the nefesh by taking the Mikdash. You know, we have something called kofer nefesh. You know what kofer nefesh is? We give money, and the money is supposed to be a kaparah, as if they gave the nefesh. That's not mashkon; it's pidyon. It's different. There's pidyon, and then there's mashkon. The mashkon by the Mikdash is actually pidyon. You redeem it through the eitzim v'avanim of the Mikdash. What does that mean? Let me explain to you. This Shabbos we're going to read Parshas Shekalim. What is the inyan of shekalim? Coins. It's a ... What is it? A whole Parshas Shekalim, special thing. You know, it's brought down in Yerushalmi. Yerushalmi says that you can't be mafsik in the seder parshiyos. For example, you can't—let's say it's supposed to be Shabbos other shekalim, and then Parah—there's a seder. You can't make that in between, you read it differently. There's a seder. What's the big deal? If you want to read the parshiyos, to read the parshiyos. And the mefarshim explain there's a seder. Sfas Emes talks about it, that the month of Adar is a type of a zman teshuvah. It's a time to do teshuvah, and shekalim... Parah, chodesh, zachar. These are all things that are supposed to be me'orer, and different inyanim. Zeh le'orer inyanim sheshayach laYehudi b'chodesh Adar. It's not stam, I'm reading Shekalim. It has to do with the inyanim behind Shekalim. There's a seder. That's why there's a seder: Parshas Shekalim, Parshas Parah, Zachor, Chodesh. Okay. What is shekalim? It's nothing, it's just collecting money. What could be in shekalim already? It's a regular collection of money. And the pashut pshat behind Parshas Shekalim is that they needed to bring the shekalim to the Beis HaMikdash, to collect for the terumas hadeshen, they had to bring the korbanos. Who's going to pay for the olah every morning? How do you pay for the olah every morning and every evening? It's from this money. Put on the air conditioning or something. Or turn off the heat. That's a start. That's a good start. The Gemara says, it's a Mishnah, Shekalim: b'echad b'Adar mashmi'in al haShekalim. Echad b'Adar, we start talking.

Talking about shekalim, Rashi and the Ramban and the Rishonim explain. Here I'll read the lashon of Ramban: שצריך להביא באחד בניסן תרומה חדשה, because we have to bring, for the new truma, we have to bring korbanos. ... במגילות, ... בחודש, והביאו קרבן מתרומה חדשה, תמידין ומוספין, הבאי ראש חודש ניסן נקראים משקלים חדשים. So the new korbanos, the new cycle of korbanos, are brought from the shekalim which are collected in Adar. ולמה באחד באדר? So why echad b'Adar? If the idea is that you have to bring the shekalim in Adar, asks the Ramban, so why b'echad b'Adar? Why the first? You know what? Fourteenth of Adar. Says the Ramban: כי תניא דושין בהלכות פסח קודם לפסח שלושים יום. אפילו ... בית השבתות, היו ... יוצאים במדינה בתשעה באדר, מקדימין אחד באדר. Because the people went out to collect on tes-vav b'Adar, because it's dorshin hilchos Pesach already from there. According to Reb Shimon Gamliel, it's two weeks. According to one sheetah, it's four weeks. We pasken four weeks. So from the time you start talking about Pesach, that's when you start, what, rabosai, collecting for the truma chadasha on Pesach. And even according to Reb Shimon Gamliel that says that you start two weeks before, so why Adar? And the answer is, give it time. You have to give time. Meaning, you want to give a month's advance notice that we're collecting shekalim, okay? So this is how the Ramban learns. Good? Let me repeat it. Parshas Shekalim, this Shabbos, Rosh Chodesh. Why Rosh Chodesh? The answer is because what are we bringing the shekalim? What's the shekalim all about? So the Mishnah tells us, mashmi'in al ha-shekalim, and the Rishonim explain because Pesach—I'm sorry, Nissan—we begin a new cycle of korbanos, and we have to collect money for that. So the money was collected in Adar. So why b'echad b'Adar? He explains: either because shloshim yom kodem ha-Pesach, we start preparing already for Nissan and Pesach, so from then on we start talking about the shekalim. Or the pshat is not because it's thirty days, because one sheetah holds it's actually only two weeks. Rav Shimon Gamliel says only two weeks before Nissan we start talking about Pesach. So the why b'echad b'Adar? And the answer is because we want to give time, give them time. You're right, two weeks before they start collecting, so two weeks before that, announcement: prepare the olam to tell them that we're taking shekalim. The Marsha does not learn like this. Marsha says, the Gemara in Megillah tells us that HaKadosh Baruch Hu saw that Haman's going to give shekalim to destroy Klal Yisrael, so hikdim shiklei Yisrael l'shiklei Haman. Rabbeinu Shlomo prefaced, he made hakdamah, hikdim, the shekalim of Klal Yisrael to the shekalim of— that's ha detanya, says the Gemara, b'echad b'Adar mashmi'in al ha-shekalim. Asks the Marsha, I don't understand. Echad b'Adar mashmi'in al ha-shekalim is for what reason? Because of the korbanos. So how could the Gemara Megillah, daf yud-gimmel amud beis, tell me the shekalim of Haman? This is the Marsha's kasha. Answers the Marsha, eino chanami. If it would be just for the korban, so we could have done it at the end of the month, a week before. So why is it b'echad b'Adar mashmi'in? That shikli Haman, in order to— because Haman's shekalim was when? Was Purim, Tes-vav. So to be makdim, what do we makdim? B'echad b'Adar. The shekalim was for Tamid. The shekalim was grada for Tamid, but for that we could have taken at the end of the month. Why is it b'echad b'Adar? That's shikli Haman. So that's what the Gemara means, al ha detanya b'echad b'Adar, which means he's learning that the Ramban's she'eilah is actually the Gemara's question. The Ramban that asks the question, why do we collect the shekalim from the first of the month? We talk about it from the first of the month. Let's talk about it at the end of the month.

