Concerning Rosh Chodesh Adar, it says in the Mishnah in the beginning of מסכת שקלים, באחד באדר משמיעין על השקלים, that on the first day of Adar, they used to announce that people should start giving the מחצית השקל. Since the din was that from Rosh Chodesh Nisan all the קרבנות ציבור, all the public korbanot, had to be bought with the new מחצית השקל, had to be bought with the money that was given for the coming year, so therefore, from Rosh Chodesh Adar on, they would make this announcement that people should start giving the מחצית השקל. And that is the reason why on שבת ראש חודש אדר, or the Shabbos before Rosh Chodesh Adar if Rosh Chodesh is on Shabbos, we read in the Torah the special parashah of פרשת שקלים. And this is also the reason why there is a minhag that before Purim, everyone gives a מחצית השקל, which means half of the money, half of the amount of money which is the money of that country, as a zecher to the מחצית השקל that they used to give in the time of the Beit Hamikdash. The parashah in the Torah where we learn about מחצית השקל is the beginning of Parashat Ki Tisa. There the פסוק says that ונתנו איש כפר נפשו להשם, that every person should give redemption money to השם, and the פסוק continues זה יתנו, this is what they should give, כל העובר על הפקודים מחצית השקל בשקל הקדש, should be a half a שקל בשקל הקדש, עשרים גרה השקל, a שקל is made of 20 גרה, מחצית השקל תרומה להשם, you have to give a half of the שקל, a terumah to Hashem, which means 10 גרה. And then the פסוק continues later, העשיר לא ירבה והדל לא ימעיט ממחצית השקל, that the rich person should not give more, the poor person should not give less of a מחצית השקל. Now, concerning the inyan of מחצית השקל, there is this famous kashya that why was it that Hashem wanted them to give bedavka a half of a shekel? Usually, when it comes to inyanim of kedusha, especially to inyanim of korbanot, everything had to be complete, not half, not parts, just like there is a din that a כלי שרת מקדשין only כשהם מלאים ושלמים. A כלי שרת, a כלי of the Beis Hamikdash, is מקדש, makes things holy, only if it's full or complete, but if it's half, it does not make it holy. Korbanot have to be תמימים. The animals of the korbanot have to be complete; nothing should be missing by them. The kohen who brings the korbanot has to be a תמים, has to be complete. That shows that by the inyan of קדשים, the inyan of korbanot, by the inyan of the Beis Hamikdash, there is a diyuk that bedavka has to be complete and whole. Why is it that when it comes to מחצית השקל, giving the money to buy the korbanot, Hashem said that it should be bedavka half? And another question: Why does the Torah have to mention that a complete shekel is 20 גרה, and from that we know that half of that is 10 גרה? Since the diyuk is to give a half a shekel, so the Torah should have mentioned that you should give 10 גרה. Why does the Torah have to mention that a whole shekel is 20 גרה?

So last year in the shiur concerning מחצית השקל, we explained that the Torah is trying to tell us that a Yid has to know that he is a half only. He and Hashem together make up a whole. And especially since the מחצית השקל was supposed to be a kaparah, forgiveness, for the חטא העגל, for the sin that the Yidden did with making the golden calf, which is avodah zarah, and the inyan of avodah zarah is that a person feels that there is another being other than Hashem, so the kaparah for the חטא העגל has to be something that should show that he feels that he is nothing without Hashem, and only together with Hashem he makes up something. And therefore, he had to give a מחצית השקל, half a shekel, to show that he is only half, and only together with Hashem he will be whole. And that's why the Torah mentions עשרים גרה השקל, that there are 20 gerah in a shekel, and a half of that is 10, to show us that what Hashem wants is that a Yid should unite his 10 kochos with the 10 sefiros of Hashem. We know that every person has 10 attributes. Every person has three parts to his intellect, to his seichel, which is chochmah, binah, and daas, and then there are seven middos, seven emotions, which are chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach, hod, yesod, malchut. And the same we know as it says in ספרי קבלה, in the עולמות עליונים, in the Godly worlds which are close to Hashem, there are the עשר ספירות העליונות, there are the 10 sefiros which are the same, which are chochmah, binah, daas, chesed, gevurah, tiferet, netzach, hod, yesod, u'malchut. So a Yid has to feel that his 10 כוחות הנפש, the 10 kochos that he has, are really nothing unless they combine themselves with the 10 kochos, the 10 sefiros, the way how they are above, by Hashem. And that's what the pasuk says that you have to know that the goal is to have עשרים גרה, to have the twenty. In order to have the twenty, you have to have your half of the shekel, which is ten, and together with the ten of Hashem, you make up twenty. That's one explanation.

