Ki- Tisa - Mahaseet Hashekel

Mahaseet Hashekel - Refortifying the Divine Throne 

We are taught by the prophet Yehezkel that the face of the spiritual ox is imprinted upon the chariot of the King of Kings. The light of God is said to rest upon his throne while being transported by the four spiritual creatures. The job of Israel below is to ensure that the four carriers remain in their proper position to carry out their assigned task. We taught in a previous essay that the sin of the golden calf caused the wheel associated with the ox to become unhitched from the divine chariot. The throne thereby can no longer properly house the light of the Creator. Israel below will have to rectify this spiritual blemish. We must refortify the throne! We must reattach so to say the wheel back onto the chariot. A tool of repair was the Mahaseet Hashekel - half silver coin- that was donated by Israel to be used in the silver sockets of the Mishkan. Furthermore - it was established that an annual payment of a Mahaseet Hashekel be contributed to the Temple for the communal offerings. We will explore how the Mahaseet Hashekel served this function and why the repair is associated with the counting of the approximately 600,000 Jews above the age of twenty years old. 

The Mahaseet Hashekel - Both as Tikun Hahet and Atonement of the Soul 

The Talmud (Yerushalmi - Shekalim) and the Midrash (Tanhuma) maintain that the obligation to give Mahaseet Hashekel is associated with the spiritual repair of חטא העגל - This amount was collected from over 600,000 males over twenty years of age in conjunction with a head count preceding the construction of the Mishkan. In 38:25 the Torah says that the Silver Census money included 100 talents of silver that was to be used for the 100 אדנים - or base sockets used to hold the surrounding pillars of the Mishkan and Parokhet. We know that the Mishkan is to house the divine presence. A properly built Mishkan below will reflect the fact that the throne above has also to some extent been repaired. The אדנים are the socket bases - which are fundamental in the construction of the Mishkan below and in the parallel divine throne above. It is apparent then that initial Tikun of the מחצית השקל was to reestablish the wheel of the chariot via the אדנים - allowing a place or setting for Gods presence both in this world and on his throne in the celestial region above. The annual Tikun via the communal offerings was to serve to keep the spiritual throne above in all its glory. The roots of the higher souls of Israel are found beneath the divine throne. The sin of the golden calf also resulted in the descent of these souls. This is secret of the injunction found at the opening of the parasha כי תשא את ראש - in order to elevate the upper parts of the souls of Israel back up into their root position in the celestial regions above - they will need to ransom themselves via the מחצית השקל - The Midrash (YS 386) reminds us of the fact that Moshe should not be lulled into the belief that the purpose of מחצית השקל was merely to facilitate the count. If the count was the principle factor in the matter then Moshe only had to consider the ראש or the primary letters of each of the 11 tribes who committed the heinous act of חטא העגל - namely ר for ראובן and continuing with ש,י,י,ז,ד,נ,ג,א,י,ב - numerically totaling 597 (thousand) - This should serve as a guide that from the 600,000 (see Shemot 12:37) Israelites - there were 3000 who were executed by  the Levites as reported in 32:28 - The Levi'im did as Moshe ordered and three thousand fell that day. Hence the מחצית השקל was mainly to serve to reattach the wheel of the heavenly chariot and elevate the higher soul נשמה of Israel to be stationed beneath the כסא הכבוד - 