Or two weeks before. That's exactly what the Gemara is asking. Why earlier? And the answer is because hikdim Lehaman, to preface, to be makdim before Shiklei Haman. Shiklei Haman was Tes Vav. Why so long? Huh? Why two weeks before? Ah, so why two weeks before? Okay, so you're asking a very good question, but this is not a shiur that we ask questions, okay? Okay. Hikdim. What is the word hikdim? The word hikdim is early. Okay. Early. So what's the pashut pshat? The pashut pshat is to make it, ha'refuah lifnei hamakah. Why is it hikdim? Hikdim always means makdim refuah l'makah. So that's the pashut pshat. Rabbeinu Shalom wanted to be makdim the shekalim earlier. Hikdim refuah l'makah. Now let's discuss hikdim refuah l'makah. When did they give the shekalim? Huh? First of... When did they give the shekalim? First by... by three years. It was hikdim anyway. It was hikdim anyway. I never understood this Gemara. It was a pili plaim to me. I never understood this Gemara. No? She'eilah tovah? When is it? It's anyway before. What's that? Well, if you do a Rosh Chodesh Adar, that's called hikdim. It's anyway hikdim. Even if they would have given it one day before Nisan, it would be hikdim. Hikdim. What does it mean, hiktir? So he's right. Mustama it means, I said that. Sidru itzeh be'ofen shezeh nirak hakdamah. Wait, Tanya רב פפא, I put the kasha. It says everybody understand what I want. Yes. You know what I want? I want you to know what you're talking about. You're learning Parshas Shekalim this week. I want you to know what it is. You know, you're going to hear beautiful pshatim. You know what everybody's going to say? Every Yehudi is a chatzi shekel, and hasheni hu shekel shalem, and achdus. It's all very nice. Come on. Learn pshat pshat. Let's learn what's real pshat. That's good. It's all good. Nice drush, yesodos, ra'ayonos, very nice. But no pshat pshat. This week is Parshas Shekalim. Ah! This week is Parshas Shekalim. What is it? What Shekalim? What are you talking about? And the answer is, be'echad ba'Adar mashmi'in al ha-shekalim. It's a Mishnah. It comes from this Mishnah: Be'echad ba'Adar mashmi'in al ha-shekalim. Okay. Let me ask you like this. Wait a second. Be'echad ba'Adar mashmi'in al ha-shekalim. What's the reason? So also Rashi, Rashi in Megillah, the Ramban, right? They all write the same thing, that what's the be'echad ba'Adar mashmi'in al ha-shekalim? Here, Gemara Megillah chaf tes amud aleph, that we read Rosh Chodesh Adar, Parshas Shekalim, Rashi, because sheyaviu shekleihem ba'Adar, that they should bring the shekalim in Adar. It's good to do it at the end of the month. Why does it have to be be'echad ba'Adar? So the Ramban explains, to give it time. Okay, yafeh me'od. Either the ... קודם. Now don't forget, Shloishim yom kodem hachag is actually adar, so it's not even, meaning Megillah, it's tes-vav, it's not even aleph. So even if it was 30 days before, you still don't have aleph. And according to Rabbi Shimon Gamliel, it's two weeks. So the answer is, says the Ramban, enough time. You know, let me tell you, if you want to start, if you want to start, it's going to take a very, very long time to collect, right? So you have to remind everybody, a few weeks we're coming to collect, okay. L'maaseh, the Maharsha doesn't learn like this. The Maharsha says, the Maharsha says that actually it has to do with the shiklei haman, because if it was for the shekalim, for the new korbanos, we could have done it at the end of Adar. And that's what the Gemara means. The Gemara means, had itnan, that's why we learn b'echad, mashmi'in. Why b'echad? Why on the first day are mashmi'in al hashekalim? And that has to do with l'hakdim, l'hakdim shiklei Haman. Shiklei Haman is when? Ad Purim. So 15 days before, 14 days before, we do what? Our shekalim. So I'm asking you two questions. First of all, I'm asking you—

What's taka pshat? Anyway, makdim. The shekalim were given. The shekalim were even given in the Mishkan. When did they give these shekalim? Kisisa, in the midbar. So what do you want? It was anyway makdim. It was 15 days before. Second of all, l'hakdim shikli Haman. So where's the inyan of shekalim, teshuva? I don't know. They made it supposed to be one of the kriyos of Meoir. What is shekalim meoir? Eizeh hit'orerus do we have from shekalim? You know, today we don't even have shekalim. What's it negate? It's really not negate anything, right? So what? Parshas shekalim. What is Parshas shekalim? That in the Beis HaMikdash they gave shekalim. So what? It's not nogea bichlal. What's it nogea? So we have a minhag that we give machatzis shekel, zecher. All right, so what? Yeah? So what is kriyas Parshas shekalim? What is it? Rabosai, let me tell you what I think the pashut pshat is, but it's a little bit amok. It's pashut but amok. What's the shaychus between shikli Haman and the shekalim you brought to the Beis HaMikdash? What is—ma zeh shayach chad la'sheni? How is it that the shikli Mikdash was an anecdote? It was a refuah, to be magdim the refuah to the makah. What was? So kipshutoi, kipshutoi, it has no shaychus. It's just a zechut. That the zechus of bringing the shekalim to the Mishkan, the zechus of bringing the shekalim to the Mishkan, was magdim a refuah to the makah to what Haman wanted to do. There's no kesher, huh? There's no kesher meyuchad between this shekalim and this. This is shekalim for what? For the Mikdash. And these shekalim for to destroy Klal Yisrael. Not shayach. Zechus, the zechus of bringing the shekalim protected Klal Yisrael against the shekalim. Or we could say, this was shekalim given for bad. Haman was shekalim given for a bad reason. So the shikli Mikdash was shekalim given for tov, for good reason. I think it's more than that. I think it's more than that. Yeah? And with this we'll understand. What do you mean hikdim? Pashut, like I said, hikdim is shemakdim refuah l'makah. I think it's better. I think it's more, and I'll explain to you what I mean. What do you give for shekalim? You give, Ki sisa es rosh bnei Yisrael, what do you give? Machatzis hashekel b'shekel hakodesh. Why is it called kodesh? What's so kodesh about a shekel? You know, today, I would say money, they worship money. They call it the heilige shekel, shekel hakodesh. You know, on the dollar bill it says, In God We Trust. The question is, what God are they referring to? Maybe they're referring to the dollar bill. Which god? Eizeh elohut... Maybe they worship the dollar because they believe that the dollar is the almighty dollar, the almighty dollar. Okay, that's all, of course, of the chat. Why l'maaseh is the shekel called shekel hakodesh? Why is it called shekel hakodesh? So let's see how Rashi explains shekel hakodesh. Says Rashi, shekel hakodesh. Yeah? You heard anybody call shekel hakodesh? It's a kodesh, yes, the shekel. It's kedushah, shekel hakodesh. If you're makdish it, if you gave it to the Beis HaMikdash, afterwards it's kodesh. But that's not the shekel. You can't say you're giving machatzis shekel of the shekel hakodesh. What kind of kodesh is shekel? Says Rashi, shekel hakodesh. Says Rashi, b'mishkal ha-shekel shekatzavti lecha lishkol bo sheklei ha-kodesh. So actually, there's two things. There's a regular shekel, and there's sheklei ha-kodesh. So you should be mishkal ha-shekel shekatzavti lecha lishkol bo sheklei ha-kodesh. So the shekel is, lefi the erech of shekel that I told you to make.

