Mark Shabbat Shekelim with our resources guide:
The Wednesday before Shabbat Shekalim 5785 marks the launch of Jewish Justice Giving Day, a time to lift up and support the incredible work that Jewish social justice organizations are doing for the well-being of our communities. The below resource guide takes a look at a Torah source on Shabbat Shekalim, and invites you to reflect on its relevance to our daily lives. We invite you to explore this resource guide over a meal with community members, or on your own and with a journal or other tool you like to use for reflection.
Bring the below teaching to your community, or access the PDF and print-friendly version, below!
Background:
At this time of year in Biblical times, Jews from all over Israel and the Diaspora were preparing to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover at the Holy Temple. A special collection was made in the weeks before the holiday where both rich and poor would give a coin worth a half-shekel, which is equivalent to approximately $5, to pay for the needs of the Temple. While today we gather for prayer and community events in our synagogues, private homes and community centers, our ancestors all gathered at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple was central to the spiritual and material life of the Jewish people. It was where expressions of gratitude were offered for healing from near fatal illness, where pleas were made for forgiveness and atonement, and where requests were made for the well-being of the entire people. Giving to the Temple most often was on a sliding scale or open to whatever people could give, acknowledging that people had different financial means. The half-shekel collection was different. Everyone, no matter how rich or how poor, contributed. Here is the description from the Torah (Exodus 30:13-15):
This is what everyone who is entered in the records shall pay: ...a half-shekel as an offering to God.
Everyone who is entered in the records, from the age of twenty years up, shall give God’s offering
The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than half a shekel when giving God’s offering as an atonement for themselves
זֶ֣ה ׀ יִתְּנ֗וּ כׇּל־הָעֹבֵר֙ עַל־הַפְּקֻדִ֔ים מַחֲצִ֥ית הַשֶּׁ֖קֶל בְּשֶׁ֣קֶל הַקֹּ֑דֶשׁ עֶשְׂרִ֤ים גֵּרָה֙ הַשֶּׁ֔קֶל מַחֲצִ֣ית הַשֶּׁ֔קֶל תְּרוּמָ֖ה לַֽיהֹוָֽה׃
כֹּ֗ל הָעֹבֵר֙ עַל־הַפְּקֻדִ֔ים מִבֶּ֛ן עֶשְׂרִ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה וָמָ֑עְלָה יִתֵּ֖ן תְּרוּמַ֥ת יְהֹוָֽה׃
הֶֽעָשִׁ֣יר לֹֽא־יַרְבֶּ֗ה וְהַדַּל֙ לֹ֣א יַמְעִ֔יט מִֽמַּחֲצִ֖ית הַשָּׁ֑קֶל לָתֵת֙ אֶת־תְּרוּמַ֣ת יְהֹוָ֔ה לְכַפֵּ֖ר עַל־נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶֽם׃
The fact that everyone gave meant that everyone was also included in the communal sacrifices and prayers for wellbeing and atonement. This created a sense of mutual responsibility of all community members for each other. The sense of mutual responsibility is expressed in other parts of the Torah, where the Israelites are directed to care for the marginalized and vulnerable in society, to periodically redistribute wealth and to be generous in making loans to those who need. One of the purposes of Shabbat Shekalim is to remind us today of our mutual responsibility to each other and to reflect on our connection to and obligation for the well-being of all of society.
Questions for personal or group reflection:
-
Requiring giving at the same amount for rich and poor can be seen as regressive, in that it is more of a burden on the poor. What do you think of this method of creating a sense of mutual responsibility? Are there other ways to do it that might not put an unfair burden on people with less financial resources?
-
How does our contemporary U.S. society create a sense of mutual responsibility, if at all? What else could be done to increase this mutual responsibility?
-
What are ways you express your participation in and connection to the greater community (however you define that community)?
-
How have you been supported in your own wellbeing by the community? Do you have a specific example?
-
Does you or your family have a Tzedakah practice? What are your charitable giving practices?
-
Who is a model for you of giving to the community? What is it they do that impresses you?
Practice
Mussar is the thousand year-old Jewish wisdom tradition of applied Jewish ethics. One of the practices of this tradition is to learn from the actions of other people. Over the next week, pay attention to how others' actions contribute—or fail to contribute—to the well-being of the community. Reflect on these observations, and consider sharing what you’ve learned at your next Shabbat meal.
This guide was developed in partnership with Kirva: Jewish Spiritual Practice & Action for Social Change. You are welcome to print and share the guide widely through this link here.