Torah.org Haftorah Commentary - Parshas Shekalim
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Haftorah Commentary
By Rabbi Dovid Siegel
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Haftorah Commentary
Parshas Shekalim
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Kings II, 12
This week’s haftorah, read in
conjunction with Parshas Sh’kalim, deals with the collection of funds for
the Bais Hamikdash. In the days prior to King Yehoash, the Bais Hamikdash
was seriously neglected and much repair work was required to restore it to
its original splendor. After the kohanim’s unsuccessful attempt to collect
the necessary funds, the righteous King Yehoash spearheaded the collection
and an overwhelming response occurred.
The reason for this neglect is
explained in Divrei Hayomim (2:23) wherein it blames the wicked Queen
Atalya and her wicked sons for the deteriorated condition of the Bais
Hamikdash. The royal family had seriously mistreated the holiest structure
on Earth and roamed freely inside it, causing much damage to its walls and
interior structure. Actually, money was constantly donated to repair the
Bais Hamikdash but these funds were repeatedly misappropriated by Atalya.
Instead of being used for the Bais Hamikdash they were channeled to further
practices of idolatry. Now that the pious Yehoash came to power idolatry
was removed from the royal family and the funds were finally applied to
their intended usage. After so many years of neglect the Bais Hamikdash was
finally restored to its previous glory.
The haftorah of Parshas
Sh’kalim echoes the earlier experiences of the Jewish people read in the
Torah portion this week. During their exodus from Egypt Hashem rewarded the
Jewish people with an abundance of wealth from the Egyptian nation. Instead
of applying this towards the service of Hashem the Jewish people donated
their precious gold ornaments to produce the Golden Calf. After Hashem’s
severe response the Jews recognized their error and returned wholeheartedly
to Hashem. They were given the opportunity to rectify their grave sin and
were invited to participate in the building of a Mishkan. This time they
utilized their money for proper purposes and generously donated their funds
towards the construction of a magnificent sanctuary. Hashem accepted their
teshuvah and consented to rest His divine presence amongst the Jewish
people in this glorious edifice.
The reading of Parshas Sh’kalim
and its accompanying haftorah serves as a most appropriate introduction to
the month of Adar. As we read in Megillas Esther (3:9), the wicked Haman
attempted to purchase the Jews from the king with an impressive ten
thousand silver blocks. He intended to use his power of wealth to influence
the king to grant permission to destroy the entire Jewish nation. However,
as the Gemara in Megilla (13b) teaches us, Haman’s efforts were preempted
by the donations of the Jewish people to the Bais Hamikdash. Interestingly,
this exact sum of ten thousand silver blocks was annually donated by the
Jewish people for the sake of the sacrifices in the Bais Hamikdash. Hashem
said, “Let the Jewish nation’s ten thousand abort Haman’s influential
process of his ten thousand.” The Jewish people’s annual donation
demonstrated that they were not influenced by the power of money. They
properly allocated their funds to the most worthy of causes and annually
gave ten thousand blocks of silver for the sake of Hashem and His Bais
Hamikdash. Therefore, Haman’s financial influence, his ten thousand silver
blocks had no influence over the Jewish people. They could not be
improperly influenced by money and money could therefore never serve to
produce an improper influence over them. Eventually, the king would and did
see through Haman’s plot and his money and influence were to no avail.
It is with this lesson in mind
that we read Parshas Sh’kalim and usher in the month of Adar. Parshas
Sh’kalim reminds us of the great significance of money when allocated in
the proper ways. Through properly directed donations, the beautiful edifice
of the Bais Hamikdash was restored to its glory. Through such donations the
Jewish people received atonement for the gravest of their sins. And through
these charitable donations we merited the miracle of Purim and learned that
even our most powerful of enemies replete with significant funds had no
influence over us.
This timely insight sheds a
colorful light on the unique mitzvos of Purim. Unlike any other holiday,
Purim focuses on the Jewish nation’s generosity to give and share its
financial resources. The holiday of Purim asks of us to part with our money
for numerous causes, such as Machtzis Hashekel, Matanos L’evyonim and
Mishloach Manos. Through these, we demonstrate our readiness to allocate
our funds to the proper causes. We display this supreme quality of
generosity as the hallmark of the Jewish people and remind ourselves that
in this merit we were privileged to experience the miracle of Purim.
Therefore every Purim we demonstrate this Jewish quality of generosity and
put our money to the proper usage. We guarantee through this that no foreign
power will ever affect us through its financial influence and we remind
ourselves that in this merit of generosity we will eventually witness the
rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdash and the return of the divine presence to
Israel.
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