For the shekel. Why are the shekel hakodesh? Ki by shekalim, or amurim b'parshas Acharochim v'sdei achuzah. Which means that there's a special value for shekalim when it comes to mitzvahs. So that's what the shekel hakodesh means. It's a shekel which is in the lefi the shavit of the shekel which I told you should be used by divrei kodesh. The Ramban says differently. The Ramban says the shekel Moshe Rabbeinu made. Who made the shekel? Who made the currency? Says the Ramban, Moshe Rabbeinu made it. Why is it called shekel hakodesh? Because since there's so many mitzvahs that you do with the shekel, therefore it got its name as ... Since there's so many mitzvahs, it becomes shekel hakodesh. That's what the Ramban says. Says the Ramban like this: Shekel hakodesh kibeloi Moshe Rabbeinu. Who set up the shekel? Moshe Rabbeinu set up the shekel. Ki melech gadol hayah. Elech gadol hayah. He was a big king. You know what's bothering the Ramban? Who made up the currency by Klal Yisrael? Who decided that? Who was the green spin? Who is it? Who's the governor? What kind of governor? The Sanhedrin, who made it? So, you should know, certain Rambans and Chumash are so eye-opening. You know, the Ramban is asking who decided what the money was in the midbar. Mi hitbia et hakesef? Who made it? Says Ramban, Moshe Rabbeinu, melech gadol haya. He was a big king. Kara lamatbea hu shekel, and Moshe gave it the name shekel. Bavur shekol hamatbea bemishkal shalem, ein bo pachot vlo kesef sigim. It's worth its value. Shekel means its weight. It is its weight. It's an honest coin. Yeah? It's an honest coin. Uvavur shemishkal haerchin upidyon habchor bematbea hu, and since that matbea is used for all the mitzvahs, erchin, pidyon habchor, right, everything is used that coin, shehem chodesh, the mitzvahs are chodesh, so therefore yikarei lehakesef shekel hakodesh. And he says, Ramban, don't forget, they used these shekalim for what? They used it for Mikdash. So therefore it got the name shekel hakodesh. Moyedike part. That's different shekalim. That's this, no? So Moshe Rabbeinu made it. The shekel is Moshe Rabbeinu made it. Okay. So it comes out, right, Moreh dika chiddush. And the reason why it's called kodesh, because its nishtamesh, its usage, is l'divrei kodesh. It comes out, Moreh dika chiddush, right, that when you use something, a gashmiyusdike thing, for mitzvahs, so it becomes kodesh. So the shekalim were designated to use for mitzvahs, so it's called shekel ha-kodesh. Haboisai, I'm going to tell you a little bit deeper. I'm going to tell you a little deeper. Does everybody understand what we're talking about? Let me just repeat one thing, like this you'll understand exactly the geshmak of what we want. I'm trying to understand why is the Mishkan mashkui? How is the Mishkan a mashkui, collateral? How is it? So the pashut pshat is, Hashem took that instead of something, so it's called a mashkui. Reb Yerucham learns it's deeper than that. Reb Yerucham learns it's mamash a mashkui, because there was worth. It's the mamon, it's the kaspi, it's the mamon behind the—

Mikdash, which was a tremendous value that you took instead of bal chov, instead of having to pay with your life, right? So we took a mashkin. You know, I want to tell you two things. I'll tell you two things which I כדאי to know. The Brisker Rav used to say, the cheapest thing and the cheapest way to pay for in this world is with money. People think, kesef. Hadavar hachi zol leshalem ze kesef. The cheapest thing to pay for. Person, yeah, he has to have health. So what happens? Hashem says, you know what? Take away your money. The best way to pay for things. That's what Reb Yerucham is saying. I want to tell you over that my grandfather and my father always told us over a Chassidishe vort. Now it's a vort, it's a shtickel vortel, but I appreciate it because I grew up on this vort. I grew up on it. In the Vechol Ma'aminim, I don't know, Sefardim have Vechol Ma'aminim by the Yom Kippur, Rishon Yom Kippur, they say Vechol Ma'aminim in the tefillah. It's a special piyut? No. Okay. So one of the things it says over there is, hachotech chayim l'chol chai, that He cuts, divides chayim l'chol chai. It's a very interesting lashon, hachotech. Noten chayim l'chol chai. What is the word chotech? Chotech is to cut. It's like a quota. I don't know, it's an interesting lashon, to be chotech. Why does it use a lashon of hachotech chayim l'chol chai? So the Tzanzer... The famous gadol and posek said a mayridig vort. You probably heard this from my father. My father says it over all the time. You heard it from him? Yeah. Hachayte chayav l'chal chayav. How much is chayav? It's forty what? No, two yuds, a ches and a mem. Sixty. Chayim, sixty. Two yuds, sixty. Sixty. How much is dal? Forty-four. No. Thirty-four. How much is half of chayim? Dal. Chayte chayim. He cuts the chayim in half, l'chol chayim, that the person should live. It's a vort, but there's a lot of higayon behind it, you hear? The cheapest way to pay is with the money. So the same thing, says Rabbi Yerucham, that's the pshat in the Mishkan: HaKadosh Baruch Hu lakach hakesef v'lo hanefashot. Okay. Now, I want to tie in that it's not just money, a mashal. It's taka the Ribbono Shel Olam found another way how to take chayim, how to take the life. V'chotech chayim l'chol chay, is not a payment plan. It's a way of taking chayim without taking the actual chayim. When a person's poor, you know, first of all, we're going to learn this also soon, ani k'meis. The Ribbono Shel Olam finds another way on how to take a person's life without taking his life. And that's what Parshas Shekalim we're going to explain. Let's discuss Parshas Shekalim again. Shekalim. Now you see what I want? I'm trying to explain to you what a shekel is, what it means, shekalim, what it means to take money. What is it all about? Let's see Parshas Shekalim. So we said that shekalim is hakdamah, l'hakdim shiklei Haman, to preface shiklei Haman so we bring shekalim. That's how the Maharsha explains why b'echad b'Adar. Otherwise, do it at the end of the month. Teretz is Haman, okay. So I said, what's the pashut pshat? As a hakdamah. Makdim refuah l'makah. Altz makdim refuah l'makah, rabosai. It's anyway that, because they gave the shekalim in the Mikdash, in the Mishkan, in the Midbar, and then they gave it in the Mikdash, way before the story of Purim. So it's anyway makdim refuah l'makah. So what's the echad b'Adar, mashmi'in al ha-shekalim? See, he's right. They made it the seder ha-kriah sheyeh kemo makdim. Let me explain to you. Be'emes, what is Parshas Shekalim? It's not negea to us today. Why would we read something that's completely not negea? Parshas Parah, it's also not negea. Parshas Zachor, it's not so pashut Parshas Zachor is negea b'zman hazeh, because according to many Rishonim, there's no Amalek today. And even if there is Amalek today, we showed you the Rambam. The Rambam says—

