Every year, beginning in the month of Adar, our ancestors were commanded to bring half-shekels to finance the public sacrifices in our Holy Temple; at least 16 were brought each week, and many more on festival days. Nowadays, without our Holy Temple, we commemorate this important Torah mitzvah in two ways: We read aloud from the Torah the passage of "Sh'kalim" (Sh'mot 30,11-16) on the Shabbat of or before Rosh Chodesh Adar, which this year is this coming Sabbath. In addition, on Purim we give a sum of money to charity. 

However, it is not sufficient to simply perform mitzvot; one must also give thought to their content and purpose. Let us contemplate the matter: What was the purpose of bringing the sh'kalim coins? 

Firstly, the dry facts: There are different ways of performing the important custom of giving half-shekels. Generally, Ashkenazim take three half-coins of the main local currency, while many Sephardim follow the ruling of Maimonides to give the equivalent of nine grams of silver (just over $7 or 25 NIS). Some give starting from Bar or Bat Mitzvah age, others start from age 20, and some parents give the amount for each of their small children, including those still in the womb. Many give this charity to needy Torah scholars or yeshivot. 

However, the original intention of the mitzvah is not always remembered: The money was designated for the Temple's communal fund for the purpose of purchasing sheep, bulls and rams for the public sacrifices. 

Early generations of our ancestors were deeply imbued with recognition of the supreme importance of the construction of our Beit Mikdash and the offering of sacrifices there. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 114b) tells us that after the Exile, many generations did not study the tractates having to do with agricultural laws and ritual impurity, which basically applied only to the distant Land of Israel. They did, however, study the laws of sacrifices – because such study is considered equivalent to actually bringing the offerings (Menachot 110a), and was therefore considered most practical indeed. 

The saintly rabbi Ben Ish Chai (19th century, Iraq) made a fascinating point in this regard. He cited a Halakhic Medrash (the Sifri) that states that given that mitzvot are ideally meant to be performed in the Land of Israel, their performance outside the Land is a form of practice and training (though still quite obligatory). As such, given that one who learns the laws of Temple sacrifices is considered to be performing these laws, his study is actually on a higher level than the performance of other mitzvot, which are just a form of preparation for the real thing. 

Similarly, the Medrash Tanchuma teaches: "G-d said: Even though the Temple will be destroyed and sacrifices will not be brought, still, do not forget their laws; make sure to read and study the relevant Torah and Mishna passages – and if you do so, I will consider it as if you are engaged in offering the sacrifices."

And when G-d commanded the Prophet Yechezkel (43,10) to teach Israel the layout and measurements of the Holy Temple, the Medrash tell us that Yechezkel protested and asked what relevance this held, given that the nation was in Exile. G-d responded, "Just because My children are in Exile, should the construction of My House be delayed? If they engage in the study of it, their reward will be that I will view them as if they are building the Temple." Studying the details of its construction is equivalent to building it, and study of the laws of sacrifices is like actually bringing them.

The Chafetz Chaim wrote: "If we would suddenly be informed that the Beit HaMikdash had been built, clearly, no one would hesitate to spend many rubles in order to travel to our Holy Land and bring a sacrifice before G-d. So now that G-d has promised us that our study alone of these laws is equivalent to the actual act of offering the sacrifices, without the need to spend money or actually travel to the Land, all the more so should we jump at this opportunity!" 

He also wrote that essentially, each one of us can serve as a High Priest, even nowadays, simply by learning the laws of the Temple service that he performs!

In addition, we know that one of the questions a person is asked when he appears before the Heavenly Tribunal is, "Did you anticipate the Redemption?" It is therefore very proper, the Chafetz Chaim writes, for the people of the Holy Land to study the laws of the sacrifices, each one according to his ability – and this will be a great preparation for the Redemption, and then G-d, too, will hurry to redeem us.

Our anticipation of the construction of the Beit HaMikdash, and the desire to offer sacrifices, is linked to a large part of all the Torah mitzvot. Many portions of the Torah deal with these matters, and some 142 mitzvot have to do with the Temple and the sacrifices – well over one-fifth of the Torah's 613 commandments. Therefore, when we read the portion of Sh'kalim this week, we must evoke our understanding of, and longing for, the chance to fulfill these mitzvot. 

The Torah promises us (Sh'mot 34,24) that when we all go up to Jerusalem three times a year for the Festivals, our homes and lands will remain safe from the "covetous eyes" of the Gentiles. This is the special blessing of the Festivals. We might ask: Do we not know that there were times when during the times of the Holy Temple, our enemies invaded and conquered? (See Yoel 4,2: "My land they divided.") 

The answer is that this blessing did not apply when we acted wickedly: "This House on which My name is called has become a den of robbers in your eyes?" (Yirmiyahu 7,11)  G-d responded to this by saying (Yeshayahu 1,12), "When you come before Me [to the Temple], who asked you to do this, to trample My courtyards?"  

And perhaps this can be a partial explanation for our contemporary problems with our Arab neighbors, who seek to steal our Land – for we do not have the benefit of the Holy Temple and its blessings. We are unable to ascend to the Temple, but only to its retaining Western Wall, and this, too, reminds us of our lowly state without our glorious Holy Temple. Please, G-d, "renew our days as of old"  (Eichah 5,21). 

Translated by Hillel Fendel