There's another explanation why there was a mitzvah of giving bedavka a half of a shekel, and why the Torah mentions that the whole shekel is twenty. And that is, a Yid has to know that he is only half, and in order to be complete, you have to unite yourself with another Yid. To have a whole shekel, and as we said before, everything has to be whole when it comes to the inyan of Beit HaMikdash, so to have a whole shekel, you have to have two Yidden together. Two Yidden, each one gives a half a shekel, you make up a whole shekel. And that's the remez, the hint that the Torah is telling us here concerning the mitzvah of מחצית השקל, that a Yid has to remember that he is only half. To become a whole, you have to unite yourself with another Yid. So two Yidden together, then you have a whole shekel. That means that when you have the ten כחות הנפש of one Yid, and then you have the ten כחות הנפש of another Yid, together you have the twenty כחות הנפש, so then you have a complete shekel, then you are complete. So this is another remez in the mitzvah of מחצית השקל, the inyan of Ahavat Yisrael.

Then there's another pshat in this inyan of מחצית השקל, and why the Torah mentions that a shekel is twenty גרה. We know that every single Yid has within him two parts: he has, in simple words we call it the yetzer tov and the yetzer hara; the yetzer that tells him to do good, and the yetzer that tells him to do bad, the evil inclination. Using other terms, terms of ספרי קבלה and ספרי חסידות, the way it's explained in קבלה ספרים and in חסידות ספרים, every Yid has within himself the נפש האלקית, the godly soul, which is the נשמה קדושה, the holy נשמה, and he has the נפש הבהמית, the animalistic soul, which is the same as the יצר הרע. Each one of these two has his own set of כחות הנפש, has his own set of attributes and כחות that a person has. When a person understands Torah, then he is using the כח of חכמה and בינה and דעת of his נפש אלקית, of his נשמה. When a person, chas v'shalom, understands ענינים that he is not allowed to understand, that he shouldn't understand, he's using his שכל for things which are the opposite of קדושה, he's also using his כח החכמה, כח הבינה, כח הדעת, but not of the נפש אלקית of his נשמה, but he is using the כחות of his נפש הבהמית, of his יצר הרע. The same is when a person does an act of kindness: he is using his מדת החסד, the מדה of kindness, of the נפש אלקית. If a person uses the מדת החסד for the opposite, let's say he is kind at a time when he is not allowed to be kind, for instance, when a person helps somebody else do an aveirah, so he is kind to the other person, he's helping him, but he is not kind of קדושה, but he's using חסד of קליפה, so then he is not using the מדה of חסד of his נפש אלקית, he is using his מדת החסד of his נפש הבהמית. And the same is with every מדה. So each one of these two, the נפש אלקית and the נפש הבהמית, or as we call them, the יצר טוב and the יצר הרע, has its own set of ten כחות הנפש. The Gemara says that the תכלית is that a person not only should use the ten כחות of his נפש אלקית, of his יצר טוב, and not use the ten כחות of his נפש הבהמית, of his yetzer hara, but more than that: he is supposed to change the ten kochos of his נפש הבהמית also to kedushah, of his yetzer hara also to kedushah. As the Gemara says on the פסוק, ואהבת את השם אלקיך בכל לבבך, where the pasuk says you should love Hashem with all your heart, and we know that really in lashon kodesh it should have said בכל לבך, all your heart is בכל לבך. Why does it say בכל לבבך with two בית׳ן? בשני יצריך, the Gemara says. That means that you have to love Hashem with both your יצרים, with the yetzer tov and the yetzer hara, or the other terms, with your נפש אלקית and נפש הבהמית. That means that the tachlit of the avodah of a Yid is to change over the midot of the נפש הבהמית itself to kedushah, that he should serve Hashem not only with the midot of the נפש אלקית, but he should also serve Hashem with the midot of the נפש הבהמית. And this is the remez in the mitzvah of מחצית השקל. Each shekel is made up of ten גרה, which means of ten kochos. And a Yid has to know that in order to complete his avodah, there has to be a combination of two halves of two מחצית השקל. In order to become a complete thing, which is a whole shekel, you have to have a מחצית השקל and another מחצית השקל. That means that you have to use the ten גרה, the ten כוחות of your נפש אלוקית, and you have to use the ten כוחות of the נפש הבהמית, and together you have a complete שקל, which means you did your עבודה completely. And according to this פשט we understand why we connect this to the word שקל, it's called מחצית השקל. Because when we're talking about the נפש אלוקית and the נפש הבהמית, or the יצר טוב and the יצר הרע, it is like a משקל, it is like a scale. The word שקל means weight. A משקל is a scale on which you weigh. Because we know that the נפש אלוקית and נפש הבהמית are both sides of the scale. There are two sides to the scale, there is a balance of power of the נפש אלוקית and the נפש הבהמית, the יצר טוב and the יצר הרע, and constantly they are outweighing each other, there is constantly a fight between the two. So when we want to refer to the נפש אלוקית and נפש הבהמית, we use the word משקל, which is the same word as שקל. And that's the פשט that you give a מחצית השקל, you give half of the שקל, which means you do only half, so you know that this is only half of the job. In order to have a complete job, you have to have a whole שקל, which means both halves. You have to have the ten כוחות of the נפש אלוקית, and the ten כוחות of the נפש הבהמית. This is the third פשט, the third רמז in the ענין of מחצית השקל.

