Vayakhel, Shabbos Shekalim - Loving a Jew simply because he is a Jew - Rabbi Asher Perkash

00:03 This was a Shavuos farbrengen in 5700 with the Frierdiker Rebbe. It was the first Shavuos after the Frierdiker Rebbe arrived in America, during World War II. At that farbrengen, the Frierdiker Rebbe told several stories, among them one told by the Alter Rebbe. The Alter Rebbe had heard it from Reb Zusha of Anipoli, who had heard it from his brother, the holy Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk, whose yahrzeit falls around this time. He related that the Maggid of Mezritch had a holy group of students, and they took turns staying with him at night. A student would remain there overnight so that, if the Maggid needed anything, he could attend to him. As is known, the Maggid of Mezritch had difficulty getting around; he had a problem with his legs. When he needed to walk, he used crutches. Because of this condition, he lay down most of the time. So the students arranged for someone to stay with him in case he needed anything. That night, Reb Elimelech was on duty. He sat and waited in case the Maggid needed something. In the middle of the night, he heard the Maggid moving and heard a noise coming from his room.

01:41 When the Maggid walked with his crutches, they made a noise. Reb Elimelech got up at once and stood by the door. The door opened, and the Maggid called him into his bedroom. The Maggid told him: “Reb Melech”—that is the wording in which this was passed down from Rebbe to Rebbe, and how the Frierdiker Rebbe related it—“Reb Melech, they say in the heavenly academy that the mitzvah of Ahavas Yisroel, ‘Love your fellow as yourself,’ means that one must love a complete rasha exactly as one loves a complete tzaddik.” Those were his words. The story continued. The next day, Reb Elimelech, who was deeply struck by the saying, shared it with the holy group of students. Later, they saved a Jew who found himself in need of help. His conduct had not been good; he laughed and mocked, and it seemed that he had no share in the World to Come at all. After hearing this saying, the holy group helped that Jew, saved him and brought him out of his situation, and he became a complete baal teshuvah. The Rebbe, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, once told this story at a Shavuos farbrengen.

03:10 The Rebbe retold the story, and it connects with the fact that, as is known, the Baal Shem Tov brought renewed emphasis to the whole subject of Ahavas Yisroel through the teachings of Chassidus. It is one of the foundations of his teachings. Shavuos, after all, is the day of the Baal Shem Tov’s passing. And over time, from generation to generation, ever deeper dimensions of Ahavas Yisroel were revealed. It is related that the Baal Shem Tov gave a teaching on the Sages’ statement: “What is written in the tefillin of the Master of the World?” The Gemara says: “What is written in the tefillin of the Master of the World? ‘And who is like Your people Israel, one nation on earth.’” In other words, the tefillin of Hakadosh Boruch Hu speak of the greatness of the Jewish people. On this, the Baal Shem Tov said that just as tefillin include tefillin for the head and tefillin for the arm, so too among the Jewish people there are those corresponding to the tefillin for the head—the Torah scholars—and those corresponding to the tefillin for the arm—people of action, simple people, people of kindness and charity. And with tefillin, we see that although the tefillin for the head have greater importance, the blessing is recited specifically over the tefillin for the arm, and they are put on first. Similarly, simple people are of great importance to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, even more than Torah scholars. This was one of the Baal Shem Tov’s teachings,

04:51 and this was evident among the Baal Shem Tov’s students: their tremendous love for simple people and the way they drew them close. This was one of the holy Baal Shem Tov’s principal innovations. After him came the Maggid of Mezritch, who added another level of depth in the story and teaching he gave: one must love a complete rasha as one loves a complete tzaddik. A new depth was added here: not only simple people, but even a complete rasha; and not only must one love him, one must love a complete rasha exactly as one loves a complete tzaddik. In other words, Ahavas Yisroel does not merely mean that one must love him too. On the contrary, the love for a complete rasha must be equal to the love for a complete tzaddik. The love itself must have the same strength as the love for a complete tzaddik. Later, the Alter Rebbe explained a deeper dimension of Ahavas Yisroel in Likkutei Amarim, in Tanya. As is known, in chapter 32 of Likkutei Amarim—which, as the Rebbe would always say, is chapter 32, the heart of Tanya—the Alter Rebbe explains the mitzvah of “Love your fellow as yourself.” There he adds depth: How is this to be understood? How can one fulfill “Love your fellow as yourself” toward every single Jew, from the greatest to the least? How can there be genuine love for every Jew, just as for yourself? The Alter Rebbe adds the words “truly as yourself,” and “for every single

