Rabbi's Blog

It is difficult to keep up with the speed of technology. Today’s newest gadget, application, or program is in tomorrow’s recycle bin. I personally try to keep up with the techies, but as I get older I fall behind more and more. By the time I finish writing this commentary, it will be old-school material. I am always torn in my thinking as to whether I should work to keep more up-to-date with the constantly changing technology and with the younger generation or give up and live contentedly in the old world which, in many cases, can be a much safer route.  The newest techie device may not be proper or appropriate. I personally have drawn the line on different means of communication such as texting, e-mail, twitter, and Facebook.  Furthermore,  I think everyone should do the same.

One particular application that I have now gotten into is ‘WhatsApp’, a different type of texting that works via data usage and not phone service and is therefore very useful for communicating with people around the world.  In addition, all the functions of WhatsApp (texting, speaking, sending pictures, and videos) are free! The Jury is still out as to whether or not I will keep with it, but for now I am figuring out the pros and cons. One of the major features WhatsApp has over traditional texting is the ability to create a group chat that everyone can see, read, and reply to simultaneously. Every individual can make his own direct WhatsApp to one user in a group or to one hundred users in a group.

 Within my family circles there are a few WhatsApp groups: one with my immediate family, another that is expanded to cousins, and a third to a larger group that even includes family in Israel besides the individual one-on-one group. When I was a young boy, most of my cousins lived within a half mile of each other. Our families made a concentrated effort to get together on special occasions with the other cousins who lived a car ride away. There was no need to call someone up and shmuze because we saw each other all the time. Now, a generation or two later, families have spread out to different cities and even different countries. There are, of course, cheaper phone plans today, allowing families and friends to ‘reach out and touch someone’ or to connect on Facebook or Skype, but those connections tend to be only one-on-one. WhatsApp makes us feel as though we are all sitting around in the same room talking to each other while everyone ‘hears’ or really sees what you are saying. I have been communicating to nieces and nephews who, if not for this application, I would probably not know about anything going on in their lives. WhatsApp has brought a new kind of family bonding that I believe has never existed before. Regardless of the thousands of miles which may separate families, this application effectively brings everyone together.

There are certain things Hashem puts into the world specifically to bring people together. Through certain mitzvos God helps the Jewish people to bond together.  This bonding ranges from the level of immediate family members to national issues and events, particularly those which directly affect the Jewish people. One of the Mitzvos that binds us together will be read this coming Shabbos - Parshas Shekalim. Parshas Shekalim is the first of four specially-designed Shabboses before Pesach, each addressing different issues related to Purim and Pesach. A different Haftorah is read for each one of these portions. This week’s Haftorah for Parshas Shekalim is taken from Melachim II chapter 12.

The giving or collecting of a half shekel was used for census counting and to cover costs for communal sacrifices. By the time  King YeHoash assumed the crown, the first Beis HaMikdash was approximately one hundred fifty years old and in need of some repairs. The king told the Kohanim that any money that came in either from the annual half shekel, any self-valuation of a person, or any donation that a man brought in as a result of an uplifted heart should go towards repairing the Temple. The term used for repairing the Temple is called ‘Bedek HaBayis’. Years had passed and unfortunately the repairs that the Kohanim were supposed to take care of never happened. The Radak (Rav Dovid Kimchi) explains that the Kohanim were waiting, intending not to begin the work until they collected enough money to complete  the entire job: fixing all of the cracks and deepening crevices of the walls. The king thought they were keeping or stealing money as the donations came in. Later on, the king instructed the kohanim to repair things as soon as the money came in. The Kohanim were insulted, and a new system of collection was to be put in place.

Eventually, the repairs were finished and the project of Bedek HaBayis was completed. The Bais HaMikdash is the house the Jewish people come to that makes us into one large family. The Shekel was the mechanism for creating a bond, forming a common goal and purpose for the Jewish people. The Shekel directly created a bond because  everyone gave the same half shekel, demonstrating equality. Just as all children in a family should be treated equally and should treat and view each other as being an equal and not superior or inferior, so too everyone was required to contribute the same half shekel for repair of the Bais HaMikdash. Furthermore, the physical purpose of the Shekel being used to fix the walls of the house is similar to the bonds being created when brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents do things to come together.

Whenever there are different types of communication and relationship-building going on, a direct bond and strengthening is created within the physical home and among all of the people of each household. The reading of the giving of the half shekel should be a reminder for us to attempt to do things that will create stronger and more meaningful relationships with individuals with whom we would otherwise lose touch. The only difference between giving of the half shekel and connecting with WhatsApp is that the modern day communication is free! Start using it!

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky