[Avodah] Machatzis Hashekel in the Mishkan / Mikdash

[Sholom Simon]

> We read yesterday about Machtzis Hashekel. On Ki Tisa 30:13, Rashi cites
> the Midrash that Hashem showed Moshe a sort of fiery coin whose weight was
> a half-shekel, and said, "They will give something like this."
...
> Any thoughts? What did Moshe learn from this vision?
>
> Thanks!
> Akiva Miller

>From a halachic viewpoint, indeed, it's hard to see how Moshe learned
anything by being shown the coin.

However, the L"R notes that what Moshe couldn't fully understand was
the potential of a full infusion between spirituality and materialism.
What Moshe needed to see, what he didn't "get" from the rest of the pasuk,
was that the coin H' showed to him was made of fire. Fire, ethereal,
flickering, reaching upward is a very different "element" then metal,
hewed from the depths of the earth.

The physical does not repel the spiritual, but can work in harmony
forming a unity, as represented by a coin made of fire. The L"R adds:
"on a practical level, H' showed Moshe that even coarse human beings
who are naturally driven by selfish motives, self love being their basic
instinct, can also serve the Divine with the most noble of services as
represented by the complete selflessness of fire."