According to many shittos, there's no amalek today. Amalek, you know Amalek? Who's Amalek? Besides for your boss and your tenant and your, what do you call that, your landlord, there's no Amalek. What kind of Amalek is there today? Oh, so why are we reading Parshas Zachor? All right. Now, according to many shittos, even if there is Amalek today, you don't kill them, only l'imos haMashiach. You have to wait for Mashiach anyway. It's not nogea. So what is Parshas Zachor? So what is Parshas Parah? We don't have Parshas Parah today. What are you reading, right? Parshas Shekalim. So bishlema Parah, you know what you could say? Parah is taharah. All right, so spiritually a person can make himself tahor. Zachor is the hatred of the bad, right? Amalek, it's in the yesod. You have to hate Amalek, okay. What's Parshas Shekalim? What is it? Give tzedakah? מעורר people to give tzedakah? It's an interesting ha'arah. It's not nogea bichlal b'zman hazeh. No? It's not nogea b'zman hazeh. So what are we reading in Parshas Shekalim? So I'm telling you, shekel hakodesh. What's so kodesh about the shekalim? Eizeh kedushah yesh? So either the pshat is because it's measured according to the shekalim. It's measured according to the shekalim that they used when it came to mitzvos. Ramban says differently. Ramban says that in itself was called shekel hakodesh, because who made it? Moshe Rabbeinu made it, and it was pure. It was pure. Atzeitzu was pure. B'stam, that's why it was used for mitzvahs, and the fact that it was used for mitzvahs made it shekel hakodesh. I want to say a little bit deeper. Why was it called shekel hakodesh? You know, it says that Moshe Rabbeinu didn't know what the shekel was, didn't know what it was, machatzis shekel. So the Ribono Shel Olam showed him, kazeh, right? This is what it is. This is what it is. Heraloi, they showed him matbea shel eish, a fire. What's so hard to understand about a coin? You know, there was two other things Moshe Rabbeinu didn't know. You know that? The menorah. The menorah he didn't know. It was very hard to make a menorah. Piece. It was a tremendous work of art. So the Ribono Shel Olam had to show him. You know what else the Ribono Shel Olam showed him? Kazeh re'eh v'kadesh. Okay, you know what it is to learn Hilchos Kiddush HaChodesh? Do you have any idea what it is? Only the most brilliant minds learn Hilchos Kiddush HaChodesh. To understand molad and everything, it's a whole sugya. So you can hear, kazeh re'eh, this is what it should look like. What's so hard to understand about a half a penny? What are you, stupid? Don't you understand about shekel? Are you batlan? You don't know what a shekel is? So the truth is, I wanted to say maybe machatzis shekel, he didn't understand what the machatzis is. What's a half a penny? He came and he said, listen, I heard of a penny. And I heard of a dollar, and I heard of a ten or a hundred. I never heard a half. Tell you a good story. Tell you a nice one, yeah. My saba, my grandfather told me a story that he heard from the Satmar Rebbe. Reb Yoel, the Satmar Rebbe, told him the following story, yeah, that there was—Satmar Rebbe was scared to fly. He was scared to fly. He took a boat to Eretz Yisroel. He didn't want to fly. No, a Rebbe comes with a lot of luggage. Sure, Satmar Rebbe, it was a big thing. He went to Eretz Yisroel. Went one time to Eretz Yisroel. That's the famous thing, that when he left, they begged him to stay. And they asked him, the Yerushalmim, Rebbe, who are you leaving us? Who's going to give us brachos? You're leaving us with nobody. So the Satmar Rebbe told them, You want brachos? Go to any beis knesses, and if there's a Yehudi that has the numbers tattooed on his arm, and he's wearing tefillin and he comes to daven, you may go ask him for bracha. Go ask those Jews for bracha. You don't need me. Famous story. Satmar Rebbe was in Eretz Yisroel. Kitzur, this is the story he said over. This is the story. He came, and he came with a lot of luggage. He had to pay a lot of meches, tax. He overloaded.

The person who was in charge of the—was an Israeli soldier. I mean, he was anti-religious, especially Satmar, you know, the Rebbe. So he wanted to litkorot, he wanted to give him a good, you know. So he tells Ashkenazi, the gabbai, tells him like this: Giba admur shechayav leshalem chamesh me'ot— or matayim, I think it was matayim, matayim dollar. In those days, matayim dollar, meches. Two hundred dollars meches for this. Tisha'al et ha'admur, im yodea ma ze dollar. He was trying to make fun, you know, if he knows what a dollar is. Satmar Rebbe didn't even look at him, you know, Satmar Rebbe, a shaygets, you know. So he looks and he goes, Hagid la'shaygets hazeh—he didn't even want to look at him—hagid la'shaygets hazeh shepachot me-elef dollar lo avarta yad sheli. So he asks him if I know what a dollar is. Less than a thousand never went past my hand, meaning to say, you idiot, you. I know money better than you, than you'll ever know. I saw more money in my life than you'll ever see. Same thing here too, yeah? Moshe Rabbeinu lo yada ma ze chatzi, chatzi prutah. Wait, a dollar for the Mishkan? Believe me, plenty of money. The Mitzrayim, there was plenty of— they came away with plenty of money. But a half? What's a half? What's a machatzit? Never heard of it. Never heard of machatzit shekel. So maybe that's the pshat. So then what happened? The Ribbono Shel Olam showed him a half. A bei shel eish. A bear. Madbeiah? No, otherwise what do you need it for? I wanted to say the pshat. You know what I want to say, the pshat? The Ribono Shel Olam showed us a new type of coin. It's a coin, madbeiah shel eish. What could you do with a half a penny? Nothing. It's not... there's no currency like that. That's what's good about it. It's not shayach to business. It's not shayach to anything. That's madbeiah shel eish. Harei lo, they showed him that it's shayach kesef, that it's not shayach to worldly business and commerce. It's used for something else. You know what it's used for? It's used for mitzvahs. It's used for the Mikdash, ... shel ruchniyus. Harei lo, madbeiah shel eish. What? What is shel eish? What does it mean? The answer is, he showed him money that's taka eish, and it's not... it's taka not... Oyvel ha-socher, you can't walk into the store and buy yourself your newspaper with it. It's madbeiah shel eish. But this is what the discussion... this is what I always wanted to say, pshat. Today we'll say a little bit better, a little bit deeper. You know what was bothering Moshe Rabbeinu with the machatzis shekel? You know what was bothering Moshe Rabbeinu? What was bothering Moshe Rabbeinu was like this: money, bishleima zahav v'chesef, that we can bring to the Mishkan. Money? Money is not a sheinah thing. It's not a nice thing. Money is meluchlach. Money? You want me to bring... bishleima you want me to bring zahav, nechoshes, these are beautiful elements. Right? You can do with it. But money, dollar bills. So Rabbeinu Shlom told him, madbea shel eish, which means that it's possible to take money and make it kadosh. That Moshe Rabbeinu understood. He thought money is chutz, eish. Money could also be used for the Mishkan. What's the pshat? Chazal tell us, what's money called? Does anybody know what's money called? Damim. You know what else is called damim? Blood. Damim tarti mashma. Chazal tell us that there's two interpretations to the word damim. So why is it talking? Why would they take money and call it damim? And you know what the teretz is? Damim represents, the money represents a person's hard work, toil, hardship. A person puts his life into his money. It represents days of work, of labor, of heart and soul. So therefore, damim tarti mashma. Chazal are saying a moiridike vort. Don't think a dollar bill is a cheap thing. It's a person. A person gave his life to work to get to this. That's damim tarti mashma. So Moshe Rabbeinu...

Was looking at the money, yeah, and he says, Money, Mikdash, ... yes. Why? Because what do I want in the Mikdash? What am I looking for? I'm looking that a person should give himself. He should give his heart and his soul to the Mikdash. How do you do that? When you ... himself. Should a person go and then make himself a korban? How does a person give from himself for something? And the answer is, he gives from his money. Yeah? How do you give from yourself? How does a person give a chelek of himself? You know, it's a very interesting thing. When a person has to fast, and he can't fast, what do you do? Give tzedakah. You give money. And what do you say? What's the lashon you say? That just like when I fast, nisma'et chalbi, my flesh and my blood gets less, so it should be that I gave my money instead. You see, the idea of money is like giving himself. You know, I'll teach you something interesting. Do you know it says, when you have to give a get, where do you give the get? You give the get b'yado. V'nasan b'yadah, in her hand. The Gemara says not only yadah, but we darshen even gagah, chatzeirah, v'karpeifah, that you could even give the get in her reshus. But it says, v'nasan b'yadah. So the pshat is, yadah doesn't mean mamash yadah, but what does it mean? It means reshusah. The word yadah means reshusah. A person's nechasim is an extension of himself. A person's nechasim is an extension of himself. Giving to him doesn't have to be him, him. It could be even into his reshus, into his gag, into his chatzer, into his karpef. And it's, what is it called? It's an extension of yado. There's even a whole shailah in halacha if it's mitam shlichus or mitam yad. When you give it to the chatzer, is it because it becomes a shliach, or it's mamash like giving it to yado? Why? Because it is yado. It's a part. It's a part of the person. A person's nechasim, financial nechasim, is an extension of himself. Okay, yad arichta. That's what the Gemara uses the lashon, yad arichta. Kofer nefesh. We find halacha, and I told you before, that if you want to be podeh someone who's chayav misah or other oneshei haguf because of aveiros, what do you do? You give money, and it's called kofer nefesh. What's kofer? Kofer means I redeem the nefesh with the money. How is the nefesh money? How could nefesh be redeemed with money? Any person that thinks that his money is shaveh to him is a choleh mesukan. You know, there's a very famous Gemara: Ve'ahavta es Hashem Elokecha b'chol levavcha, uvchol nafshecha. So the Gemara says it should just say, right, b'chol levavcha. It doesn't have to say b'chol nafshecha. Pashut. If it means you have to love Hashem even give up your nefesh, so of course you have to give up your money. So the Gemara says, yeah, but there are certain people that to them, their money is worth more than their nefesh. So the Torah is talking to two old types of people: v'ahavta es Hashem Elokecha b'chol levavcha, and even b'chol nafshecha, and ours is a people who would give up their lives for their money, b'chol me'odecha. So you have to know to love Hashem and don't give, even if it means to give up all your money. Comes the Gilyon HaShas — not Reb Akiva Eiger, the other one, Gilyon HaShas, Yosef Engel — and he asks a very nice question: V'chi b'shoita askinan? Does the Torah write to crazy people? You gotta be meshugeneh. I don't say if a guy comes and says, Your money or your life. My life. Meshugeneh. Not wife, because everybody would say the wife. I'm talking life. Your money or your life. You know, you should say it's the same thing. My money and my wife is the same thing. But your money or your life, what do you say? Like, your money — you're meshugeneh. So the Torah is talking to a person who's completely crazy, and you have to have a pasuk for that type of guy? Says Gilyon HaShas, kanireh, it's not so crazy. Kanireh from the Gemara.

