T orah P ortion
Full Meaning of a Half-Shekel
BY RABBI ROBYN FRISCH
Parshat Ki Tisa
KI TISA BEGINS with God
instructing Moses that when
he is taking a census of the
Israelite people, everyone 20
or older shall pay a half-shekel.

God says: “The rich shall not
pay more and the poor shall
not pay less than half a shekel”
(Exodus 30:15).

This seemingly simple idea,
that each Israelite, regardless
of their personal wealth, is
required to pay a half-shekel
for purposes of the census,
has much to teach us. For one
thing, there’s the essential
lesson that everyone is equal in
the eyes of God. Of course, the
fact that each person is to give
the same amount for purposes
of the census doesn’t mean that
those who have more aren’t at
times expected to give more.

In fact, the Torah has a system
of tithing (discussed in Numbers
18:21-26), according to which a
tenth of one’s produce was to
be presented to a Levite, who
was to then give a 10th of the
first tithe to a kohen (Numbers
Silow-Carroll Continued from Page 14
often work Jewish events. I asked
if the critics are overreacting,
and whether these comedians
tell jokes in front of Jewish
audiences that they wouldn’t
share with a wider public.

“I don’t think the writers were
thinking about it nearly as much
as we think they were,” said Benji
Lovitt, a U.S.-born, Israel-based
comedian. “The most obvious
interpretation is by far the most
likely to me and the only reason-
able one: that [Che] thinks Israel
oppresses Palestinians and that
if you’re not Jewish, you’re ‘less
than.’ Do I think this joke was a
fair and logical expression of that?
No, because the premise is flawed.

There’s a lot to criticize with Israel
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM CAN DL E L IGHTIN G
Mar. 5
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5:47 p.m.

18:26). In later times, there were
some rabbis who referred to not
just a tithe of produce, but also a
tithe of money. And to this day,
there are many Jews who donate
a tenth of their annual income
to charity.

But what the law of the
half-shekel teaches us is that, while
we all have different amounts
that we can — and should —
contribute to the community,
when it comes to being counted,
to determining who matters — in
the eyes of God, no less — that
rich and poor are totally equal.

We all count the same.

Another important lesson the
command to give half a shekel
teaches us is that nobody is fully
complete on their own. Rather
than being instructed to give
a whole shekel, each person is
instructed to give a half-shekel.

Each person’s half-shekel needs
somebody else’s half-shekel to
be complete. We’re all depen-
dent on each other. That’s what it
means to be part of a community
— we’re connected to and depen-
dent upon each other. We all have
to give and participate for the
community to be fully complete.

Interestingly, these verses
from the beginning of our
Torah portion were also read as
part of the synagogue service
just a few weeks ago on Shabbat
Shekalim. Shabbat Shekalim
is one of the Arba Parshiyot
— four special Torah readings
instituted by the Sages on four
different Shabbats leading up to
Purim and Passover. Shabbat
Shekalim occurs on the
Shabbat before Rosh Hodesh
(the new month) of Adar — or
in years like this year it falls on
Rosh Hodesh Adar. Adar is, of
course, the month in which we
celebrate Purim.

This means that we read
about the requirement to
give a half-shekel a couple of
weeks before Purim, and we’re
reading it again now, just a
little over a week after Purim.

The idea of the requirement
to give a half-shekel teaching
us about what it means to be
part of a community connects
perfectly with the Purim story.

In the Book of Esther, when
Mordechai told Esther to go
before the king, to “remove
her mask,” and reveal to the
king her identity as a Jew and
ask for her people to be saved,
Esther was hesitant at first. She
responded to Mordechai that
the king hadn’t summoned
her for the past 30 days, and
anyone who goes before the
king without being called will
be killed if the king doesn’t
hold out his golden scepter
to them. Finally, Esther was
convinced to go before the
king, but she told Mordechai
to first: “Go, assemble all the
Jews who live in Shushan, and
fast in my behalf; do not eat or
drink for three days, night or
day” (Esther 4:16).