06:25 Jew, from the greatest to the least.” He explains that by reflecting on the fact that every Jew—all Jews—are truly brothers at their source, which is the soul from the one Hashem, it follows that all souls are one and the same. From this perspective, they are all one. This is true Ahavas Yisroel and true unity among Jews. It is only the bodies that are separate. All division comes only from the body. When a Jew’s soul shines within him, and the soul becomes primary while the body becomes secondary, there can be genuine love and brotherhood between them, as the Alter Rebbe explains at length in Tanya, chapter 32. What is the point the Alter Rebbe introduces here? How can this be? How can one love a simple person as one loves a Torah scholar—and more than that, a complete rasha just as one loves a complete tzaddik? The Alter Rebbe brought out the depth of the matter: the very fact that he is a Jew. That is, when you grasp what a Jew is at his core, then because he is a Jew, you and he are one and the same. As chassidim used to say, Moshe Rabbeinu is no more a Jew than the lowliest person, than a simple Jew. And a simple Jew is no less a Jew than Moshe Rabbeinu. When it comes to being a Jew, to the very fact that he is a Jew, in this

07:56 respect Moshe Rabbeinu and every Jew are truly equal. And that is the true meaning of “Love your fellow as yourself.” That is the depth of Ahavas Yisroel. It began with the Baal Shem Tov, found deeper expression with the Maggid of Mezritch and his students, and continued to the Alter Rebbe, who explains it in Tanya: love a Jew as he is, whether he is a simple person or a Torah scholar, whether he is a rasha or a tzaddik. See what a Jew is. What, at his core, is a Jew? From that comes true love. The point—the point of genuine Ahavas Yisroel, which flows from genuine Jewish unity—is that we are one, a single entity, with no differences at all. This is what it means that a Jew is “truly a part of G-d above.” And this point is, in fact, the foundation of the entire subject of Parshas Shekalim and the half-shekel. As is known, there are four special parshiyos, and the first of them is the parsha of the half-shekel. Yes, “When Adar begins”—the Mishnah says: “On the first of Adar, announcements are made concerning the shekels and concerning mixed plantings.” The half-shekel, the mitzvah associated with the month of Adar, is the subject of the first of the four parshiyos. On the Shabbos before the month of Adar, we read Parshas Shekalim. What is the mitzvah of the half-shekel, and what is its deeper meaning? As is known, regarding the mitzvah of the half-shekel, the Torah says: “When you raise up the heads of the Children of Israel.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells Moshe Rabbeinu: “When you raise up the heads of the Children of Israel.” If you want to raise up the heads of the Children of Israel, “they shall give”—they bring a half-shekel,

09:42 Each and every one gives “half a shekel, in the holy shekel.” But he gives only half a shekel. And as is well known, the early commentators and great Torah scholars raise questions about this mitzvah. The first question is: “Ki Sisa”—what does “Ki Sisa” mean, “when you raise”? What does that have to do with this? And another question, which Rashi raises: Why half a shekel? Why not a whole shekel? What is the point of half a shekel? Normally, one gives a whole shekel. In general, we speak of giving whole things. When you give, you give something complete—especially in the Beis Hamikdash. In the Beis Hamikdash, everything was given whole. Every offering was whole and unblemished, and every sacred vessel in the Beis Hamikdash, everything brought there, was complete—not half, not in pieces. Yet here we are told to give half a shekel. And the question is even stronger, as the commentators ask: The Torah itself says that “a shekel is twenty geirah,” and half a shekel is ten geirah. So why call it “half a shekel”? It is ten geirah. If he gives ten geirah, ten is a complete number. The number ten represents completeness; it is a full count. We are talking about ten geirah. No—the Torah emphasizes that a whole shekel is twenty geirah, and one gives half a shekel. What is the mitzvah of the half-shekel? And what is, yes, the mitzvah of half...