The Holy Coin - Also has its Spiritual Root Under the Throne

The coin called שקל הקודש serves a holy purpose. Each one of Israel is to contribute as a ransom for his soul - ונתנו איש כופר נפשו לה׳ - which they had forfeited or blemished by participating in חטא העגל - The roots of the souls of Israel are beneath the Holy Throne above. The Divine Presence is described by our Sages as being upheld by the throne. A blemish in one of the four carriers (The spiritual Ox) is indicative that the head ראש of our souls have also become unhitched from their spiritual root underneath the throne. The contribution of the מחצית השקל - was to repair the damage. Our Sages teach (Tanhuma 9) that God showed Moshe the coin of fire - or the spiritual root of the מחצית השקל - that was placed immediately below the throne of God! The Ohr HaHayyim notes that from this we learn that payment of the ransom was not merely a physical transaction but had far reaching effects in the spiritual domain. This explains the profound Torah expression of זה יתנו - This you shall give. God was so to say pointing a finger and saying to Moshe - "This - what is beneath my throne - the coin of fire - is what they are to give. So the payment is holy as it has its roots in the reconnection of the wheel to the chariot. It is used below to produce the temple sockets and above as part of the throne for the divine presence. 

 

The 20 Year Old Males have Souls with Spiritual Roots Under the Holy Throne

When a baby is born he is endowed with the lowest level of soul called נפש - As he reaches Bar Misva - he is granted the middle soul level called רוח -He is at that juncture able to fight against the evil inclination in the war to keep the misvot. At the age of 20 he attains the highest of the three levels called נשמה - With this spiritual asset he becomes responsible for all of his actions even in the heavenly courts above. This soul level of נשמה is associated with the world of בריאה - or the location of the כסא הכבוד - It appears to me that only one endowed with a נשמה or that had attained the age of 20 can blemish the chariot of the divine presence. Hence it is only he who is counted amongst the celestial armies of Hashem (See Shemot 12:41). This is also the secret of the travels of Israel as detailed in the beginning of Sefer Bemidbar in four sets of tribal groups surrounding the Mishkan. This of course was to parallel the four carriers of the Holy Throne above in the celestial region. 

All 600000 are Needed to Effectuate Tikun

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 102) teaches in the name of R. Yishak that חטא העגל disrupted the spiritual weights above - He comments that the weight of חטא העגל is reduced by each punishment Israel will receive below. It is not only יסורין that balances these scales but the מחצית השקל given by 600000 men will be shown to be the perfect equalizer. R. S. Donn cites the אור יקרות in calculating how the מחצית השקל was precisely a Tikun to counter balance this blemish of the חטא העגל - The Midrash (MR 42:8) teaches that the עגל weighed 120קנטרנין of gold. The Talmud (BM 87) notes that one קנטר equals 100 gold שקלים - So the עגל was 12000 שקלים - The Talmud (Kid 12) teaches that there are 4 gold dinarim in 1 Shekel. Total weight was 48000 gold דנרים - We learn in the Talmud (Ket 99) that 1 gold דינרis equal to 25 silver דנרים - So total weight in silver dinarim was 1200000. A half silver shekel or the מחצית השקל proscribed in our parasha is two dinarim. So when the 600000 Jews gave the מחצית השקל it was precisely 1200000 silver dinarim or the exact weight of the עגל הזהב - This as we noted above was the precise weight of the 100 אדנים - or bases that held the 48 surrounding beams of theמשכן and the 4 holding the פרוכת - a perfect Tikun. 

Summary and Additional Thoughts

The blemish of חטא העגל is the unhitching of the spiritual wheel associated with the spiritual Ox of the chariot above. This casualty in the Throne of God is rectified by the מחצית השקל - A. We were to rebuild a dwelling place for the Divine Presence below which would parallel a rebuilding of the Fourth Faulty Wheel of the Divine Throne above. B. The Divine Throne sits atop the spiritual world of Beriah - Both the Holy Coin מחצית השקל shown to Moshe and the Higher Soul נשמה aquired only by 20 year old males have their roots beneath the כסא הכבוד - C. The 600 thousand counted qualified males each were required to re-elevate their souls via this תרומה or elevated gift of Mahaseet Hashekel which was precisely the spiritual weight to counter the weight of the עגל - D. The residual Tikun of the sin is rectified via יסורין of Israel and the annual donation of מחצית השקל for the communal offerings. E. In our day we recognize our small participation in this rectification via the annual reading of פרשת שקלים preceding or on Rosh Hodesh אדר- (OH 685).