Being that these are three רמזים or three פשטים in the same ענין, in the ענין of מחצית השקל, obviously, there must be a connection between the three. And the connection is very simple. The first thing is that a Yid has to remember he's only half unless he combines himself or connects himself to Hashem. The second פשט is that a Yid has to know he's only half unless he connects himself to another Yid, then he is complete. And the third peshat is that a Yid has to know he's only complete if he not only works, serves Hashem with his yetzer tov, but also when he serves Hashem with his yetzer hara. And the connection is as follows. When a Yid realizes that he is one with Hashem, and without Hashem he's only half, then he is able to reach the inyan of ahavat Yisrael. Because we know that naturally it is very hard to have the mitzvah of ahavat Yisrael. How could you love another person like yourself? And also, how can you love all other Yidden the same? After all, not all people are the same. So l'chorah you should love one stronger, the one that's closer to you or the one that's better, you love him more, the one that's not so close, the one is not so good, you love him less. But the mitzvah of ahavat Yisrael is to all Yidden equally. And l'chorah that is very hard to do. How could you love all people equally and love them all like yourself? The answer is, the difference between you and another person, or the difference between one Yid and another, is only מצד his superficial outward things. But מצד his neshamah, they're all the same. We know all the neshamot come from the same source, they're all part of Hashem. So if a person realizes that the main part of a person, of a Yid is his neshamah, and all the neshamot are equal, so then you're able to love all Yidden equally, and also you're able to love other Yidden as yourself. Because after all, as far as a neshamah is concerned, you and him are all one, because you all come from one source. So really, all the neshamot are one. All the neshamot are connected, they all come from Hashem, and even while they're down here in this world, they're all still a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש, they're part of Hashem. So there is no difference between you and another person. It is like another part of your own body. Just like a person cannot say he loves his hands more than his feet, or his feet more than his hands, the same thing here. All other neshamot are really parts of the same thing. So your neshamah and their neshamot are all parts of the same thing. You're all really one. And therefore, you're able to love them all equally, and you're able to love them as you love yourself. But this could only be done if a Yid feels that the neshamah is the ikar. A person thinks that the body is the ikar, then certainly he couldn't have this ahavat Yisrael, because the whole reason of ahavat Yisrael is because he sees that מצד the neshamah, they're all the same, and they're all one with him. But if you don't look at a neshamah as the most important part of the person, then you cannot have proper Ahavas Yisrael. Now this inyan that you look at a neshamah as the ikar means that the person feels that his, when is he a complete metzius? Only if he is one with Hashem. Because the neshamah is a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש, it's a chelek of Hashem. So if you feel that you're only a complete metzius if you're one with Hashem, so then you feel that your neshamah is the ikar. But if a person doesn't feel that his whole metzius is dependent on Hashem, or he is only a complete metzius if he's united himself with Hashem, then he can't feel that his neshamah is the ikar. So here we see the connection between these two pshatim. That the pshat that a person has to feel he is only half unless he combines himself with Hashem, and a person feels that he is only half unless he combines himself with another Yid, really is the same thing. They both come from one point: the feeling that the neshamah is the ikar, which is a chelek of Hashem, because Hashem is the ikar metzius. And this is also the yesod, the foundation to the third pshat, that a Yid has to change the ten kochos of his nefesh habehamis, of his yetzer hara, as the Gemara says that you have to serve Hashem also בשני יצריך, with the yetzer tov and the yetzer hara. What is the meaning that a person is supposed to change the ten kochos of the nefesh habehamis? That means when it comes to inyanim which are not kedushah. For instance, when it comes to eating and drinking and sleeping, which are things which have no connection to kedushah. So automatically, if they're not from kedushah, when you do these things, you are not using the כוחות of the נפש אלוקית. So automatically, you're using the כוחות of the נפש הבהמית. And what's expected of a Yid is to serve Hashem even with the כוחות of the נפש הבהמית, meaning to utilize those things for קדושה, too. When can this happen? Only if a person feels that his whole מציאות is only a complete מציאות if it's one with Hashem, and he feels that his נשמה is the עיקר. If a person would feel that other things is also a מציאות, so then, a person would not utilize the כוחות of the יצר הרע, of the נפש הבהמית, for קדושה, to serve Hashem. The truth is when he would learn, he would be using the כוחות of the נפש אלוקית. When he davened, he would use the כוחות of the נפש אלוקית. But that's one thing. Then there is another מציאות, which is also something. And that is the ענינים of eating and drinking and sleeping, using the כוחות of the נפש הבהמית. But why should he utilize that for קדושה? If that is also an important מציאות, then why not keep it the way it is? When a person feels that his whole מציאות is complete only if you are connected to Hashem, only if you express your נשמה, so then, he feels that there is no מציאות for anything else but for קדושה. So then, even when you're using the כוחות of the נפש הבהמית, you will also use it for קדושה. And that's the third pshat in מחצית השקל, that you have to realize that when you use your כוחות of נפש אלוקית, it's only half of the job. You also have to bring קדושה into the כוחות of the נפש הבהמית, which comes as a result of the other two pshatim, that you realize that your whole מציאות is only half unless it's connected to Hashem, and you're only half unless you connect yourself to another Yid.