There is such a thing, you hear, that a person would rather have his money than his life. Koifer nefesh. What's the pshat, koifer nefesh? Chiba shoyta askina? You taka think that you're redeeming yourself with money? We're talking about that type of guy? Koifer nefesh works for everybody. It's not only for people who would rather have their money over their nefesh. זה בשביל כולם. אז איך זה פדיון? הפירוש הוא, כמו דיברנו בתענית, a person's money is himself. A person's money is himself. Ani chashuv k'meis. You have no money, there's no self. There's no you. Ani is chashuv k'meis. So therefore, the chai techaiyim l'chol chai is the pshat, Ribbono Shel Olam found another way how you, to take you without taking you. Taking you without taking you. Not a mashkin. It's not a din mashkon. It's another way of taking you without you. Now I want to explain to you something. You ready? Madbea shel eish. What's the pshat, madbea shel eish? So bishlom, you learn that he's trying to say that even a shekel could be holy, heilig, okay. But if you learn that the pshat is he didn't understand why does Hashem want money? Why is Hashem looking for money for the Mishkan? What do you need money for? Take the gold and the silver. Why the money? Let me explain you something. There's two types of chayim, yeah? There's life, physical. Then there's something called chayei ruchni, spiritual, spiritual. A person is a mixture of tzomeach, right? There's different, there's different, right? There's four elements. Four elements in a person, and one of them is eish. Another one is ruach. It's mayim, and afar. What is the highest level? Eish is the highest, right? So the ruchniyus of the person is the eish, and the gashmiyus is the what? The afar, then the mayim, then the ruach, and then the eish. Okay. You notice shamayim. What's shamayim? Eish u'mayim, right? So the mayim is down, and the eish is l'maalah, so you have... You know what the Ribono Shel Olam is showing him? A matbea shel eish, ruchniyus, because the ruchniyus—there's two parts to the money. Yesh kesef, which is a chol, and that represents the chol, the life of chol of the person. A person works for money, yeah. What does he work for money? So he can come and get himself a good vacation and a house. That's matbea. Then there's a matbea that a person works for his money for what? Ruchnius, mitzvos, then the matbea becomes shel eish. You like it? You know what's good about it? It's true. I say pashut pshat, pashut pshat. Matbea shel eish. Fire coin. What fire coin? What are you talking about? What makor is it? Matbea shel eish. U'ma lo yavin Moshe Rabbeinu? You know how he looked at money? He looked at money as a davar chol. Money? Hashem wants money? Gold, silver, money? How do you learn matbea shel eish? It's ruchnius. Which part? It's the eish of the person. It's the eish of the person. There's a fire, ruchnius of a person, and when he works for the money for ruchnius, so the money becomes him, eish. The ruchnius part of it. With this, I want to show you something very interesting. You know, malachim have different names. Do you know what the biggest malach, the most spiritual malach is called? Ish. Ish.

Rafi? Ishim. One of the malachim. One of the malachim is ishim, fires. Ishim. Huh? No, eish. Srafim. Fireballs. Whatever. The point is, it's not that srafim, ishim. The point is, when there's ruchniyus, chayi ruchniyus, it's represented in which? It's represented in srafim. What? The what? Davar ruchni is called ishim, srafim, fires. What about malachim of fire? What fires? And the Torah says, chayos ruchni is fire. Fire. You knew this? Why not? I don't know. Listen, ... this ... You want to know which is bigger? He knows this. Which is the bigger malach? Because he also, he has the ... ... lo babayis, who יודע. Lo chashuv. Ani רק מראה לך. להבין, a malach is a spiritual thing. It's alive. It's alive, but spiritually alive. It's not fire? No, no, I'm explaining something. Okay. Srafim? No, he says, it doesn't ishim. It's not ishim, it's ... it's different words. It's two words. So ishim is peoples or ishim is fire? Ishim is peoples. It's fires, I told you, it's fires. It's written different, without the yud. Two yud and one yud. Ishim is fires. It's fireballs. Malachim are called srafim and ishim and fires and ... Chai ruchni is isha. Oh. Now, with this, understand the mayridike thing, yeah? There's money which is completely gashmi, and then there's money which is completely ruchni, and it all depends on the kavanah. It all depends on what you use it for, the intent that you use it for. The shekalim of Haman were shekalim were used for bad. Hikdim sheklei Yisrael. So the anecdote is not that they gave it. It's not that they gave it. It's the type of shekalim. It's different shekalim, you hear? There's sheklei kodesh versus sheklei rishus. Listen again. Listen carefully. I'm telling you a meyridike vort. Pashut pshat is, HaKadosh Baruch Hu said the zechut of giving the shekalim, and He was makdim it to what? To the giving of Haman, so that's zechut. It's not about zechut. The shekalim themselves was the terufah to the sheklei Haman, because the sheklei Haman were about what? Chol. And I'm going to prove it to you. Asher amar Haman lishkol al yedei... What does that mean, oisem halach? I was thinking about it for years. What are you talking? What's oisem halach? What does it mean? Here, read the Megillah. Haman said that he's going to give the shekalim. Hiskalem al yedei... Osei melachah. What is he talking about? Which melachos is he referring to? Which? Look it up. Which melachos is he talking about? Unless he means the ones that do the work of the kingdom. I don't know what he means, bichlal, the ones who do which work? What work is he talking about, hey? Ata Yehudi me'eretz Yisrael, me'efo ata? Be'eretz Yisrael korim Megillah? Korim? Az tagid li, ma katuv? Al yedei osei melachah, eizeh melachim osim? What is he talking about? Hey, you, you don't read the Megillah? It's not for you Megillas Esther? For some people, maybe it's not nogea to you, I don't know. Rafi, you, you, you, it's nogea Megillas Esther, so what's osei melachah? What does it mean? People work. ... Tagid. Hiskalem, money is money.

