Rav Zevin on the Machatzit HaShekel

הֶעָשִׁיר לֹא יַרְבֶּה וְהַדַּל לֹא יַמְעִיט מִמַּחֲצִית הַשָּׁקֶל וגו‘. (שמות ל:טו)

In Parashat Ki Tisa we learn of the famous “tax” which all Yisrael have a mitzvah of giving to- the Machatiz HaShekel. Throughout the world, taxing based on how much money you have, a “progressive tax,” is a major policy. Even if a rich person gives the same percentage of his money as a poor person, and even though that same percentage is much more when coming from the rich man, it is still a somewhat unequal tax since the rich one still has more left over than the poor one in the end. So, for example, rather than both the poor and rich giving 10% to taxes, the poor man gives 10% and the rich man gives 30%. This idea is not so new for we find it explicitly in Masechet Pe’ah (1:2) אין פוחתין לפאה מששים, ואף על פי שאמרו אין לפאה שיעור. הכל לפי גודל השדה.. Even though Pe’ah has no minimum amount m’deoraita, Chazal established that no less than 1/60 be given, and whatever amount is to be given is dependent on the size of your field. The Mefarshim ask, what is the need for “הכל לפי גודל השדה”? If a field is very large, then even if the owner only gives 1/60 it will be a lot more than what comes from a small field! However, the Mishnah is teaching us that we apply this “progressive tax” policy, that while 1/60 is a minimum, it is not sufficient for what would be considered a larger field; the owner of such a field would have to give a larger amount, say 1/40, to Pe’ah.

Rav Shlomo Zevin writes that there is yet another tax policy in the Torah, one which comes up in this week’s parashah by the mitzvah of Machatzit HaShekel – העשיר לא ירבה והעני לא ימעיט. Both rich and poor give the same amount, neither can give more nor less than the prescribed sum of money. Even if a rich man wants to generously donate a large sum we do not accept it so that he will not say that he has a greater share in the matter than someone else who is poor. When it comes to the Beit HaMikdash everyone is equal. Everyone gives a half-shekel to allude to the fact that every individual is a “machatzit,” only a half, a part of the whole nation.      

In Megillat Esther (3:9), Haman says to Achashverosh, אם על המלך טוב יכתב לאבדם ועשרת אלפים אלפים ככר כסף אשקול וכו', “If it pleases the king, let it be recorded that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand silver talents...” In the Gemara in Megillah 13b, Reish Lakish says that it was clearly known before HaKadosh Baruch Hu that Haman was to measure out shekalim (i.e. silver coins) over Bnei Yisrael, therefore He preceded their shekalim to his. The idea of the Machatzit HaShekel which brought all of Yisrael together as equal partners in existing gave them the strength to overcome future adversity. This is why on the first day of Adar we begin to announce the collection of the Machatzit HaShekel.

The shekalim of Yisrael are kedoshim and represent the achdut of all Yisrael, whereas the shekalim of Haman are temei’im and represent an attempt to destroy the nation. This very notion of achdut was how Bnei Yisrael were saved from Haman, as it says in Megillat Esther (4:16), לך כנוס את כל היהודים וכו', “Go, assemble all the Jews…” Gathering together was what saved them- The Gemara says of Adar 13, which commemorates when the Jews gathered together in ta’anit and tefilah, that it is זמן קהילה לכל הוא, a time of gathering. This was not just “achdut” the way we throw the term around, it was mamash in the manner of העשיר לא ירבה והדל לא ימעיט; Bnei Yisrael came together not as a group of individuals but as a single, solid unit. With the recent celebration of Purim, we commemorated our survival as a nation as well as upheld that which Rama writes to give three half-coins as a “Machatzit HaShekel” from the currency of our wherever we live, as a zecher to the original Machatzit HaShekel. Reading about it in this week’s parashah we should have in mind the fundamental nature of this mitzvah in that it seeks to unite is on a way that we realize that we are all equal and are all pieces that make up the living organism that is Am Yisrael.