[Avodah] Machatzis Hashekel in the Mishkan / Mikdash

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Mar 05, 2018 at 10:42:51PM -0500, Sholom Simon wrote:
: 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.
...

Which fits the whole maaseh with Miryam and Aharon coming to Moshe about
his neglect of his wife. Moshe's relationship to the ruchinus / gashmius
synthesis was unlike that of Hashem's plan for the rest of humanity.

And this is the kind of explanation a medrash should get.

My instinct was a more balebatishe answer, but it only resolves the
"peshat" in the medrash, not helping understand the iqar, the lesson...

There was no terminology yet for metal purity. The only way to do
machatzis hasheqel would be for Hashem to launch a mimetic tradition of
what a pure enough silver coin looks like.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             For a mitzvah is a lamp,
micha at aishdas.org        And the Torah, its light.
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