He's giving the money to pay off his chashveirim to kill the Jews. I'll give you the money al yedei, through the hands of those who do work. What are we talking about? What are the words mean? Kesef is kesef. I once told you, haya dayan echad, the tape recorder master. He was a big dayan in America. Mamash, hu soneh kesef b'shem leviah. It's a nickname. Good money, guaranteed money. Put the money on the table. Definite money, clean money. Just money is money. What's oiseh melachah? What are you talking about? I give you money al yedei oiseh melachah. I give you money, finish. Money is... oiseh melachah. Different types of money. Huh? What kind of money is oiseh melachah? Chayil, that they do for work. I'll give you cash. In English we call it grub. Good. Dough. Yeah, yeah, they call it money, dough. In English we call it—what do you call dough? Grub. Chayil, al yedei oiseh melachah. I'll give you good, good work, solid working money, you know. Hello, hello. Al zeh yachol לעשות אחר כך, ובמקום זה הפסדת דבר יפה מאוד, שאלנו שאלה הפסדת. You hear? Al yedei oiseh melachah. Money. Currency. I'll give you currency. Shiklei Yisrael. It's not about oisei melachah; it's shekel hakodesh, osei mitzvah. It's a whole different shekel. So the shekalim was lehakdim, to be makdim the shekalim to the shiklei haman. Okay. Now, lefizeh, you hear, the inyan of the hakdamah doesn't have to be makdim refuah l'makah. So let's discuss it. He's asking a good kashya. If it's kodesh, so you don't really need the mimakdim. So you can see makdim refuah l'makah, I'll tell you better. What makes kesef kodesh? It's the kavanah that you put into it. This that you want to give to the Mishkan, that itself makes it kodesh. So the makdim—the truth is, when could we brought it? When we have the last day, the last minute. If it's needed for the terumah chadashah, bring it the last minute. And the teretz is, it wasn't for chov. We weren't looking to pay up our debt. We were looking to give. So the makdim was the kavanah of the mitzvah that goes into it. When you show ratzon. You show that you want to do the mitzvah, right? You want, you want to, I want to give. Im ze prias chov, you came to him and told, listen, you owe. Okay, you're right. So then the pshat is, it's money. I owe you two. Lehagdim is, it's mitzvah. So the yesod of the shekalim is not chov money. It's mitzvah money. Homan gami, mitzvah, there was given chance a month before. A month before. For what? Homan gami before to give. I want to give. Magdim. I'm excited to give. A day before. A day before? When you're excited for something, it's a day before? A year before. Shameata hanekudah פה? Im ze prias chov, if it's pshat, you want me to buy korbanos and I owe the money, it's a tax. You know when you pay your taxes, you know the... what's the last minute? The biggest day of mail in America is the day before tax day, because everybody's running to get the taxes out. That would be if it was a tax. But if you look at it, that this is all about a mitzvah. It's all about the korbanos. It's all about how much I really want and how much nefesh I put into the mitzvah.

So, hamakdim, echad b'odom mashmi'in al haShkolim. With this, I want to explain a me'oredike vort. You ready? Today we don't have Parshas Shekalim. So what is it? You know the Torah says, I want. What are we saying? I'm saying that I want. It's the warning to give the shekalim. I want to give for the Beis HaMikdash. I wish we had a Mishkan. I'm hoping b'meheirah yibaneh haMishkan, and therefore I would come and give shekalim. That's the yesod of Shekalim. The Ribbono Shel Olam wants you, not the shekel. It's our damim. It's us. The Ribbono Shel Olam is looking for us. So the way to get us is through our damim. So we show Ribbono Shel Olam, You want? This is us. This is what we want. This is our ratzon. This is what we're trying to do. And the hikdim, the fact that we're makdim the shekalim, is the anecdote to the shekalim that it's money. With this, rabosai, I can give a very nice pshat. You hear? The Chiddushei Harim says a beautiful vort. If you notice, what do we say? Be'echad b'Adar mashmi'in al haShekalim. What else? What else do we announce? Ve'al haKlayim. That people who have kilayim should not mix it; they should uproot it. What does one have to do with the other, pesach? Is there any connection? Be'echad b'Adar mashmi'in al haShekalim. It just happens to be that also al kilayim, says the Chiddushei Harim, this yesod: in every kesef there can be kilayim. It could be a person could have, you know, he needs l'shem shamayim a little bit, but he also means—how many people go to work, they mean l'shem shamayim, yeah, but they also mean l'shem the nice house that they want to buy. Shemiah al hashkolim v'al haklayim. ... beautiful vart. You know, kilayim is the mixture. So they come and they mashmia, it's a musser. Shekalim, sheklei kodesh. A person puts his life and his effort into his money, but it has to be for eish. It has to be for the right cause, for the right reasons. Then it's shekel, it's hakodesh, then it's takah holy. You know, we spoke about it many times. A person could eat and sleep. Does that mean that he's not a kadosh? No. But if he eats and sleeps for the right reasons, that's kedusha. If a person goes to make money for the right reasons, that's shekel hakodesh. His money is holy. Ma she'ein kein, if a person comes and he works for what? For himself, l'shem kis, for the money, so then his shekel is not kodesh. You notice, what does Rashi say the shekel hakodesh was? That it was pure—I'm sorry, the Ramban. Ramban says, vavur shekol hamatbea b'mishkol shalem, ein bo pachos v'lo kesef sigim. It was pure. It was pure. It was a pure coin. There was no junk in it. There was no flaw. It was pure. What's the remez of it? The klayim. It should be pure. The idea of shekel is money has to be pure. Any heter, any compromise when it comes to mamnus and the money is not kosher. You know, I'll give you an example here. You want to give a good example? Reb Yid, you, yeah, you, listen to me carefully. Could you imagine if a person would go to a rav, yeah, tell him, have here a piece of chicken, a meat, tipat chalav, small fell in. So the rav makes all sorts of Torah with bitul b'shishim and... You know what the guy says to himself? Forget it. Forget it. Start eating basar b'chalav, leave it alone. Could you imagine when it came to the kesef, he makes that cheshbon, there's a tipa tipa of geneivah, tipa tipa of not yosher in the money. He would say it's batel b'shishim. He would say it's... Ah, yeah, all that Torah, yeah, the whole basar b'chalav and the yoreh deah, he would bring out onto the table, yeah? Just like there's glatt kosher in meat, glatt kosher, chalak, Beit Yosef, ... mixture. Ashmiyim...

