Summary of the day
Shabbat Shekalim is the first of the four special Shabbatot before Pesach (Shekalim, Zachor, Parah, HaChodesh). It falls on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh Adar or on Rosh Chodesh itself, and a second Torah scroll is taken out to read the passage of the half-shekel (Exodus 30:11-16). We are entering the month of Adar, and “when Adar begins, we increase in joy” (Ta’anit 29a).
The mitzvot of the day
- Hearing Parashat Shekalim in the maftir reading, and a special haftara.
- The half-shekel: in the Temple, every Israelite over twenty gave half a shekel each year for the needs of the community (Exodus 30:13-15). Today, before Purim, it is customary to give a “remembrance of the half-shekel”, usually three coins of “half” denomination (the half-unit coin of the country), on the Fast of Esther before Mincha, to charity.
- Announcing Rosh Chodesh Adar in synagogue, and preparing for the joy of Purim.
Origin in history
In the desert, after the census of the Israelites, everyone was commanded to give half a shekel for the work of the Tent of Meeting: “The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel” (Exodus 30:15). In Temple times the half-shekel became an annual tax that funded the public offerings, and everyone brought it by the fifteenth of Adar (Mishnah Shekalim 1:1-3). On Rosh Chodesh Adar the collection was announced, on the fifteenth money-changers’ tables were set up, and on the twenty-fifth the collection ended. The Talmud (Megillah 13b) adds a surprising link to Purim: “It was revealed and known before the One who spoke and the world came into being that Haman would one day weigh out shekels against Israel; therefore He had their shekels come before his.”
The message for today
The half-shekel is a lesson in equality: rich and poor give the same, because each person is only a half, and needs a partner to be whole. The Torah stresses that the coin is “an atonement for the soul” and a protection from plague. It moves us from the laws of war to the laws of unity: there is no national rescue without equal personal giving. And on entering Adar we start to hear the word “giving” everywhere: the half-shekel, gifts to the poor, food parcels to friends.
Torah and haftara readings
The passages read in synagogue, with their start and end.
Shabbat Shekalim (the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh Adar, or on it)
- Torah · Morning
Weekly parasha
The weekly parasha (usually Mishpatim or Terumah)
- Maftir · Morning
Exodus 30:11–16
"Ki Tisa": the half-shekel
- Haftara · Morning
2 Kings 12:1–17
Ashkenazim: the Temple funds in the days of Jehoash
- Haftara · Morning
2 Kings 11:17–12:17
Sephardim: beginning with the covenant of Jehoiada
Why this reading? For the maftir we read the commandment of the half-shekel (Exodus 30:11-16), because on Rosh Chodesh Adar the contribution of shekels was announced, so that the Temple would have funds for the public offerings in Nisan (Mishnah Shekalim 1:1). The haftara tells how King Jehoash repaired the Temple and set up a chest to collect money, and the people gave generously, so the funds went straight to the workers "for they dealt faithfully" (II Kings 12:16).