Individuals United

It’s that time of year.  Adar, the month of joy, begins tomorrow night, and along with the lead up to Purim in two weeks, we are reminded to start preparing for Pesach.  The first day of Adar is special in many ways.  First of all, the Talmud (Taanit 29a) says: When Adar comes in, we increase our joy.  While it is true that we are facing challenging times, throughout the ages we have set aside our fears and sorrows to celebrate the great miracle of Purim.  We also look forward to the spirit of Adar, when the existential threat to the entire Jewish nation was transformed to a miraculous victory, and anticipate similar miracles in our times.

 

Another historic event related to the first day of Adar is a Talmudic statement (Mishnah Shekalim 1:1) that in ancient Israel, they would “announce about the Shekalim and the Kilayim.”  To explain:  Shekalim refers to the half shekel that every head of household would give annually for his family to the Holy Temple.  These Shekalim would be used to pay for all the communal offerings in the Temple, including the two daily sheep offered each morning and afternoon, as well as the additional offering on Shabbat and holidays.

 

It was necessary to collect the half shekels for the Temple service during the month of Adar, because each year, the offerings had to be purchased with the new year’s shekels, and could not be commingled with last year’s.  The annual cycle for the offerings and the Shekels began on the first day of Nisan, so the reminder to give the half shekel was announced on the first day of Adar.

For this reason we have a rare occurrence this Shabbat.  We use three Torah scrolls for the reading.  In the first we read the regular Parsha, Terumah, in the second the special Rosh Chodesh (first day of the month) reading, and in the third we read the Mitzvah of giving the half-shekel.

 

Kilayim means mixing of seeds.  It is prohibited to plant different species of seeds together in the land of Israel, or to allow them to grow together.  As the spring growing season began, the court would remind everyone to check their fields and orchards to make sure there were no Kilayim.

 

In honor of the JLI “Decoding Talmud” course I am currently giving, I would like to share a mystical explanation of this Mishnah, taught by the Rebbe.  While it is true that one could say that these two matters, Shekalim and Kilayim, are not related to each other and just happen to be relevant on the first of Adar, there must be a connection, at least on a spiritual level, between them.  We believe that if two people meet unexpectedly, or a leaf blows off a tree and lands in a certain place, it is all orchestrated by Divine Providence.  How much more so if two seemingly disparate things are taught in the same sentence in a Mishnah, and happening on the same day, there must be a message.  The Rebbe shows us a powerful and empowering message from this Mishnah in our daily lives.

 

Not only are these two concepts seemingly not connected, they are opposites.  Shekalim is one of the most unifying areas  of Torah.  Every household gave specifically a half shekel.  The Torah tells us that the Shekel is “20 Geira” (a geira is a smaller coin), and we need to give a half shekel.  The Torah could have said to give a ten geira coin, but instead says “half a Shekel,” emphasizing the “half.”  This is so that we realize that the communal sacrifices can only be offered if we join together.  Every offering was brought on behalf of every member of the Jewish people collectively.

 

Kilayim emphasizes separateness – specifically not to mix two species together.  So here we have a Mishnah telling us that the first day of Adar brings together two opposite concepts – togetherness and separateness, both of them Mitzvot in the service of Hashem.

 

The message the Rebbe derives from this is amazing.  We are all one nation and we all serve Hashem as a unit.  Although we have different minds and different ideas, we realize that our limited minds cannot grasp Hashem’s true intent.  It is impossible for a young child to begin to understand the reasoning of a brilliant scientist, how much more so can a human not expect to understand the reasoning of Hashem, the Creator of everything.  Yes, Hashem has given us the gift of logically explaining many of the Mitzvot so we don’t operate blindly, but we realize that what we do understand is only a tiny inkling of Hashem's reasons.  The foundation of our practice of Mitzvot is our faith that it is Hashem’s will, and in that we are as one. The greatest scholar and the simplest person equally accepts that the Torah is Hashem’s wisdom and will, and we all equally dedicate ourselves to His service.

 

But then there is the individualism of each person.  Hashem gave us minds to think and to understand.  We each  have unique talents and individual abilities.  Each of us has a unique contribution to make in the world.  When we wake up in the morning and thank Hashem for giving us life, we realize that me, little me, has a contribution to make that nobody else in the world can make.  I need to utilize my mind, my logic and understanding, and all my talents and abilities to improve the world.  Yes, I accept Hashem’s will and follow the Torah in tandem with the rest of the world, but after that acceptance, and within the parameters of Torah, comes my personal contribution.

So when Adar comes, the Mishnah tells us, in order to truly express the joy of Torah - the theme of the month, we announce Shekalim - unity of faith and acceptance, and Kilayim, the personal unique contribution that makes each of us stand out as an individual.