This, rabosai, is shekel ha-kodesh. That's called shekel ha-kodesh. Chazal tell us a very interesting thing. People don't know this. You know, when we read Parshas Shekalim, like I said, it's mashma it's something from the past, right? Or it's something, bheira yibaneh HaMikdash, that when the Mishkan will be rebuilt, we'll have Parshas Shekalim. The Medrash Tanchuma says—you found the Medrash Tanchuma? Medrash Tanchuma says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu told Moshe Rabbeinu, every year when the Yidden are going to read Parshas Shekalim, you're going to stand there and you're going to count, ata zoikef rosh Bnei Yisroel. You found it? You found the lashon, zoikef. You have it? Medrash Tanchuma. As a matter of fact, there's a very interesting Alshich on Megillas Esther. He says that when you give matanos la'evyonim, you're supposed to say, l'eilu nishmat Moshe Rabbeinu. Then he says, not only by matanos la'evyonim, but even Parshas Shekalim. When you're mekayem the mitzvah of Parshas Shekalim, you're supposed to say, l'eilu nishmat Moshe Rabbeinu. And when you give the shekel, the zecher l'machatzis shekel, the Alshich says you're supposed to say—he says it's a minhag, it's a custom—that you're supposed to say, l'eilu nishmat. There's a raya to this svara, and the Alshich must have been a Sefardi. Huh? L'eilu nishmat. Moshe Rabbeinu, l'ilui nishmat Moshe Rabbeinu. Huh? Yeah. L'ilui nishmat Moshe Rabbeinu. Why? Because Moshe Rabbeinu comes and he counts, zokeif. You hear? He's counting the head of every person. What's the lashon of zokeif? What kind of lashon is zokeif? Very good. What did you just say? Magbiah. Kisisa. You know the lashon is? Kisisa es rosh bnei Yisrael. Uplift. How is it uplift? Kisisa es rosh bnei Yisrael. What's the uplifting? No. Huh? No, not kinyan. Kisisa es rosh bnei Yisrael. Kisisa. Magbiah. Carrying? Kisisa is not to carry. Kisisa is to uplift. Kisisa es rosh... zokeif. Zokeif the rosh. Teretz rapa. It's very pashut. Machza shekel is supposed to teach a person... Let me read, let me read. Listen to a lashon. Every year, yeah? Could you imagine? You see it here. It says like this. Yeah? Oh, here it is. Here it is. U'veparshas Shekalim, amar Moshe lifnei HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Ribbono shel Olam, mishani meis, ein ani nizkar. You know, as soon as I die, who's gonna remember me? Ein ani nizkar. Amar li HaKadosh Baruch Hu, don't worry, we'll remember you. Chayecha. Just like now you're giving Parshas Shekalim, v'ata zochef es roshan, kach b'chol shanah v'shanah shekorin osa lifanai, k'ilu at omeid sham b'osah shah v'sokef es roshan. Meaning, ... vayedaber Hashem el Moshe leimor, ki sisa es rosh ... so, es rosh, lo ne'emar; so is in the past, ela ki tisa, in the future. Moshe Rabbeinu will be uplifting our heads, okef, every year. How is he sokef et harosh? The Torah says very pashut. Listen to this. A person lives here, chayei adamah. That's when he runs around and his money is all about him and everything. The inyan of machatzis shekel, to give to a Mishkan, to give a matbe'a shel esh, is to be magbia, is to be ma'aleh the person, that he should be an ish barosh shelo. His mind, his machshavah, should be an ish merumam. He should be a much higher person. Ma'aleh et adam, et machshavto, et his rosh, his head.

Could be a person who's ish adama, a person, a lowlife, they call it in English. Or a person could be what? Ish me'ulah, a person that his head, his head is above, above it all. The mind, the rosh, his machshavot. A person who comes to work with machshava that he's doing it l'shem mitzvah. He's doing it for the right reasons. He'll keep the halachos. Then the pshat is he's a ... rosh Bnei Yisrael. This is shekel hakodesh, then his money is kodesh. This is hikdim sheklei, sheklei Bnei Yisrael. He was makdim the shekalim, the sheklei haman. And this, rabosai, is the pshat that when we lost the Beis Hamikdash, what did the Ribbono Shel Olam take away? The Ribbono Shel Olam took away not a mashkon, money. He took away the mashkon, the damim of Klal Yisrael, the dam, the blood. The kaparah wasn't just, I'll take money instead. You owe us, I'll take away your money. I'll take away your damim. This, rabosai, is—now it's interesting, I was just thinking to myself something very interesting. The gezeirah of Haman, right? The gezeirah of Haman, right? Le'abdam, yeah? What was le'abdam? Lo b'dam. Lo b'dam. Very interesting, huh? Lo b'dam, not with blood. What happened? Klal Yisrael was supposed to pay with dam. It was supposed to pay with their life. Higdim shiklei Yisrael. The Rabbeinu Shalom made the gezeirah with the shekalim, and He took away the dam and the shekalim, like by the Mishkan. Loi b'dam. There was a gezeirah that Klal Yisrael was supposed to have destruction, but loi b'dam, but not with mamash their dam, so they were poided with the sheklei. One more thing I want to tell you. It says that what happened, that Haman got nervous, got all nervous, Haman got all bent out of shape. What does the Gemara say? That he came there and he found the children were learning which halachos? Kometz, kemitzah. Which korban? Mincha. Mincha has a kometz. Who brings a korban mincha? Who brings a korban mincha? Mincha lechatas. Who brings a mincha lechatas? An ashir and ani. Who brings a mincha? It's minchas ani, right? The whole thing. Ani is... an ani brings a korban mincha. Now, let's make the cheshbon. An ani brings a korban mincha. Either ashir brings a big korban, and the teretz is because the Rabbeinu Shalom doesn't look at the external. Shav yishuva. What does Ribono Shel Olam look at? Kavana. Karban minchas merutzah, because it's how much damim, how much—not physical price—how much nefesh and neshama you put into it. And that's what the Mishkan is all about, and that's what the Mikdash is all about. So when Haman understood that, when Haman saw that the Mikdash is about damim—not external damim, but internal damim, the dam, the nefesh—he saw that he's not loy ba-dam. It's not going to work. Haman understood that when he wants to destroy Klal Yisrael, you can't destroy Klal Yisrael, because Klal Yisrael is not about an external thing. Klal Yisrael is about an internal thing. It's about a ruchniyusdike life. Why is Klal Yisrael lo netzach? Why is it that way? How does it work? You ever think about it? Everybody speaks about the miracle of the Jewish people, the survival, that they never get destroyed. Why is it that way? It's pashut pshat: Hashem is watching us, yeah? And the teretz is because...