11:30 “When you raise the heads of the Children of Israel.” The Midrash says that Moshe Rabbeinu wondered: “How will the standing of Israel be raised?” How do we raise the standing of Israel? Hakadosh Boruch Hu answered: Through the half-shekel. What does that mean? Does the half-shekel raise the standing of Israel? There are additional questions and points raised about the half-shekel. So what is its meaning? This brings us, yes, to the Alshich. The Alshich writes that the half-shekel comes to tell us that a Jew must know that, on his own, he is not complete. A Jew must connect with another Jew. That is the whole foundation of the half-shekel. It is not incidental. The point is the opposite, as the Torah says: one gives only half; the letters dalet, lamed, or [unclear]. You might think that each person should give according to his means, one according to his [unclear]; everyone should give. And the Rebbe shows, in a maamar on the Chumash, that the Rebbe emphasizes this point. Yes, here we are told no, [unclear]: everyone must give half a shekel, because that too is part of the idea. This is the foundation the Alshich explains, what the Torah wanted to tell us. The mitzvah of the half-shekel is that a Jew should know he is no more than half. Whatever he does and whatever he accomplishes, even if he is a humble Jew, an observant Jew, a G-d-fearing Jew and a precious Jew.

13:08 And all his Torah and mitzvos, all 613 mitzvos, come [unclear]. He must know that as long as he is alone, he is only half. He must connect with someone else. If you want to be a whole shekel, you have to know that you are only half, and you need to connect with someone else. Then there is a whole shekel; the half becomes a whole shekel. This is a foundation of serving Hashem. That is why we find it in prayer: [unclear] “I hereby accept upon myself the positive mitzvah of ‘Love your fellow as yourself.’” Before a person begins to pray, when he wants to approach Hakadosh Boruch Hu, he must know that he cannot do it alone. He must say: “I hereby accept upon myself the positive mitzvah of ‘Love your fellow as yourself.’” He must connect and be united with someone else, and then there is a whole shekel. This is the foundation the Torah comes to teach us. Moshe Rabbeinu asks Hakadosh Boruch Hu: There was the sin of the golden calf. The sin of the golden calf was a sin of division. With the golden calf, there was precisely the opposite of unity: they wanted the calf, they sought something to make into, so to speak, their G-d, and there was also division among Jews. So when it comes to atoning for the sin of the golden calf, “When you raise the heads of the Children of Israel,” that was an atonement, “everyone who passes among those counted.”

14:31 So this was said about those who had lived through the sin of the golden calf: “to atone for your souls.” It was an atonement for the sin of the golden calf. This was Moshe Rabbeinu’s question: How can half a shekel atone for the sin of the golden calf? The [unclear] is an explanation, but one of the main points is the foundation of Ahavas Yisroel: a Jew knows that he is only half. All his mitzvos are only half. To become a whole shekel, he must need another Jew. And this is the foundation: Hakadosh Boruch Hu found no vessel capable of holding blessing for Israel other than peace. Only when Jews come together and unite as one can Hakadosh Boruch Hu cause His presence to dwell among them. Then there is blessing for Israel, and from this comes the atonement—“to atone for your souls.” So the foundation of Parshas Shekalim regarding Ahavas Yisroel is this: How do we truly reach Ahavas Yisroel, so that a Jew genuinely feels that he and another Jew are one, and that [unclear] together with the other Jew they become a whole shekel? The point is: What is the root of our souls? The Alter Rebbe explains this in Tanya. When we understand the truth of what a Jew is, that...

15:54 My very essence is, after all, truly a part of G-d above. So who am I, and who is the other person? We are both parts of that same part of G-d above. This is what the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya: when a Jew knows that “we all have one Father, and therefore all Jews are called actual brothers by virtue of the root of their souls in the one G-d”—since we all come from the same one G-d, and the soul is truly a part of G-d above, this is where the message of Ahavas Yisroel comes from. This point was a major foundation that the Rebbe spoke about often, and in particular—I will tell you what the Rebbe said at the last farbrengen at which we heard him, on Shabbos Parshas Vayakhel in 5752. That was the last time we heard the Rebbe at a farbrengen. Yes. After that Shabbos, Shabbos Vayakhel, Shabbos Shekalim, when the farbrengen took place, immediately after Shabbos—yes, on Sunday—the Rebbe distributed dollars. Yes, [unclear] of the years when the Rebbe distributed dollars, [unclear]. Yes, he distributed dollars, although at times the Rebbe was very weak physically, so he sat on a chair while distributing them. Everyone passed by, thank G-d, including me. The next day the Rebbe went to the Ohel, and then came