Just as Haman planned to
kill all of the Jews of Shushan,
Esther wanted all of the Jews
in Shushan, rich and poor, to
join with her in solidarity before
she risked her own life, and the
chance to save all of her people
by appearing before the king. She
recognized that the Jews were
stronger when they all banded
together. And ultimately, she
was successful. Not only did the
king extend his golden scepter
when Esther appeared before
him, but the Jews of Persia were
given the right to assemble and
fight for their lives.

Queen Esther inherently
knew what our Torah portion
Ki Tisa teaches us. Each of
us as Jews matter equally,
regardless of our wealth. And
together, each Jew is part of
something much larger than
our individual self. We’re part
of a community (and I would
argue that this also applies to
spouses and partners of Jews
who may not themselves be
Jewish, but who have chosen to
include their lot with ours) and
each of us, like Queen Esther,
must do our part to help the
Jewish community not just
survive, but to thrive. l
but its distribution of vaccinations
isn’t one of those things.

“And on top of that, even if the
joke was a smart, biting critique
on Israeli policy regarding settle-
ment growth, let’s say … what’s
it doing on ‘SNL’?”
Joel Chasnoff, a comedian
and creator/host of the forth-
coming podcast “Interesting
Jews,” says the joke may or may
not be anti-Semitic — but it’s
certainly anti-comedic.

“Ultimately, I think it
is anti-Semitic … but I’m on
the fence,” said Chasnoff, who
recently moved to Israel. “What
bugs me most about the joke is
that it’s not creative. It’s just so
freakin’ easy to put Israel down,
make Israel seem like colonialist
oppressors, and feed into that
whole narrative. So not only is
it not true, it’s not artistically
inventive. ‘Israel isn’t nice to
Palestinians’ — there’s absolutely
nothing brave or exploratory in
that.” Talia Reese, once dubbed “the
raunchiest Orthodox mom doing
stand-up,” thought the joke felt
lazy. “Do I think Michael Che is
anti-Semitic? No. I think what
he did was irresponsible and to
be honest, I didn’t even get the
joke at first,” Reese said. “When
I heard it, I scratched my head
like, ‘The vaccine is available to
every Israeli citizen, don’t they
know that?’ Then on a second
listen, I thought, ‘Oh, they’re
trying to make it like the Jews in
Israel are hoarding the vaccine
for themselves.’ That’s crazy!”
As far as apologizing, “I’m
against comedians apologizing
for jokes. It’s awkward and
absurd,” she said. “The backlash
speaks for itself, and bravo to
watchdog groups. That’s a job I
wouldn’t want. That said, I don’t
care if ‘SNL’ apologizes. I do
think they should joke respon-
sibly in the future.”
Rami Even-Esh, who leans
hard into his Jewish identity as
the rapper Kosha Dillz, thought
Che’s joke failed because it lacked
context. “People can do anti-
Semitic things and not inher-
ently be anti-Semitic just
as people can uphold white
supremacy/racism and not be
white supremacists/racist. We
need to educate people like
Michael. That is our job. We
should never cancel.”
Dani Zoldan, who owns
the Stand Up NY comedy club,
defended the joke.

“I believe that funny is funny
no matter how uncomfortable or
offensive. We need to be able to
laugh at ourselves,” said Zoldan.

But Chasnoff says the “SNL”
joke failed because it violated a
cardinal rule: It wasn’t true.

“That’s the point of smart
comedy — to challenge the
common wisdom by presenting
truth, even if it’s uncomfortable
to hear. If it makes you squirm
but it’s true, then good! But this
‘SNL’ joke isn’t opening our eyes
to some unspoken truth we’re
afraid to discuss. It’s just lazy.” l
JEWISH EXPONENT
Rabbi Robyn Frisch is the director
of the 18Doors Rukin Rabbinic
Fellowship and the spiritual leader
of Temple Menorah Keneseth
Chai in Northeast Philadelphia.

The Board of Rabbis is proud to
provide diverse perspectives on
Torah commentary for the Jewish
Exponent. The opinions expressed
in this column are the author’s own
and do not reflect the view of the
Board of Rabbis.

Andrew Silow-Carroll is the editor-
in-chief of the Jewish Week in New
York. This piece was originally
published by JTA.

MARCH 4, 2021
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