We are an am ruchani. It's spiritual. It's based on spiritual. It's based on... that's l'netzach. It's kayam. There's no way to destroy that. No way to destroy that. You can't destroy something spiritual. You can destroy something physical, right? You can destroy something. This was the chiddush of the Mashgichim. The Mashgiach was teaching us that you could destroy a physical, but you can't destroy a spiritual thing. You could destroy the eitzim va'avanim. You might be able to take the Mishkan and the Mikdash and destroy its external outer walls, but you're never going to be able to destroy the what? The inside. Haman was trying to destroy Klal Yisrael. He realized from the korban mincha there's no way to destroy Klal Yisrael, because Klal Yisrael is not a... You know, I was thinking about something very interesting also. You know, Hitler, at the moment that he couldn't have his Reich, he couldn't have his melucha that he was thinking of, the Third Reich, he went and committed suicide. There was no point of living. It's an unbelievable thing, if you think about it. If he didn't have the Germany that he was searching for, there was no point of him to be alive at all. There was nothing pnimius. It was all about external things. Klal Yisrael, at the same time, he taka destroyed them. He taka took them and physically destroyed, and they were kayam, because it's a ruchniyusdike thing. You can't destroy a ruchniyusdike thing. Haman tried. Haman tried. Haman tried to do that. Mincha, the korban mincha taught him that it's not about external. It's not about power. An ani, his korban is just as important as an ashir because of how much dam, how much of his blood goes into it. Loi ba-dam. It's not going to be dam, a gezeirah physical. There's a pidyon for it: Shiklei Haman shehikdim shekalim l'shiklei Haman. This, rabosai, says Parshas Shekalim, and this, rabosai, is the inyan of the mashkin of the Mikdash. I want to finish this yesod. I was thinking to myself also another thing. How did the whole thing start? It started, they went to the seudah of Achashverosh. It was kosher. The seudah of Achashverosh was kosher and everything. There was a lot of materialistic things. It was oisher, kavod, malchuso, v'esh yakar, tiferes gedulaso. Yisroel was busy with the gashmiyus that was going on in Malchei Paras u'Madai. As a matter of fact, the Mishkan's keilim were taken, the shiklei haKodesh were taken, and they were made chol at that party. So the tikkun was hikdim shiklei Yisrael and the koimitz of the mincha, the ani. And that's why later on, if you look, Mordechai becomes Mishneh laMelech, and everybody's poresh from it. Why were they poresh from it? Because they held that that was what was geirim in the first place. What was geirim in the first place was that they didn't stay. Away from the malchus and the royalty and then the gashmiyus of Haman, of Achashverosh. He was going right back into it, beis Haman and oysher kavod vachusah and everything. The Chacham stayed away. Chacham held that he made a mistake in this nekudah, that the gashmiyus was not worth it. So Mordechai dike taher. What did they do wrong? They had a good time. That's what they had. It was a great party. It says, kedas ish v'ish, it was kosher, it was 100% kosher. But it was oysher kavod malchusah. It was lavish. It was, in English we call it a—what?—extravagance of money. It was such a bizbuz of kesef in such a low-class way of dealing with money and riches. So the Rabbeinu Shalom made it, and also I was thinking another thing: V'tzumu alai, v'al tochlu v'al tishtu shloshes yamim. The tikkun was also the fasting. How is the tikkun the fasting? Vaiter, since the whole thing was the money and the gashmiyus, so the miut chelbo, the inyan of taking away the gashmiyus, the inyan of hafker, that's the whole thing we find by damim, dam tarti mashma.

Being taught what damim was all about, what life, what it was real. So the tzumo alai, al tochal v'al tishtu. And also I was thinking to myself, the tikkun was Esther. Esther lo biksha davar. Why? What's pshat? She asked for nothing, for keret. No oysher, no makeup, no nothing. Toichen, pnimi. It was something else. The pnimius. There was a lot of chitzoni and the tikkun was the pnimi. So when Mordechai came and started again with the Mishnah lamelech and all the money, the Chazal said he was wrong. Chazal didn't appreciate it. So Mordechai had the constant of how to look at rich, at money. Here, Mr. Kaikov, Mr. Kaikov, come. I want to tell you what I just finished off a ma'amar dik yesod, and I just want to finish off one more thing from last week too. Here, I said a ma'amar dik pshat. The way we're learning shekel could either be kodesh or it could be Haman's money, osi melacha, it could be riches, yeah? How did the whole thing start? It started when they went to the party, which was osher k'vod malchuso, the money for beer, yeah. They went and even at the party, what did they do? They brought the klei haMishkan. They used the shiklei hakodesh. I'm saying, so that was the party. The party was bizbuz. It was a bizbuz of shekel to make it chol. So what happened? So afterwards, what was the tikkun? V'tzumo alai, al tochal v'al tishtu shloshes yamim. Miut of the gashmiyus, dam, damim. What happened? Mordechai at the end went back and he became rich and everything. Chazal were poresh from him. Ratzu l'rov echav. Chazal, the Sanhedrin said no good. What was no good about it? Because the whole thing was that they held that the oisher of Malchi Paras uMadai was gashmiyus. It wasn't kesef naki. It was a bizbuz of kesef the right way. So when Mordechai went and took the kesef, they were upset. It says, V'ratzu l'rov echav, shepirshu mimenu haSanhedrin. No, no, it says, pirshu mimenu haSanhedrin. The Sanhedrin stayed away from him after the story. Mordechai became the whole rich guy and everything. They stayed away from him. Why? Because of this nekudah. They held that he was wrong with the money. The money wasn't done proper. The money wasn't done proper. It's a ... to her. Sometimes kesef and the lifestyle of oisher, if it's not done properly, can ruin you. That's the loy ba-dam. That's the pshat that I want to say. Okay, good. I just want to finish off from last week one thing. We said over that the tikun was vayakel. So I asked you a kasha, right? The tikun for the eigel was vayakel, to put Klal Yisrael together. So I asked the kasha, what about Shabbos? How did Shabbos—how come here, notice that it wasn't mentioned the first time, it was mentioned here. So I want to say pshat is, be'emes there's a zoyer like this, that Shabbos is raza d'echad. What's the pshat? Shabbos is a zman of shalom, that people don't fight, achdus. If you notice that it's a few things. We say over that if the malach comes and he sees there's fighting in the house, he goes away. The inyan of Shabbos is pakeret, shalom bayis. Even that's why we have the neiros. Why do we have the neiros Shabbos? Shalom. The kavod of Shabbos is the shalom of the bayis. Also, it says, Lo sivaru eish b'chol moshvoseichem b'yom haShabbos. Zohar and the sefarim write that it's referring to machlokes. Don't make a machlokes on Shabbos. Lo sivaru eish, don't make heat of machlokes. Shabbos is a zman of vayakhel, the Jews come together. That's why Shabbos people come together. I forgot to end off. I asked this question: so how come now in Vayakhel do we have Shabbos? How come it's not in the beginning? The answer is because it's all part of Vayakhel. Vayakhel Moshe, he put them together. How did he put them together? He told them about Shabbos. Shabbos is a zman of kehillah. Jews come together, the whole week they're spread out working; here they come together. And there's a special hadgasha, an emphasis on sholom on Shabbos. Peace. You know, if you notice, we say Shabbat Shalom. No, we do. It's like an emphasis. We see that we emphasize the sholom, the peacefulness of Shabbos. Shabbos is wholesome and peaceful. Shabbat shalom. Why? Because Shabbos is about sholom. And that's why if the malach comes, he sees there's no sholom, he leaves. And that's why, Lo sivaru eish b'chol moshvoseichem b'yom haShabbos. Don't make fire, don't make machlokes. And that's the inyan of kavod Shabbos, sholom bayis, the neiros. Kavod of the Shabbos is to have sholom in the bayis. I forgot to finish it off.

That's, it's a simple pshat. How can we say Shabbat Shalom? Say have an enjoyable Shabbos. You notice that people say, Good Shabbos. I would say you shouldn't say Good Shabbos. You should say, Peace. Peace on Shabbos. Shabbat Shalom. Don't say Shabbat tov. In English they translate Good Shabbos. No, no, no. Peaceful Shabbos. Shalom. Shalom. Shabbat shalom. Peaceful, not Shabbat tov, Good Shabbos. I have to try that in Lakewood. I'll start saying Peaceful Shabbos. I'll see how far it goes, to have a peaceful Shabbos. Okay, that's it. Explained the zoikef is reisha maybe 100% properly this year. Moshe Rabbeinu will be zoikef. You know what zoikef means? In Yiddish it's called darheben. It's to lift up, to lift the head of a person, to make that his mind and his head is in ruchniyusdike things, instead of having shiflus, low, shvelusdik. That's zoikef. Heisisa. A person who works and his mind is for the good things, so then he's a loftyer person. He's an ish me'ulah. Mashenkein if he works and he's running after the money, k'sayder, then he's a shafel, he's an ish nidrik. That's the zoikef.