<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><span style="font-size: 19px;">What is the lesson of the half shekel?<br>For one, it is the lesson of how to use money.<br>When b’nai Yisroel were freed from Mitzrayim, <br>the Almighty lavished upon them great wealth<br>(from the Egyptians). When God sought to destroy<br>them for fashioning the egel hazahav, one of the<br>arguments of Moshe was: “You cannot blame this<br>people for making the golden calf. You gave them<br>too much money which they misused and therefore<br>made the calf.” The midrash tells us that God showed<br>Moshe a coin of fire to describe the kind he wanted <br>from the Jewish people. So the primary lesson here<br>is that money, like fire, can be used either to build or<br>destroy. God commands us to give a half shekel which<br>gives the second lesson. Too often we feel that possession<br>of wealth makes us complete. If we are affluent, we don’t<br>need anyone — man or God. This is the greatest curse of <br>materialism — the feeling that we need no one. Therefore,<br>we give a half shekel. Money never makes one complete.<br>One is only half a person with money.<br><br>For this reason our commentators tell us that the other half shekel <br>is supplied by God. <br><br>"What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more." - Seneca</span><br><br><br><br></body></html>