17:28 the setback: the Rebbe was not well, and to this day he is still in exile. We are waiting here for his complete Geulah, when “Awaken and sing, you who dwell in the dust” will also come to pass, and when we will finally merit to hear, yes, to hear a new Torah teaching from the mouth of Moshiach. That was the Rebbe’s last farbrengen, on Vayakhel, Shabbos Shekalim. The Rebbe spoke at length and beautifully, bringing out the message of Ahavas Yisroel and Jewish unity. He spoke about this very point: within Ahavas Yisroel, we find two kinds of love. There are two aspects to Ahavas Yisroel. There is an Ahavas Yisroel in which we say to love a Jew because every Jew has qualities that are valuable to others too. There is a well-known analogy: one body has a head, a foot and a hand, and all sorts of 248 limbs and 365 sinews. When all the limbs connect with one another and each contributes to the other, there are areas in which the foot needs the head, of course; that is obvious. But there are things for which the head needs the foot. Similarly, every limb has its own advantage, and in that particular respect it gives and the other limb receives. When all the limbs both give to and receive from the others, they form a complete body,

19:00 a complete body. So it is with the Jewish people as a whole. Among the Jewish people there are those who are like “your heads,” and there are those who are like feet. There are all kinds of levels among the Jewish people. Everyone must know that even if he may be the head, that does not mean he knows everything; he needs the foot. When everyone recognizes that every Jew has qualities, and that we can receive something from each person, that gives rise to the message of Ahavas Yisroel and Jewish unity. This is Ahavas Yisroel based on recognizing the qualities every Jew possesses. That is one kind of Ahavas Yisroel. It involves considering each person’s particular strengths, seeing how he contributes to me and how I contribute to him, and from that comes Ahavas Yisroel. But there is the Ahavas Yisroel we are discussing now: loving a Jew simply because he is a Jew. This Ahavas Yisroel comes from the fact that we are “actual brothers by virtue of the root of our souls in the one G-d.” We come from the same Hakadosh Boruch Hu; both of us are truly a part of G-d above. I am a Jew, you are a Jew; both of us are a part of G-d. The very fact that we are Jews is the reason for this Ahavas Yisroel. It is an Ahavas Yisroel that is not connected to qualities, [unclear] qualities, but to the very fact that he is a Jew. [unclear]

20:22 Parshas Shekalim falls on Parshas Vayakhel. There is a difference between Vayakhel and Pekudei. After all, in some years we read Vayakhel-Pekudei together. As we have discussed before, Vayakhel and Pekudei are two separate parshiyos. What is Vayakhel about, and what is Pekudei about? Vayakhel is about gathering people together: you take a community, and it becomes one entity, one whole. They are not separate individuals; they are one complete whole, a community. In simple terms, this is a minyan. A minyan can include, as the familiar saying puts it, a “tzibbur”—a community made up of tzaddikim, beinonim, and resha’im. But what makes it a minyan? In that respect, there is no difference between them. Jews have a point in common. When there are ten Jews, as the well-known halachic ruling illustrates, even if Moshe Rabbeinu is there, with all the holiness of his soul, it takes another Jew—even a simple Jew—to complete the minyan. That Jew joins, and a new entity comes into being. In other words, the very fact that they are Jews makes them a community, a gathering. That is what Vayakhel is about: they are one complete whole; they are all Jews. Pekudei is just the opposite. Pekudei speaks of particulars. In Pekudei, there is this aspect and then that aspect; each thing stands on its own. Each thing is separate. Pekudei emphasizes that every thing, every person, has a distinct identity. These are like two approaches. Parshas Vayakhel is about loving a Jew because he is a Jew. Parshas Pekudei is about the individual qualities each person has.

22:05 Together, they all make a Beis Hamikdash, a Mishkan. The same applies to the half-shekel. Every Jew gives a half-shekel, and the point is that it remains ten geirah. Precisely because he gives a half, precisely because you and someone else become one, a whole shekel is formed. This expresses Ahavas Yisroel not only because of people’s individual qualities, but from the perspective of Vayakhel, because of the very fact that we are Jews. That is the true root of Ahavas Yisroel, expressed in the mitzvah of the half-shekel. I am a Jew and you are a Jew, and together we become one complete whole. That is where true Ahavas Yisroel comes from. In this sense, we really do become one. And this should always be apparent among Jews. There was a chossid, the well-known chossid Reb Mendel Futerfas, a man of mesiras nefesh, a Jew who truly had mesiras nefesh and love of Hashem. They tell a story about Reb Mendel Futerfas: When he was in Russia, he spent many years imprisoned in Siberia. After he left Russia, he eventually came to the Rebbe in America. And there the Rebbe spoke to him about going out, finding Jews, and putting on tefillin with them. He did not know a word of English. He spoke Yiddish, but he did not know English, not even one word. So he went out into the street and approached Jews,

23:40 wanting to ask them to put on tefillin, but he did not know how to say it in English. So he would approach Jews and say, “I Jewish, you Jewish, I tefillin, you tefillin.” That much he knew how to say. I am a Jew, you are a Jew; I put on tefillin, you put on tefillin. And that is how he put on tefillin with dozens, hundreds of Jews. Reb Mendel Futerfas knew only how to say, “I Jewish, you Jewish, I tefillin, you tefillin.” But that is the point of the mitzvah of the half-shekel. So when we come to Shabbos Shekalim, the parsha tells us: Moshe Rabbeinu asks how to uplift the Jews, how to bring about “When you raise the heads of the Children of Israel.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu tells him: “A beka per head”—through the half-shekel. When we have true Ahavas Yisroel, Ahavas Yisroel that comes from what we are in our very essence—the half—when we grasp that I am a half and you are a half, and together we become a whole shekel. And where do we get this from? From the fact that Jews are connected to Hakadosh Boruch Hu, as it says, a half. This is something the Rebbe speaks about at length: [unclear] “Hashem is one.” Through the bond with Hakadosh Boruch Hu—the bond between Jews and Hakadosh Boruch Hu is one—Jews are a half

25:09 and Hakadosh Boruch Hu is, so to speak, a half; it is specifically together with Hakadosh Boruch Hu that a whole shekel is formed. What does this mean? There is a teaching of the Maggid of Mezritch. The Rebbe cites the Maggid of Mezritch’s teaching at a farbrengen, on the verse “Make for yourself two silver trumpets.” The Maggid of Mezritch explains that the Hebrew word for “trumpets” can be understood as “half-forms.” “Make for yourself two silver trumpets”—the Maggid explains that through Moshe Rabbeinu, the two half-forms will, so to speak, become one form with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. The Midrash also speaks of this. The Midrash says: “Open to Me, My sister, My beloved, My dove, My perfect one.” The Jewish people are called “My perfect one”; the Midrash interprets this as “My twin.” In other words, Hakadosh Boruch Hu says to the Jews, so to speak: I am like half of something, and I need the Jews. And likewise, the Jews need Hakadosh Boruch Hu—of course, in the most straightforward sense too. This is the meaning of “Make for yourself two silver trumpets”: two half-forms. A Jew must know that on his own he is only half. To become whole, he must devote himself to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. There must be dedication and devotion to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Just as Hakadosh Boruch Hu says that He wants the Jews, that He needs the Jews—so to speak, Hakadosh Boruch Hu says that He needs the Jews. Hakadosh Boruch Hu longs for the prayers of the righteous. Hakadosh Boruch Hu longs for mitzvos

26:39 from Jews. Hakadosh Boruch Hu waits for Jews to fulfill a mitzvah. Hakadosh Boruch Hu needs our Torah and mitzvos, as is explained extensively in the works of Chassidus. And this is the idea of two half-forms, so to speak: through a person’s connection with Hakadosh Boruch Hu, a whole shekel is formed. That is why we give a half-shekel. When a Jew hears that he and Hakadosh Boruch Hu belong together as one, and that it is specifically by uniting with Hakadosh Boruch Hu that he becomes whole—that is the “Modeh Ani.” A Jew wakes up in the morning and says “Modeh Ani.” He becomes one with Hakadosh Boruch Hu. “I give thanks before You”—he gives himself over to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. Without calculations; this has to be the [unclear] of Vayakhel. Without personal calculations about who I am or what I am. This is the overarching dedication and devotion: I belong to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. And this is the foundation of true Ahavas Yisroel: I am a Jew and you are a Jew, and together we become a whole shekel. And Vayakhel—unity, joining together—is the preparation for everything associated with the month of Adar, including “When Adar begins, we increase in joy,” and for [unclear] offerings, since the half-shekel funded the communal offerings throughout the year. From there we come to the true Vayakhel. When we have this today, then [unclear] true Ahavas

27:54 Yisroel, the unity of the Jewish people, loving a Jew because he is a Jew, we will merit, immediately, the true Vayakhel: “A great assembly will return here,” as the prophet says. All the Jews will gather together, the ingathering of the exiles, all the Jews from the four corners of the earth. And may we merit to proceed to the complete Geulah with our righteous Moshiach. Amen, may it be so.